in the drainage area of the Mississippi River; that only four tenths of one per cent live in the Great Basin, and three and four tenths per cent on the Pacific coast. It shows further that the proportion living within the region drained to the Atlantic is steadily diminishing, while of this region the part drained to the Gulf of Mexico is becoming relatively more populous, as is the case in a still more marked degree in the Great Basin and the region drained to the Pacific.[1]
The tendency of population, as to topographical features, is best illustrated by a short table which has been condensed from the report of the census:
| Regions | Density of population. | ||
| 1890. | 1880. | 1870. | |
| Coast swamps | 21·5 | 18·7 | 15·3 |
| Atlantic plain | 74·4 | 60·2 | 47·0 |
| Piedmont region | 69·5 | 55·8 | 45·8 |
| New England hills | 40·7 | 38·6 | 35·4 |
| Appalachian Mountain region | 49·8 | 41·7 | 34·3 |
| Cumberland-Alleghany plateau | 59·3 | 45·4 | 40·7 |
| Interior timbered region | 44·3 | 38·8 | 31·3 |
| Lake region | 25·1 | 17·6 | 12·1 |
| Ozark Mountain region | 22·8 | 16·0 | 10·3 |
| Alluvial region of the Mississippi | 23·6 | 18·2 | 12·2 |
| Prairie region | 28·3 | 21·2 | 14·6 |
| Great Plains | 1·4 | 0·4 | 0·1 |
| North Rocky Mountains | 1·1 | 0·4 | 0·2 |
| South Rocky Mountains | 2·1 | 1·7 | 0·7 |
| Plateau region | 0·7 | 0·5 | 0·2 |
| Basin region | 1·4 | 0·9 | 0·5 |
| Columbian mesas | 1·9 | 0·8 | 0·2 |
| Sierra Nevada | 4·9 | 4·6 | 3·8 |
| Pacific Valley | 9·1 | 5·2 | 3·5 |
| Cascade Range | 5·5 | 1·7 | 0·9 |
| Coast Ranges | 14·3 | 9·8 | 5·8 |
The greatest density, according to topographical features, is found in the Atlantic plain, it being 74·4 persons to the square mile, and the lowest density is in the Plateau region, it being 0∙7 of a person, on an average, to the square mile. Four and three tenths per cent of the entire population of the country is to be found in the coast swamps area and the alluvial region of the Mississippi River. This population consists mainly of the colored race. Two and three tenths per cent of the entire population is found in the desert and semi-desert regions of the country. The mountain regions of the West hold 2·5 per cent, while about one sixth of the entire population is to be found in the Eastern mountain region.
If we examine the distribution according to altitude, it will be found that more than three fourths of the population live below
- ↑ Census Bulletin No. 47, by Henry Gannett.
