32 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



BIG LONDON ROCK, ALONG LITTLE RIVER RAILROAD 



when the public becomes acquainted with their wonderful attractive- 

 ness and their economic value as a health and pleasure resort they will 

 become the camping ground of thousands. 

 Water Supply 



Even from the crests of the ridges, the traveler can hardly go a 

 quarter of a mile in an undisturbed portion of the forest without 

 finding a spring of pure, cool water. This water filters through moss 

 and leaves a short distance, and then follows the clean stony bed of a 

 brook down the mountain. The springs are generally perpetual 

 but vary in volume of flow with the rainfal. It is one of the rare 

 mountain sections whore springs flourish to the very highest summits. 

 Agriculture 



From a local viewpoint agriculture and gi-azing are more or less 

 successful industries, and substantially are the only ones of the 

 region. Upon agriculture has depended a century-long livelihood for 

 the sparse population. Its extension is only limited by the steepness 

 of the mountain slopes, and their consequent liability to erosion, 

 the moderate cost of clearing, the distance from market and the 

 paucity of good roads. The principal crops are corn and grass but 

 small grains, apples and other fruits of many varieties grow remark- 

 ably well. 8orglium and sweet potatoes are grown to a limited 

 extent, while along the southeastern slope of the Blue Ridge fields 

 of cotton are often seen. 



In the lower levels a system of progressive exhaustion and abandon- 

 ment of the land has led to great and widespread erosion, by which 

 thousands of acres are now gullied and at the present time are 

 worthless. It will take scores of years, and perhaps a century, to 

 rehabilitate these lands. This fact is not true of the general mass 

 of land that has already been purchased for this park by the 

 government, and other territory that it has under consideration. In 

 spite of "fire scalds" on south slopes, and in other exposed sections 



where the merchantable timber has been removed on the higher levels, 

 there is little or no evidence of erosion. Minor growth comes back 

 quickly, and is followed by a natural re-seeding of the tree growth. 

 Within a month after a severe forest fire, the entire mountain side 

 will bloom out in green. It is only where these abortive attempts 

 at cultivating the soil have prevailed that erosion has transpired 

 that seriously affects soil values. But, with the encroachment and 

 extension of agricultural pursuits upon the higher levels, with the 

 strenuous tree-cutting efforts and careless handling of these forest- 

 covered areas by lumbermen, and by reason of the great frequency 

 and intensity of forest fires, the time has now come when serious 

 erosion wiU take place in the higher levels of the Southern Ap- 

 palachians, and choas will surely follow in the lower land levels and 

 streams of a large portion of the United States, unless prompt pre- 

 vention of the contributing causes are instituted. 



The Forest 



The original forest of the lower levels of this region, as indicated 

 by preserved remnants and by the accounts of old settlers and early 

 explorers, must have been remarkable in the extent, density, size and 

 quality of its timber trees, as well as for the variety of these species. 

 Through inaccessibility a large proportion of the higher levels are still 

 in a virgin state, but they are not as valuable forests as those that 

 originally obtained at altitudes of from one to three thousand feet. 

 For example, poplar and oak, perhaps the most valuable woods grow- 

 ing in this section, "run out" at elevations of about four thousand 

 feet, and oak notably does not prevail to any considerable extent 

 above three thousand feet elevation. The chief forest wealth of the 

 lower Appalachians consists of yellow poplar, red oak (the true 

 Quercus rubra) and a dozen other varieties of valuable red and white 

 oak, cherry, a half dozen kinds of hickory, chestnut, white ash, 

 buckeye, cucumber, sycamore, red and black birch, hard and soft 

 maple, hemlock, basswood, white walnut and black walnut and the 



I.iiWEK REArillos ol- \\Ilni:\VATKR RIVEK. OIUNKK COUNTY. 

 SOUTH (AltuLINA 



