REPORT ON THE TIMBERS OF THE 
other, a few chestnut bushes are found; but they stop abso- 
lutely and abruptly at the tops of these two slopes, and on the 
other sides of the same hills not a chestnut bush is to be 
found. Nor is there any chestnut in any other part of this 
section of the country. I was told that there were a few 
bushes five or six miles off on Middle Fork, but I did not 
see any. How these chestnut bushes came to grow upon 
the faces of these two hills I cannot imagine; for they could 
not have come from seeds floated down the stream, inasmuch 
as the mountain above the head of the stream has no chest- 
nut on it, and never has had any so far as I could find out. 
The people have recognized the peculiarity of the growth, 
as is indicated by the name of the stream. A few chestnut 
bushes were found in one or two other spots in the Purchase, 
whose presence and limited distribution are as hard to account 
for as those of the Chestnut creek timbers. 
There is a considerable amount of black walnut scattered 
through the Purchase country, most of which is found high up 
on the heads of streams. There is more or less of it found 
on the head waters of all the streams, but an especially large 
quantity is met with on Brush creek and on the streams that 
form the North Fork of Obion river. There is no market 
for walnut timber in this part of Kentucky and no value is 
attached to it. It is ruthlessly cut and sawed by the little 
saw-mills that spring up wherever there is a local demand for 
lumber. It sells for about three dollars a tree, and a piece of 
walnut timber that would bring $150 in New York is considered 
dear at $4 or $5. There is an amount of improvidence shown 
by Kentucky people in dealing with their forests which would 
astonish any other civilized people. It is not shown in regard 
to the walnut alone. In the wide flat woods south of Paducah 
there is considerable valuable white oak, which is all the more 
valuable because it is within a few miles of its best market; 
but I constantly noticed the people cutting this white oak for 
fuel, notwithstanding the woods are full of Spanish oak and 
black oak, which make fully as good fire-wood, and are valua- 
ble for nothing else. As a rule, the tree nearest to the house 
148 
ee 
