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Report of the Secretary of Agriculture in relation to the forests, rivers, and mountains of the southern Appalachian region

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  • SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION. 29 decades have begun to suffer seriously from river floods. Each one of these streams along its course through the Value of these mountains and across the hill country beyond by its water "osSng th"™" i j , .. , lands for water power is already a contributor to the manufacturing in- power. terests of the country (PI. XXV), and with improvement in the electrical transmission of power the possibilities of manufacturing developments in this direction are increasing rapidly every year. The measurements and estimates recently made by the Government hydrographer show the aggregate available undeveloped water power on the streams rising in this region to be more than a million horsepower. On these streams water-power developments iire constantly in progress, but their value in the future will diminish as the forests disappear. In the mountains themselves these streams have their sources at elevations from 3,000 to t>,000 feet, and before reaching a level of 2,000 feet many of them have reached considerable proportions. They subsequently How across the mountain region for distances of from 20 to 50 miles before breaking through the border ranges onto the surrounding lowlands at elevations ranging from 1,000 to 1,200 feet. Along their courses stretches of smooth water are never long, and the descent is often accomplished by numerous rapids, cascades, and falls. (See PI. XXVII; also Pis. LXX and LXXI.) Such cascades, with descent J^' »'a f« in short distances of from 10 to 50 feet, are abundant, streams. while in some of the smaller tributaries beautiful falls of from 100 to 300 feet are to be found. I can not adequately describe the beauty and infinite variety of these mountain brooks and larger streams. Always clear, except immediately after the harder rains— for the forests hold back the soil—fed regularly from perpetual springs, they are among the important assets of the South. No gorges in eastern America can equal in depth and Jherivergorges wildness those carved across the Blue Ridge and the Unakas by these streams in making their way through the marginal ranges of the Southern Appalachians. About the headwaters of the Catawba, the Linville River, after flowing for some miles parallel with the Blue Ridge, at an elevation of 3,800 feet, rushes down its eastern slope with a fall of 1,000 feet in less than 3 miles, through a gorge 1,500 to 2,000 feet in depth, a dozen miles in length, and^with wall so steep and bottom so narrow and rugged that few persons have succeeded in following its course.
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Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).