state is 12,210 square miles, of which 9860 square miles are land surface; the included portions of Chesapeake Bay, 1203 square miles; Chincoteague Bay on the Atlantic coast, 93 square miles, and 1054 square miles of smaller estuaries and rivers.

Maryland is divided into twenty-three counties, of which Garrett, Allegany and Washington form the mountainous region known as Western Maryland; Frederick, Carroll, Baltimore, Harford, Cecil, Howard and Montgomery the Piedmont area, which is also referred to under the name of Northern-Central Maryland; Anne Arundel, Prince George's, Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's, commonly called Southern Maryland; and Kent, Queen Anne's, Talbot, Caroline, Dorchester, Wicomico, Somerset and Worcester, known as Eastern Maryland. Of these twenty-three counties there are but seven that do not lie upon navigable waters.

The physical features of a country to no inconsiderable degree determine the pursuits of its inhabitants, and these indirectly affect their social, political and financial welfare. The residents of mountainous districts have their peculiar occupations, while those of the low lands find their employment in other ways. In regions bordering the sea or inland bodies of water still other means of livelihood are sought by the people. The character of the soil and its adaptability to particular crops become also important factors, while the underlying rocks, not only by their influence upon the conditions of life already described, but also by their inherent wealth in mineral resources, still further influence the well-being of the community. It becomes important, therefore, to know something of the physical features of a country, or a state, if one would understand its past history or indicate the lines of future prosperity.

When we come to examine the physical features of the state of Maryland we find the greatest diversity in surface configuration and mineral contents. From its eastern to its western borders may be found a succession of districts suitable from their physical surroundings for the most diverse employments. Maryland possesses portions of all the characteristic divisions of the eastern United States, and there is no state in the country which has a greater variety in its natural surroundings.

In the succeeding pages the Physical Features of Maryland will be considered under the three following headings, viz., Physiography, Geology, and Mineral Resources.

PHYSIOGRAPHY.

The state of Maryland in its physiographic features is closely related to the states which lie to the north and south of it. It is part of the eastern border region which stretches from the Atlantic. coast-line to the crest of the Alleghanies and from its central situation affords, perhaps, the most characteristic section of this broad belt. The country rises from the sea level at first gradually and then more rapidly until it culminates in the high lands of the western portion of the state. It has been divided throughout the middle Atlantic slope into three physiographic areas known respectively as the Coastal Plain, the Piedmont Plateau and the Appalachian Region. Before taking up the more detailed description of the Maryland area a brief characterization of the three leading physiographic divisions will be given.

The Coastal Plain as a continuous tract begins in New Jersey on the south shore of the Raritan Bay, where it has a width of from fifteen to twenty miles, and extends thence southward, constantly broadening, until in Georgia it reaches nearly one hundred and fifty miles. North of New Jersey it is continued in the islands along the New England coast (the largest being Long Island, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket) as well as in the narrow strip of main land which forms the southeastern portion of the state of Massachusetts. The Coastal Plain is characterized by broad, level stretches of slight elevation, which are cut by the larger rivers that flow across the area from the Piedmont Plateau, and the smaller streams that have their sources within the low land itself. Most of the streams have sluggish currents and the drainage of the land is imperfect. Throughout, the country is deeply indented with tidal estuaries and bays, the heads of which commonly reach quite to the border of the Piedmont

Plateau, and often admit throughout their entire length of the entrance of the largest ocean-going vessels. The deeper channels are generally the continuation of the leading rivers, which suddenly change in character as they enter the Coastal Plain with great loss in the velocity of their currents. All of the large streams and many of the smaller ones as they cross the western margin of the Coastal Plain are characterized by a marked decrease in the velocity of their currents and at times by falls or rapids, the name "fall-line" being given to this boundary on that account. The inland border of the Coastal Plain thus marks the head of navigation and has likewise conditioned from the earliest times the leading highways of trade which connect the north and south. Along this line have grown up the larger cities of the Atlantic seaboard, Trenton, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Petersburg, Columbia, Augusta, and other less populous towns.

The Piedmont Plateau, which borders the Coastal Plain upon the west and extends thence to the foot of the Appalachian Mountains, is less clearly defined in the northern portion of the country than along the middle and southern Atlantic slope. It broadens from New York southward, reaching its greatest width of three hundred miles. in North Carolina. The Piedmont Plateau is a region of somewhat greater elevation than the Coastal Plain which borders it upon the east, but stands in marked contrast to the high ranges of the Appalachian Region upon the west. It is characterized by a broken, hilly country with undulating surface, but with few mountains of conspicuous altitude or great extent. The region is crossed by numerous rivers which have their rise in the high mountains to the west, while many smaller streams and tributaries have their sources within the area. The streams flow with rapid currents and the country is everywhere well drained as compared with the low lands of the east.

The Appalachian Region is an area of high land which extends almost continuously from Cape Gaspé in Canada southward to Alabama, a distance of 1300 miles, and throughout most of that distance forms the divide between the streams which flow directly to the east across the Piedmont Plateau and the Coastal Plain into the Atlantic