The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-26
ABOUT SOUTH GEORGIA.
4 Graphic Description Of the Soil,
Climate and Products.

!
Where Industry Finds It's Reward.
Something About the Timber-The
Damage That Reckless Turpentine
Operators Are Doing-To Become the
Most DenseIy Populated Portion Of
the State.
Abel, Ga, May 5.-Gradually, but
surely, the resources OF South Georgia
are becoming known and appreciated. In
the slavery epoch, before the war" the
! greater portion Of South Georgia was lit
| tie known, and thinly populated. The
monotonous, sandy pine fats offered no at
| fractions to the wealthy planters, and
| slave. The few settlers were in the main
! less fortunate whites, who settled
there because the cheapness of the lands
! enabled them to own their own cabin
! homes indeed, in many localities squat
| ter sovereignty was the rule rather than
the xception-where, by fishing and
hunting, farming in desultory sort of
way and keeping herds of more than half
wild cattle on the great tracts of free
pasturage, they lived after their own
fashion, knowing little, and caring less,
of the outside world. There were of
course also traders, an occasional law
| yer and physician, and, more rarely a
rural parson and schoolmaster. The
farm products were not usually much in
! excess of domestic requirements, and the
| chief articles of trade were wool, hides,
beeswax, tallow and peltry.
When the Greeks were deported from
! Southwest Georgia, that portion of the
! state was q primitive wilderness. The
| lands were disposed of by lottery to vet
! Grams of past wars, many Of whom, after
| inspecting their acquisitions, trafhcked
! them for shotguns, rifles, yearling steers
! or pretty much anything else offered. But
! Comprehended in those tracts were fertile
/ lands, such as those to be found in Dough-
! erty, Lee, Terrell, Randolph. Stewart,
| Sumter, Early, Decatur and adjoining
counties. After the choicest lands IN
Middle and Northern Georgia had been
occupied, the possibilities in the tract
| mentioned were soon discovered, and
before the end of the slavery epoch, the
| finest cotton plantations in the state were
to be found in Southwest Georgia. The
| Southwestern railroad was built, and the
thriving towns of Americus, Albany,
Cuthbert, cambridge and Townsville
came into existence.
COTTON STILL GROWN.
The liberation of the slaves made cotton
planting an unsatisfactory business; but
| it still survives, although at present most
of the plantations are either owned by
| the commission merchants or mortgaged
| to their full value, the nominal owner
! being a sort Of tenant at will. Many of
the large plantations, however, have been
divided into smaller holdings, and many
are cultivated ION shares by negro
tenantry. But the plantation business is
doomed, and will be replaced by thrifty
farming on a much smaller scale, when
that section will reach its fullest develop
ment, the possibilities of which are
almost beyond exaggeration.
1t is not of this section, however, that
this paper proposes to treat, but Of the
apparently less favored region of Southern
and Southeastern Georgia. The charac-
ter Of this region is altogether different
from that of the tract between the Chat
tahOochee and Flint rivers, which cOnsti-
tutes the larger portion of Southwest
Georgia. Here the descent from the high
uplands is much less precipitous the
face Of the country gradually sloping in
ridges to the south of the union of the
two rivers named, and finally reaching
the tidewater level well into Florida, to
the south Of Quincy and Tallahassee.
Farther east the descent from the lower
levels OF the hill country is very abrupt,
being, perhaps most strongly marked at
the falls and rapids of the Canoochee
river, where there is a terrace-like drop
of some hundred feet in comparatively
short distance.
Below this terrace the face of the coun-
try undergoes a complete change. In
stead of the bold, red hills and rolling
plateaus TO the north, are low-lying,
gently undulating tracts of lands, COW
cred either with dense growths of pine or
swamp timber. In the slightest depres-
sions ponds are formed, in which water
! stands almost the wear around-in many
cases for the entire years together
While the rivers, which have thet.
/ sources above the coast line level, have
bold, rapid currents, and pour their trib-
! ute into the ocean, reddened by the
erosion of a thousand hills, the streams
rising in the southern section, as. for in
stance, the Satilla, the Ocholochnee, the
Aucllla, the Withlacoochee and the Su-
! wannee rivers, meanders sluggishly along
tortuous courses, only feet below the
general level of the country, and their
waters, though clear, are tinged a red
dish brown and imprePnated with tannin
by the decaying vegetation through
which, with barely perceptible cur
rent, they creep.
THE RICE LANDS.
In this section, within tidewater limits
are the famous rice lands of the Savan-
nah, Altamaha and Ogeechee districts
Here the soil is fertile but vast tracts
3
lying so that they can be easily inun-
dated, are specially adatNol for grow ing
rice, Indeed, the finest rice in the world
is grown in this district, which is not
confined to Georgia, but extends the full
breadth of South Carolina and well into
North Carolina, and il is doubtful if the
yield 10 the area cultivated is larger any
where in the world. On the dryer por-
tions OF the rice belt, sugar cane sweet
potatoes, corn and sea island cotton, of
the field crops, grow in rank luxuriance,
ana all garden CROPS flourish. AS a rule
the climate is not healthy, though per-
sons aeclimated seem TO enjoy as good
health here as anywhere.
But II takes capital TO own and conduct
a rice plantation, and capital, directed by
intelligence, can generally find profitable
employment. Moreover, the rice plnnta-
tiOns constitute an insignificant fraction
of the territory under discussion.
Leaving the rice fields, South Georgia
proper, South Georgia. as 50 per cent. of
1t is, uurolls itself over mora than 20. 900
square miles As already mentioned.
only lately and very slowly has the CON
ception OF its possibilities forced itself
upon the world. Up TO within few wear,
tho scattered settlements and sparse poi.
ulauou remained as it had for almost a