Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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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. 73 porous or too stony, but mostly excellent farm land. Altogether, the newly cleared soil is very good, but many burned ridges and old washed fields are in a very poor condition, notably in the valley of Little Doe. Along Stony, Cove, and Roane creeks, Doe River, the main Watauga, and many minor valleys are excellent large farms, growing corn, wheat, rye, oats, grass, and vegetables. On almost every creek and in many of the mountain coves are families depending upon the farm for the greater portion or all of their living. While much has been cleared that would be better adapted to timber growing if a timber market were within reach, there is altogether a large area that is best adapted to farming. It is safe to say that a broad economic policy would have little or no more forest land cleared than is now under cultivation, and that attention should be given to keeping what land is cleared in good condition rather than to clearing more to be exhausted and washed until worthless. In this basin it is estimated that the average damage by erosion during the season of 1901 to farm land has been not less than $1 per acre. This amounts to over $200,000 for the whole basin. Damages to railroads amounted to $250,000, 19 bridges and about 25 miles of track being washed out. The damage to wagon roads can hardly be estimated. In many places entirely new roads were necessary. The damage was probably $500,000 altogether. Buildings and personal property destroyed swell the total loss to something like $2,000,000. Distribution.—The remaining forests are on the ridges and mountain ranges and spurs. These are somewhat dotted with clearings, especially in the granitic region south of the Iron Mountain Gorge and along the north slope of Beech Mountain and the Elk Creek Basin. The lowlands have been almost entirely cleared. Composition.—The hard woods, in which the oaks and chestnut predominate, form a mixed forest on most of the area; some ravines carry hemlock almost exclusively, and on some of the ridges white pine is one of the principal timber trees. Spruce is found almost exclusively in some high mountain groups, while beech rules in zones on high mountains and on the crests of some ridges. Condition.—Nearly all of the forest has been or is being culled of its most valuable timber, and is rapidly becoming inferior by the predominance of old and defective Agriculture. The forest.
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Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).