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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  • 128 SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION. of water increasing rapidly at the time of rain on the mountain sides. In many parts the stream valleys are simply mountain gorges, with steep, vertical sides, and with very small flood plains. Water powers could be developed at many places along these rivers, the fall in the upper part reaching, in some cases, 100 feet in an almost vertical drop, though the quantity of water at these points is comparatively small. When the rivers reach the plains lying at the edge of the mountain system their fall is very much less, yet at frequent intervals decided drops occur, and the flow is so increased by the numerous tributaries that water powers of considerable magnitude and value can be developed. THE RAINFALL, AND RUN-OFF IN THIS REGION. In this region the influence of elevation on climate is supreme; the summers are colder, the winters more severe, and the climate is drier and more salubrious than at points not far distant, but outside of the high mountain area. The trend of the mountains to the southwest influences the prevailing winds, while the great diversity in topographic features give rise to many interesting climatic peculiarities. On the mountains near the southern end of the Appalachian system the rainfall is very heavy, but, on the other hand, in many central valleys the rainfall is as light and the climate as mild as at many points east of the Blue Ridge. scribecffn Wea- ne area embraced iii the proposed reserve belongs to that ther Bureau Pa-portion of the eastern United States characterized by the greatest annual rainfall, there being places along the southeastern slopes of the Blue Ridge which receive an annual precipitation not exceeded elsewhere in the United States, except along the northwest Pacific coast. The average rainfall for a period of more than ten years at various places in the southern Appalachian Mountains in northern Georgia and western North Carolina and South Carolina has been nearly 73 inches, while at times the precipitation tor a single month has been between 20 and 30 inches, the greatest amount falling in the three summer months and nc least in autumn, the amounts in winter and spring being about the same It is worthy of remark that the average precipitation at Asheville is only about 42 inches-the smallest rainfall record made at any station in the region.
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Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).