Here are some general images and discussion of that extensive "fall 
line": http://www.virginiaplaces.org/regions/fallshape.html .

                   Joel Kovarsky

On 1/14/2016 12:12 PM, Ken Grabach wrote:
> For what it's worth, there are waterfalls at the geographical boundary 
> between the Tidewater coastal plain and the Piedmont.  It's referred 
> to as the "fall line".  It appears near Petersburg on the Appomatox 
> River (on the north side is the community of Matoaca, named for 
> Pocahontas's real name), at Richmond on the James, and at Great Falls 
> on the Potomac, near Washington, D.C.  Richmond and Petersburg were 
> founded there for the water power generated by rapids and falls.  I 
> can't speak to the height of the falls in the movie, nor to gold mines 
> in the vicinity (probably not really there) but falls, yes.
>
> Ken Grabach
> Maps Librarian
> BEST Library, 219D
> Miami University Libraries
> Oxford, OH  45056  USA