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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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  • 114 SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION. tains. Seventy miles apart in North Carolina, they inclose many other extensive ranges between them. In Georgia they approach within 30 miles of each other, and in lower Virginia they coalesce. (PI. LXV.) Blue Ridge. ^he southeastern portion of the mountainous area is the Blue Ridge, a sinuous divide which parts the waters of the Atlantic and the Mississippi. The Blue Ridge stands above 3,000 feet in height, except in a number of deep gaps and a short stretch at the head of Broad River. The northern part of the Blue Ridge consists of ancient plateaus, whose summits are broad and gently rolling and rise to similar heights for long distances. From place to place these vary between 3,100 and 3,801, feet. Less regularity prevails in the southern part of the chain, upon which are situated a few individual peaks and ridges of commanding height. Chief of these are Grandfather Mountain, 5,964 feet, Pinnacle, 5,693 feet, and Standing Indian, 5,562 feet. Four other points exceed 5,000 feet in height. South of the Little Tennessee Basin the Blue Ridge becomes exceedingly irregular, both in height and direction, and finally merges into the Piedmont Plateau. The one feature which distinguishes the Blue Ridge from other Appalachian Mountains is its steep slope on the southeast. This is so extreme as to be, in places, precipitous, and it fronts the adjoining foothills and the Piedmont Plateau like a rampart. (Pis. LVIII, L1X.) Mountains"aka Roughly parallel to the Blue Ridge and bordering the (Treat Valley of Tennessee and Virginia lie a series of high mountains which have many features in common and arise from the same causes, although they have separate names. These begin at the southwest with the Unaka Mountains and are continued in the Great Smoky, the Bald, the Unaka, and the Iron mountains. This northwestern front of the mountain mass is termed, collectively, the "Unaka Mountains," a name which is also applied to two of its parts. In the Smoky Mountains several points arc but a few feet less in altitude than Mount Mitchell—for instance, Mount Guyot, 6,636 feet, and Clingmans Dome. ii,619 feet. From this maximum in the Smokies the Unakas have progressively lower summits in all directions. Cut apart as the segments of the chain are by the rivers, no average elevations can be stated. South of Big Pigeon River most of the summits are above 5,000 feet. North of that river few exceed 5,000 feet, but many are over 4,0(>0. In all, 125 of its summits rise above 5,000 feet, and 10 exceed 6,000 feet. The body of high land in the Smoky Mountains is the greatest in the Appalachians.
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