into which they flow are usually
navigable for river-craft. The manufacturer thus has the double
advantage of water-power and low transportation. The opening of the
southern Appalachian coal-mines has also greatly encouraged manufacture
in this region. _Richmond_, _Columbia_, _Milledgeville_, _Augusta_, and
_Columbus_ are thus situated. Their manufactures are very largely
connected with the cotton-crop.

The domestic commerce of the Atlantic seaboard of the United States is
probably larger than that of any other similar region in the world. It
is considerably larger than the "round-the-island" trade of Great
Britain. Much of this trade is carried by steam-vessels, but the
three-masted schooner is everywhere in evidence, and these craft carry a
very large part of the coal that is moved by water. This trade is
restricted to vessels flying the American flag.

=The Appalachian Region.=--The middle and southern Appalachian region has
become the most important centre of iron and steel manufacture in the
world. This great development has resulted from several causes, the
chief being the existence of coal and unlimited quantities of iron ore
on the one hand, and unusual facilities for cheap transportation on the
other. There are practically three areas of steel manufacture--one along
the Ohio River and its tributaries in western Pennsylvania; another is
situated along the south shores of Lake Erie and Lake Michigan; the
third includes the Birmingham district in the southern Appalachians.

The steel-making plants of the Ohio River are located with reference to
the transportation of their products, and therefore are built usually
alongside the river. The coal or coke is commonly shipped in barges of
light draught; the manufactured products are carried by rail. The
greater part of the ore is brought from the Lake Superior region. It is
shipped at a very small cost from the ore quarries to the lake-shore,
and by rail from the lake-shore to the manufacturing plant. In order to
avoid heavy grades the ore railways are also built along the
river-valleys.

[Illustration: STEEL MANUFACTURE--ERECTING SHOP OF THE BALDWIN
LOCOMOTIVE WORKS, PHILADELPHIA]

Some of the various steel-making plants are equipped for the
manufacture of building or "structural" steel, others for rails and
railway equipments, still others for tin-plate, or for wire, or for tool
steel. In a few mills armor-plate and ordinary plate for steel vessels
form the ex