Chapter 11: Gulf Coastal Plains and Mississippi Valley

The Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest drainage system in North America. It is ranked the fourth longest as well as the tenth largest in the world. The basin covers more than 1,245,000 square miles. According to Chris Mayda, "the river shifts some of its channels ten to twenty times a century as it courses at four miles per hour, ninety-six miles per day." The river is divided into three sections. There is the Upper Mississippi, the Middle Mississippi, and the Lower Mississippi. The Upper Mississippi runs its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River in St. Louis, Missouri. The Middle Mississippi runs from the St. Louis to the Ohio River. The Lower Mississippi runs from the Ohio River to the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico. 

Sacramento River

The Sacramento River is the most important river in Northern and Central California in the United States. It drains an area of about 27,500 square miles. The Sacramento River provided a transportation route for the first people who settled more than 12,000 years ago. Gabriel Moraga, an early explorer, named the river, Rio de los Sacramentos. Like the Mississippi, the Sacramento River splits into sections. One is called the Upper Sacramento and the other is called the Pit.  

Chapter 10: Florida

It is interesting to know that Florida used to be part of North Africa. How is this possible? Due to level shifts caused by climate change, the peninsular part of the state broke off of Africa. It is predicted that by the year of 2100, Florida could be underwater. Florida's weather is tropical like the Caribbean. Florida has attracted many tourist because of its location and weather. Southern Florida's weather tends to be between seventies and eighties. The North part is more cold.

As aforementioned, Florida has many tourist. Tourism and retirees are big contributors of Florida's economy. There are approximately 80 million tourist per year. It is estimated that the tourist industry pays a large part of Florida's taxes because the tourism industry brings in about 57 billion dollars per year. People love the weather and many attractions that Florida has to offer. Just like Florida, Hollywood too attracts a lot of tourists. Hollywood has millions of tourists per year. They enjoy the nice weather and hope to see their favorite stars. There are also other tourist attractions such as, Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood, Knott's Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain, and many more.

              

Chapter 9: South Atlantic

The term redneck and cracker has been used for many years and both terms originated from the South. Rednecks were white poor people who lived in the South. They usually worked as a yeoman farmer who were previously servants. Now in the united States rednecks are referred to white underclass people. The term cracker was used for people who were considered "white trash." These people are those who did not have an education and who practiced cracking. Nowadays, these terms are still used. Many people know what these terms really mean, but there are others who use them as racist terms. It is common to hear someone call a very white person redneck because of his/her physical appearance. California is a diverse state and it is not unusual to see people who physically look redneck.

Cotton was important in the South. There were two types of cottons that were grown in the South. One of them was called the Seal Island which was easier to clean and it was imported from the West Indies. Upland cotton was more difficult to clean and was grown in the land. Cotton was ranked third in production. Cotton is also grown in San Joaquin, California. San Joaquin has a valley cotton tour that attracts many consumers. According to the Western Farm Press, the annual tours that are arranged bring farmers, brokers, supply chain partners, and brands so they can get an idea of the challenges and possibilities of making changes in the cotton industry. 

San Joaquin Valley Cotton Tour

San Joaquin Cotton YouTube Video

        

  

Chapter 8: Appalachia

Catskill Mountain 

The Appalachian Plateau is very large that it expands from Tug Hill to northern Alabama. Its elevation is about 1,000 feet to 3,000 feet. The Appalachian Plateau's highest mountains is the Catskills which is 4,000 feet high. The California Plateau rises to 10,000 feet on the eastern side.

Coal in the Appalachia has supplied a lot of electricity for America. People are very dependent of coal. Although there are great benefits, coal causes a lot of air pollution, acid rain, deforestation, and degradation of soil. Strip mining, was a type of mining method in the Appalachian Plateau. It was done by stripping rocks and soil from the top of the surface in order to get the coal from beneath the surface. According to Dan L. Mosier, writer of Tesla, the first commercial coal mine in California was the Coast Range. The Coast Range coal mine shipped coal to fuel-hungry factories in Stockton. It sold about 60 tons of coal. Although the Coast Range coal mine did not last long, in 1868 a group of Welsh miners opened Commercial coal mine. The most successful coal mine in California was the Tesla coal mine. This mine was opened by John Treadwell and he also organized the San Francisco and San Joaquin Coal Company. The Tesla mine produced more than 80,000 tons of coal per year.

Tesla Coal Mine 

           

Chapter 7: Megalopolis

When thinking about megalopolis, Los Angeles comes to mind. Los Angeles is a very large city containing a population of approximately 4 million people. Like New York, Los Angeles is a big city where it seems like people never sleep. Throughout the day, no matter what the time, there are people out in the streets going from one place to another. Both places have a large population which means that there is a lot going on. New York City has a transportation network which expands more miles than the actual city. New York's metropolitan expands for many miles that it reaches to other states. Los Angeles metropolitan area is the 2nd largest metropolitan area in the United States and the 13th largest metropolitan in the world. Los Angeles is known as the Entertainment Capital of the World, therefore it is a very popular area. Tourist come and go all the time. Since there is so much going on in the area, there are many different transportation. There is even a metro rail that takes people around from five in the morning to midnight all seven days of the week.

New York City

Los Angeles

    

Chapter 6: The Northern Atlantic Provinces and Northern New England

In the Northern New England, settlers focused on farming crops such as, blueberries and potatoes. In California people also grow crops. Agriculture is a huge contributor for the California economy. Since the last three decades, farming sales in California have quadrupled. For example, the San Diego agriculture is placed fourth on the county. San Diego's agriculture is productive because of the climate, water, and soil that is in San Diego.

   San Diego Agriculture

According to Bettey Sutton, from Lone Star College in Kingwood, during the Great Depression many people had lost hope because what was the land of opportunity was now a land of depression. American families' income had reduced from $2,300 to $1,500. Many people hoped to find some place where they could get back on track. Many families decide to move to California and start working in the agriculture fields. 

There are many crops grown in California. According to BeachCalifornia.com, California's number one products are milk and cream. The number one nation's dairy state is California. Also, California is known to grow some of the best grapes. California's grown products also include almonds, olives, raisins, walnuts, and many more. For the past fifty years, California has been the number one food and agriculture producer in the United States. 

  

Chapter 4: Population and Consumption

California is known to be one of the most diverse states. The population in 2012 was 38,041,430. In just ten years, California's had an increased of 3,090,016. These numbers are pretty high and it would be higher if people would have not migrated to Texas, Nevada, and Arizona in 1990. Los Angeles county has a greater population than 42 U.S states and it held title for the most populated county in the U.S for decades. Also, as mentioned earlier on another chapter, California's top eight most populated cities in the United States include; Los Angeles, San Diego, Long Beach, Oakland, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, and Sacramento.

Although California is a diverse state, the majority of its population is made up of California born residents. Many illegal immigrants contributed to the large amount of population, but since there has been an increase in security at the borders less people have tried crossing to United States. California has the most minority populated group in the United States. About 60% of California's population is made up of minority groups.

According to the pie graph below, in 2000 people between the ages of 25 and 44 made up 31% of California's population. Next, with 23% of population were teenagers and young children ranging from 15 years and younger. People who were 45-64 years old made up 21% of the population. Teenagers and young adults (15-24 years) made up 14% and the elderly (65 and older) made up only 11% of California's population.