Atlanta, the capital of Georgia. It is situated at the southwestern angle of the Appalachian Mountains on the ridge that divides the waters of the Golf from those that flow toward the Atlantic. The first house was built in 1836. The population in 1860 was about 11,000. During the Civil War, General Sherman occupied Atlanta after a siege of several months, and set out from this point on his march to the sea. He himself compared the strategic position of the city to a wrist, the fingers of which reach to the various ports on the Atlantic and the Gulf,--a description which suits the commercial situation as well. The Cotton Exposition of 1881 attracted general attention to the commercial possibilities of Atlanta and the agricultural resources of the vast, fertile region which surrounds it. Ten radiating lines of railways have united in building a union station costing $900,000. The census of 1900 gave a population of 89,872; but bank clearings of $130,000,-000 a year, postal receipts of half a million, a trade of $50,000,000, and manufactures rated at $30,000,000 a year gave Atlanta claim to a population in 1905 of at least 110,000. By an improvement of the shoals in the Chattahoochee, an electric plant has been made possible that furnishes power for a large number of factories. The manufactures of the city include cotton cloth and agricultural machinery, lumber, engines, furniture, flour, cottonseed products, ice, wearing apparel, and a long list of articles such as are in demand in a prosperous agricultural center. Atlanta has claim to a well established educational system, a state institute of technology, and various institutions for the education of the colored people. The altitude of the city, which is over 1,000 feet above the surface of the sea, renders it a pleasant place for conventions at any time of the year. The mean temperature varies from 44 degree in winter to 77 degree in summer. Parks, waterworks, clubs, a fine Carnegie library, and numerous charities testify to the public spirit and intelligence of the city. The state capitol cost a round million dollars. The interior is faced with Georgia marble. See GEORGIA; COTTON; SHERMAN.