|
Geodetic Survey.
During the years 1857 and 1858
the geodetic
and coast survey, ordered by the national government, made observations
along
the coast of Georgia, chiefly about St. Mary’s river and bar and in the
vicinity of Sapelo sound. In 1859 the
character of Sapelo sound was fully determined by the survey, but
before
anything else was done in the state or along the coast the Civil war
put a stop
to operations. In the decade from 1870
to 1880 a tolerably thorough survey was made of the coast and geodetic
and
magnetic observations were made in various parts of the state. In 1880 magnetic observations were made in
Clinch County, and the same year Lieut. Frederick Collins made an
extensive report
of parts of the Southern coast, giving sailing directions for
navigating the
waters there. This report included most
of the rivers and harbors of Georgia along the Atlantic coast. In 1881 a map of the mountain districts of
the state was commenced under the direction of H. F. Walling, but it
was not
completed until some years later. Not
much was done during the next three years, but in 1884 a reconnaissance
was
made for primary triangulation in North Georgia, starting from the
Indian-Aurora line. The work was
commenced in January and continued until the following June, when the
thick
foliage of the trees interfered with the progress of the survey, and
operations
were suspended until the winter. This
triangulation was finished in 1886. The
next year Lieutenant Pilsbury made a hydrographic survey of St. Simon’s
bar,
taking over 2,000 soundings and discovering the remains of an old
lighthouse. At the same time magnetic
observations were made at Waycross, Brunswick, Jesup, and some other
points,
and the old geodetic station of 1875, in the old capital grounds at
Milledgeville was reoccupied. Between
the years 1888 and 1900, inclusive, considerable work was done by
Lieutenant
Pilsbury in the neighborhood of Brunswick and by Lieut. J. J. Blandin,
with the
steamer Endeavor, around the entrance to the Savannah river. In the former instance the old dredged
channel at Brunswick was reported to be of little account, and the
outer bar
there was resurveyed. Lieutenant Blandin
resurveyed the outer bar and entrance to the Savannah river, located
and
erected a number of signals, buoys, tide gauges, etc., and took over
27,000
soundings. This was perhaps the most
important work done by the survey, so far as immediate results were
concerned,
as its influence aided materially in the matter of piloting vessels
through the
entrance and up to the city of Savannah.
Since 1900 the work has been carried on at
intervals in different parts
of the state, several old stations have been recovered in the vicinity
of
Brunswick, Cumberland island and St. Andrew’s sound, the reports of the
survey
being practical “aids to navigation along the coast.”
(Georgia: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. VOL III Publ.
1906.
Transcribed by Marilyn Clore)
Geological Survey.
Governor Schley, in his message
to the
general assembly, in November, 1836, first called the attention to the
needs of
the state in the way of a geological survey, and urged its importance
upon that
body. The legislature, at that session,
passed a resolution, authorizing the governor to employ a competent
person to
make the survey and in January, 1837, Dr. John R. Cotting was selected
for the
first state geologist. In December,
1840, the legislature abolished the office, just when the work was
fairly under
way. At the Macon Fair, in the fall of
1851, a committee was appointed to memorialize the legislature for an
appropriation to finish the work Doctor Cotting had so auspiciously
begun. The committee performed its part of
the work,
but the assembly declined to grant the request and the matter was
allowed to
lie dormant until 1872, when the subject was again broached by
agricultural
societies and commercial bodies in different parts of the state. The agitation was continued until on Feb. 27,
1874, the general assembly passed an act creating the office of state
geologist
and appropriating $10,000 a year for five years to complete the survey. Under this act Governor Smith appointed Dr.
George Little, professor of mineralogy and geology in the University of
Mississippi, to finish the survey of the state.
With the discontinuance of the annual
appropriation, at the expiration
of the five years, all the material, etc., belonging to the office of
the state
geologist was turned over to the agricultural department, by a
resolution
adopted by the general assembly on Oct. 17, 1879. The
office of state geologist was revived by
the act of Nov. 12, 1889, and since then a great deal has been
accomplished
toward the development of the state’s mineral resources, especially the
clays
and building stones of the Paleozoic and Crystalline areas; in the
analysis of
the waters from mineral springs; and in encouraging the boring of
artesian
wells in the Coastal plain. Concerning
these wells a recent report of the agricultural department says: “The marked sanitary advantages that have
resulted to many towns in Southern Georgia through the supply of pure,
wholesome drinking water, obtained from artesian wells, hardly requires
comment.” The bulletins issued by the
geological bureau
have been replete with useful information regarding the mineral
formations and
maps have been made showing the different fields where the principal
deposits
are located. The present state
geologist, Prof. W. S. Yeates, and his assistants are pushing the work
with
commendable zeal, and within a few years the geological features of
Georgia and
the extent of her economic mineral deposits will be known far and wide.
(Georgia: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. VOL III Publ.
1906.
Transcribed by Marilyn Clore)
Geology.
There are in Georgia three great
geological belts
or areas, viz: The Paleozoic, the
Crystalline and the Coastal Plain. The
Paleozoic Area lies in the extreme northwestern corner of the state. It embraces the counties of Dade, Walker,
Whitfield, Catoosa, Chattooga and Floyd, and the greater part of
Murray,
Gordon, Bartow and Polk. In this belt
are represented the formations of the Cambrian, Silurian, Devonian and
Carboniferous
periods, the shales, rocks, cherts, schists and ores belonging to them
being
abundant, and many of the deposits are of commercial importance.
A line drawn from Columbus to
Augusta and passing through
Macon and Milledgeville marks the southern boundary of the Crystalline
Area,
which embraces all that part of the state north of the line, except the
Paleozoic group. On the border between
the Paleozoic and Crystalline areas are found most of the marbles for
which
Georgia is fast becoming noted, while all through the area are valuable
deposits of various minerals, the most important of which are treated
in this
work under the appropriate titles. At
several points in the Crystalline and Paleozoic region are mineral
springs,
some of medicinal value, especially those containing iron, sulphur and
lithia. The product of these springs
reaches about $40,000 annually.
South of the Crystalline Area
lies the Great Coastal
Plain. The boundary between it and the
Crystalline area is marked by waterfalls or cascades in the streams and
is
sometimes called the “fall line.” All of
the larger streams are navigable up to this demarcation and this fact,
together
with the advantages in securing water-power, is responsible for the
location of
a number of important towns and cities.
Geologically speaking, the Coastal Plain is of
much more recent
formation than either of the other two areas, being of the Tertiary
period, and
it is quite different, both in surface configuration and in the
character of
its mineral deposits. Here are found the
finest clays in the state, as well as extensive beds of marl, while the
rocks
of this region consist chiefly of loosely compacted sands and gravel,
with some
limestone. In the southeastern part of
the state there is along the coast a strip about 100 miles long and 25
miles
wide of the Quarternary formation. It
begins a little north of Savannah and its western end is a short
distance from
Trader’s Hill, on the Florida line.
Artesian wells are confined to the Coastal
Plain, the water being
reached at a depth of about 450 feet, the strata penetrated consisting
of soft
limestones, clays and sands. Some of the
wells are flowing ones, other have to be supplied with pumps to bring
water to
the surface.
In the western part, and lying
between the Crystalline and
Coastal Plain areas, is a triangular shaped territory of Cretaceous
formation. It includes the counties of
Chattahoochee and Marion, nearly all of Stewart and Taylor, and parts
of
Webster, Schley, Macon and Muscogee, with detached areas in Houston
county. The western boundary of this
triangle is marked by the Chattahoochee river, for a distance of forty
miles
south of Columbus, while the southern is an irregular line, terminating
in the
margin of the Crystalline area not far from the town of Fort Valley. The minerals of this section are marl,
sandstone and limestone. Few states
present more diversified geological features than Georgia.
Minerals from the coarsest to precious
stones, including gold, are found all through all the two northern
areas, while
the southern part shows all the peculiarities of the Tertiary and
Quarternary
period to be found anywhere in those formations.
(Georgia: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. VOL III Publ.
1906.
Transcribed by Marilyn Clore)
Gold.
Through the Crystalline area are
several gold-bearing
belts running from northeast to southwest.
Two of these belts are continuous across the
state from the Carolinas to
Alabama. One enters at Rabun county and
passes through the counties of Habersham, White, Lumpkin, Dawson,
Forsyth,
Cherokee, Cobb, Paulding and Carroll.
The other enters the county of Habersham from
South Carolina and passes
through Hall, Forsyth, Gwinnett, Milton, DeKalb, Fulton, Campbell,
Fayette,
Coweta, Meriwether and Troup counties.
Another short but important belt comes into
the state on the line
between Columbia and Lincoln counties and extends into McDuffie and
Warren.
Accounts differ as to when gold
was first discovered in the
state. One is that the first was found
by a negro in the sands of Bear creek, in White county, then a part of
Habersham, in October, 1828, but that the find was so small no
attention was
paid to it until the same negro found in the sands of a stream in the
Nacoochee
valley a nugget worth several thousand dollars.
Another, and probably the correct account, is
that the gold was first
discovered on Duke’s creek, in White county, in 1829.
In 1838 the United States government
established a branch mint at Dahlonega, which continued in operation
until the
beginning of the war in 1861. From 1829
to 1849 the yield of gold from the Georgia mines was estimated at
1,000,000
ounces. Then the discovery of gold in
California promised better returns and turned attention from the
Georgia
mines. Prospecting with the pick, shovel
and pan ceased to a great extent and in later years mining operations
have been
conducted on a more extensive scale in the reduction of low grade ores. About 1890 a company was formed with
considerable capital to mine ores of this class in the old mines of
Dahlonega. Five years later there were
300 men employed with six miles of the town.
The ore costs about twenty-five cents a ton at
the stamp mills and
affords a good profit. The supply is
abundant and the chances are that the output of gold will increase with
the
introduction of improved methods of mining.
The annual yield is now about $150,000.
Mills are operated in Bartow, Lumpkin and
Oglethorpe counties and at
some other places. The equipment of the
Royal mine in Haralson county cost in the neighborhood of $200,000. Another modern outfit is at the Wilkes mine,
two miles from Grantville. This is
operated by a company of Boston capitalists.
In July, 1897, S. W. McCallie,
assistant state geologist,
read a paper before the International Gold Mining convention, at
Denver, Col.,
in which he said: “The future of the
gold mining industry of the state depends, to a great extent, on the
economic
treatment of low grade ores which are known to exist in large
quantities.” Prof. W. S. Yeates, state
geologist, in one
of his bulletins, gives this statement regarding the production of gold: “I do not believe that the Georgia gold mines
may be expected to produce bonanzas; and the fortunes to be made in a
day will
be exceedingly rare; but there is every reason to believe, that when
properly
developed and equipped for extensive operations, the gold deposits of
Georgia
will rank among the best dividend producers in the world.”
(See sketches of the various counties in the
gold-bearing districts).
(Georgia: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. VOL III Publ.
1906.
Transcribed by Marilyn Clore)
Gneiss.
The mineral known as gneiss is a
metamorphic rock,
consisting of orthoclastic feldspar, quartz and mica.
It has the same component parts as granite,
but is stratified or foliated. This
feature is sometimes so little marked, however, that the stone might be
made to
pass for granite. Gneiss has been
discovered in various parts of Georgia, notably in Carroll, Meriwether
and
Heard counties. At Lithonia, DeKalb
county, there are large quarries from which a fine quality of contorted
gneiss—that is where the strata or foliations follow curved lines—is
taken. This stone is much used for
street paving. The deposits extend into
the adjoining counties of Rockdale and Gwinnett. The serpentine variety
has
been found in abundance in Towns county and is fast coming into use as
a
building stone. Some gneiss has also
been found in Oconee county but it is not quarried to any considerable
extent.
(Georgia: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. VOL III Publ.
1906.
Transcribed by Marilyn Clore)
Granite.
Perhaps no state in the Union
has a larger supply
of this mineral than Georgia. Valuable
deposits of it have been found all through the Crystalline area and the
business of quarrying granite is one of the best paying economic
mineral industries
in the state. The largest deposit
extends through Jackson, Walton, Gwinnett, DeKalb, Rockdale, Newton,
Henry,
Butts, Clayton, Campbell, Fayette, Spalding, Pike and Monroe counties. Probably no granite in the South is more
widely known than that from the Stone Mountain quarries.
(See Stone Mountain). The
second largest area is in Elbert,
Oglethorpe, Lincoln, Wilkes, McDuffie, Warren, Taliaferro, Hancock,
Greene,
Glascock, Putnam, Baldwin, Jones and Bibb counties.
In the western part of the state is a
considerable field, extending through Douglas, Campbell, Carroll,
Coweta, Troup
and Meriwether counties, with small deposits in Harris.
Granite of a find quality is found in the
extreme northeastern part, in Rabun and Habersham, the supply in the
latter
county being practicably inexhaustible.
The blue granite, found at Lexington, is
capable of high polish, and is
excellent for building and monumental purposes.
Near the towns of Fairburn and Palmetto a
similiar granite is found,
except as to color. Among the buildings
erected with the Lexington granite is the new post office at Savannah. Tests of two inch cubes show that the Georgia
granite has a resistance to pressure of about 20,000 pounds to the
square
inch. The principal quarries are at
Lithonia
and Stone Mountain in DeKalb county, four in Rockdale county, two in
Bibb
county and the quarries of the Lexington Blue Granite Company.
(Georgia: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. VOL III Publ.
1906.
Transcribed by Marilyn Clore)
Graphite.
The composition of this mineral
is carbon, either
pure or with an admixture of iron, silica, alumina or lime. Its color varies from iron black to steel
gray. It is popularly called black-lead,
probably because the finer grades of it are used in the manufacture of
what are
commonly known as “lead” pencils.
Inferior grades are used to make stove polish. Graphite free from grit is used as a
lubricant for machinery and much of it is used in the manufacture of
crucibles,
as it is capable of standing a high degree of heat.
In his report for 1901 the commissioner of
agriculture says: “Both massive and
foliated varieties of this mineral occur in considerable quantities
associated
with the highly metamorphic slates and schists along the western margin
of the
Crystalline area. It is quite abundant
in the neighborhood of Emerson, Bartow county, where it is now mined
and used
in the crude state as a filler for commercial fertilizers.
Promising prospects of graphite are also
reported to occur in Pickens, Elbert, Hall, Madison, Douglas and Cobb
counties. The Pickens county deposit is
at present being developed and it is thought that in a short time it
will
become and active producer.”
It is also known to exist in
paying quantities in Habersham,
Clarke and Oglethorpe counties, and an impure variety is found in
Paulding,
Gilmer and Troup, as well as in some other localities.
The Elbert county deposit has been mined to
some extent.
(Georgia: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. VOL III Publ.
1906.
Transcribed by Marilyn Clore)
|
