I use this to simulate the (non-existing) :last-letter CSS pseudoclass, e. g. to insert a tombstone Show archive.org snapshot at the end of an article:

findLastLeaf = ($container) ->
  $children = $container.children()
  if $children.length == 0
    $container
  else
    $lastChild = $children.last()
    $lastContent = $container.contents().filter(->
      # Only return nodes that are either elements or non-empty text nodes
      @nodeType == 1 || (@nodeType == 3 && _.strip(@nodeValue) != '')
    ).last()
    if $lastContent.get(0) == $lastChild.get(0)
      findLastLeaf($lastChild)
    else
      $container

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Please note that you can't simply say $container.descendants.last() or something similar, since jQuery is ignorant of text nodes.