34S 



NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



The original vegetation constituted 

 practically a vast wilderness of hard- 

 wood forests. There occur, however, 

 some of the coniferous species as follows: 

 bald cypress in the swamp lands and 

 along the sluggish streams of the West 

 Tennessee Plateau; short-leaf pine on 

 the southern part of this plateau: in 

 the Highland Rim, scrub pine (P. Vir- 

 giniana) and short leaf pine; in the 

 Cumberland Plateau white pine, short- 

 leaf pine, scrub pine and hemlock; in 

 the Unaka Range white pine (at its foot), 

 shortleaf pine, hemlock, red spruce, 

 Fraser fir and pitch pine; in the East 

 Tennessee Valley scrub pine, short leaf 

 pine and white pine; in the Great 

 Central Basin, red cedar {Juniperus 

 virginiana). Red cedar was found 

 originally in almost all sections of the 

 state, but was most abundant in the 

 Great Central Basin. 



In the hardwood forests of the West 

 Tennessee Plateau, the principal species 

 were red oak, black oak, post oak, white 

 oak, scarlet oak, hickory, sweet gum, 

 tupelo gum, black gum, sycamore and 

 yellow poplar. On the Highland Rim, 

 the chief trees were red oak, black oak, 

 blackjack oak, post oak, red maple, 

 chestnut, poplar, hickory and white oak. 

 In the Great Central Basin, yellow 

 poplar, black oak, burr oak, red oak, 

 walnut, hickory, white oak, sugar maple, 

 hackberry, elm, American elm, and bass 

 wood were the chief trees; in the Cum- 

 berland Plateau were chestnut, yellow 

 poplar, white oak, black oak, red oak, 

 scarlet oak, walnut, bass wood, buckeye. 

 In the East Tennessee Valley were found 

 chestnut, yellow poplar, white oak, black 

 oak, walnut, hickory. In the Unaka 

 Range, chestnut, black cherry, cucumber 

 tree, white oak, black oak, yellow poplar, 

 sugar maple, l^lack birch and beech were 

 found. Mountain laurel and rhododen- 

 dron abound in some localities of the 

 Highland Rim, Cumberlands and Una- 

 kas. The forests which are replacing 

 the original are in type the same as the 

 original. 



The original mammals included the 

 blaok bear {Ursus emericanus), Virginia 



deer (Odocoileus virginianus), cougar, 

 grey fox, red fox, opossum, bob-cat, 

 raccoon, gray squirrel, fox squirrel, 

 flying-squirrel, muskrat, beaver, mink, 

 and otter. 



The cougar, originally in the Unakas, 

 is now extinct. The birds of the state 

 are said to number about 275 species. ^ 

 Among these are included the golden 

 eagle and the bald eagle. It is claimed 

 that there are not more than four pairs 

 of the bald eagle now in the state and 

 possibly one pair of golden eagle. The 

 bald eagle has its home in the woodlands 

 at Reelfoot Lake; here also the golden 

 eagle is an occasional visitor. The 

 golden eagle is said to nest and rear its 

 young in the Unaka Range, in Monroe 

 County, Tennessee. The wild turkey 

 and pheasant which once abounded in 

 all sections of the state, have become 

 very rare. 



The streams abounded in fish consist- 

 ing largely, of yellow cat, channel or blue 

 cat, buffalo, eastern brook trout, black 

 bass, sucker, red horse and perch. 



II. NATURAL AREAS 



*Reelfoot Lake, State Game Preserve. 

 (B3.) This body of water is very ir- 

 regular in the contour of its banks and 

 is about 15 mi. long and probably 5 mi. 

 wide in its widest place. It was formed 

 by an earthquake in 1812. The lake 

 abounds in black bass, perch and crappie. 

 Reelfoot Lake can be reached by auto- 

 mobile from Union City, situated on 

 both the N. C. & St. L. Ry. and the 

 Mobile and Ohio Ry. The distance from 

 Union City to the lake is about 20 mi. 

 The lake may be reached also from 

 stations along the Illinois Central be- 

 tween Dyersburg and Rieves or from 

 stations along the C. M. & C. Ry. which 

 passes on the west side of the Lake. 

 (Nelson, Wilbur A.: "Reelfoot — an 

 Earthquake Lake in Tennessee." Nat. 

 Geog. Mag., 45: 95-114, January, 1924.) 



There are no state parks. The state 

 however, owns a total of about 

 30,000 acres of land exclusive of Reel- 



2 Preliminary list of birds in Tenn., by A. F. 

 Ganier (Nashville, Tenn.). 



