LONGLEAP PINE IN ALABAMA. 



41 



THE CENTUAI. PINK HELT OF AI.AllAMA. 



The middle portion oC the State is crossed from its eastern boundary nearly to its western, 

 with a decided northern trend alonj; the western border, by a belt of drifted loamy sands, pebbles, 

 and liglit loams covered in the eastern and central i)arts with an almost continuous forest of Lony-- 

 leaf Tine, interrupted only by strips of hard wood which ocrupy the bottom lands. In its eastern 

 extent the Longleaf Pine becomes associated with upland oaks, hickories, and Shortleaf Pine, the 

 Longleaf Pine beiiiji' entirely replaced in tlie northern extension of tliis belt by tlie latter species. 



This region of giavciiy hills, as it is designated in the agricultural reports,' is 200 miles in 

 length, 5 to 35 miles in width, and extends over about 2,000 square miles. In the sections where 

 the forest consists almost exclusively of Longleaf Pine tlie stand of timber is heavy and of fine 

 quality. Operators claim for these timber lands a yield of from 5,000 to (;,000 feet of merchantable 

 timber to the acre, excluding all trees under 12 inches diameter. 



Ever since the oiieiiing of the great railroad lines leading to Northern markets the manufacture 

 of lumber in this central pine belt has been carried on with unabated activity. In ISSO not less 

 than 80,000,000 feet, board measure, were transported by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad 

 alone, mostly to the great Northwestern centers of commerce. In 18S(i the production declined to 

 50,000,000 feet. At present most of the older mill sites have been abandoned and a few new ones 

 established in other localities. Colonel Wads worth reports 12 mills in opeiation located along 

 tiie Louisville and Nash\ille Kailroad, with au output of a little over 40,000,000 feet a year on the 

 average of the past few years. To this is to be added the production of the few mills on the IMobile 

 and Pirniingham Railroad, which will increase the present production in the central pine belt to 

 about 50,000,000 feet a year. 



THE FORESTS OF LONGLEAF I'INE IN NOUTH ALABAMA. 



Forests of Longleaf Pine prevail with more or less interruption in the basin of the Coosa River, 

 principally on the beds of flinty pebbles and light, sandy loam which follow the ui)per course of 

 the river from the base of the Lookout JMountain range near Gadsden to a short distance beyond 

 the State line in Floyd County, Ga., where the Longleaf Pine finds its northern limit in about ;U'^ 

 north latitude, at au elevation above the sea of about 000 feet. With the reajtijearaiice of the 

 above deposits south of Calhoun County the pine forests extend on the eastern side of the valley 

 south to Childersburg. On the isolated ridges of old Silurian sandstone (Potsdam), and the met- 

 aniorphic region adjoining, the Longleaf Pine is scattered and stunted and is not found at a greater 

 height than 1,000 feet above the sea. In proximity to the mineral region tlie rugged hills and 

 mountain sides have been completely denuded, the pine having been cut for charcoal to supply the 

 blast furnaces. In the valleys the forests of Longleaf Pine are of average density and the timber 

 is considered of excellent ([uality, particularly in the northern jiart of the valley in Etowah and 

 Cherokee counties. On the lower hills the timber is less abundant and somewhat inferior iii si/,e. 

 The measurements of five trees felled in the hills near Renfroe, Talladega County, cau be said to 

 fairly represent the average quality of this pine timber. The undergrowth in the open forest 

 covering the low ridges and the narrow valleys is dense, consisting of Blackjack, Spanish Oak, 

 Pignut, and Bitternut Hickory. 



Meanuri-menU of fire trees. 



' E. A. Smith: Agricultural Kescurces of Alabama, Vol. V. Reports of Geological Survey of Alabama. 



