182 



cut over and will yield on an average only about i,ooo or 1,500 board 

 feet of saw-timber per acre. 



Cache River. — The bottoms of Cache River extend through 

 Alexander, Pulaski, and Massac counties, and reach also into southern 

 Johnson and eastern Pope. There is but slight difference in elevation 

 between the upper waters of Cache River and its mouth, and this 

 results in very imperfect drainage. Large sloughs, such as Black 

 Horse in Massac County, are under water practically throughout the 

 entire year. These sloughs are covered with a cypress-tupelo mixture, 

 much like the slough type of the lower Mississippi Valley. The stands 

 are dense, with tall, straight trunks rising high from buttressed bases. 

 Owing to the difficulties of logging, much of this timber is still 

 standing, although most of it is now held by a single company and is 

 in process of removal. Of the bottomlands as a whole, about half 

 are cleared for cultivation, and the more accessible situations have 

 been heavily cut over. Outside of the sloughs the ordinary bottomland 

 types are found. Beech, although not a typical tree on broad bottoms, 

 is found here in considerable amount, both in Pulaski and Alexander 

 counties, but chiefly in the bottoms adjacent to hill lands on the north. 

 The surface soil here usually consists of wash from the hills. Culled 

 forests on the Cache River average about 2,000 board feet of saw- 

 timber per acre, while the virgin stands will run 10,000 board feet over 

 extensive tracts. 



Wabash River. — The Wabash River bottom forest differs from 

 that of the Cache River chiefly in the lack of large permanently 

 inundated areas covered with tupelo and cypress. The type extends 

 up the numerous tributary streams, such as the Little Wabash and 

 Embarras. The Saline River, though not a triubtary of the Wabash. 

 is bordered by practically the same type. These bottom areas extend 

 into Gallatin, Saline, White, Wabash, Edwards, Lawrence, and Hamil- 

 ton counties. 



The bottoms of the Wabash and Ohio are quoted in all authorities 

 as the optimum habitat for a great number of the bottomland hard- 

 woods of the eastern United States. In variety and size of trees this 

 region formerly held the record. Descriptions written by Ridgway in 

 the early seventies give a very good idea of the wonders of the virgin 

 forests. He says in part v'^ 



"That portion of the valley of the Wabash River and its tributaries 

 lying south of latitude about 38° 25' contains a sylva peculiarly rich, 

 and also remarkable for combining within one area many of the 

 characteristic trees, as well as other plants, of the northern, southern, 



* Notes on the Vegetation of the Lower "Wabash Valley. Kobert Eidgway 

 American Naturalist, Vol. 6, p. 658. 



