DISTRICT WEST OF THE TENNESSEE RIVER. 7 
comparatively poor strip of forest country is not devoid of 
valuable timber growth. There is an area of more or less 
flat table land lying south of Wadesboro, between East Fork 
of Clark river and the head waters of Mayfield creek, in 
which, if we except a few small streams, no water is to be 
found. I call especial attention to the position of this strip 
of table land here, for it becomes of importance further on in 
the Report, in the discussion of the succession of timbers. 
DRAINS UPON THE TIMBER AND THE TIMBER RESOURCES OF THIS 
DISTRICT. 
At Paducah there are several extensive timber establish- 
ments, the principal of which are those of Langstaff, Orm & 
Co., and McKnight & Co. The former firm claims to have 
the fastest saw in the world, with which they cut 8,204 feet 
of lumber per hour. They average 80,000 feet of lumber per 
week the year round, and keep their yard stocked with 2,000,- 
000 feet of ready-sawed and dried lumber. The principal tim- 
bers cut are, of course, white oak and liriodendron (yellow 
poplar); but, in addition to these, are also elm, ash, hickory, 
sweet gum, cotton tree, yellow pine, cypress, walnut, cherry, 
etc. The white oak, gum, and cypress are obtained, to a 
considerable extent, from the State of Kentucky, from which 
they get about one third of their timbers. The value per 
thousand feet of these timbers, in the log, at Paducah, is as 
follows: Oak, $6 to $10; poplar, $5 to $8; walnut, $10 to 
#¢15; white hickory (second growth), $10; sweet gum, $3 to 
#5; cotton-wood, $3 to $5; pine, $8; cherry, $10 to $15, and so 
on. McKnight & Co. saw 2,000,000 feet of lumber annually, 
about 50,000 feet of which is walnut. More than two thirds 
of all the timber sawed in Paducah is brought down the Ten- 
nessee river, which forms a convenient and cheap means of 
transportation for the vast forests that crowd its banks from 
its mouth to its head. However, the Paducah lumber estab- 
lishments have largely drained the lower Tennessee district, 
and the timbers are now floated down from far above. The 
time will come, though I think not soon, when the Purchase 
143 
