DISTRICT WEST OF THE TENNESSEE RIVER. 23 
hickory, liriodendron, sweet gum, bartram oak, and cypress 
are unsurpassed. The bottom of North Fork varies from one 
half mile to three miles in width, and is a broad belt of the 
most beautiful and valuable timbers throughout the entire 
length of the river. A great quantity of pin oak and swamp 
daurel oak is also found on North Fork. 
After passing North Fork the country is rather hilly again, 
until the region of Little Mayfield creek is reached. Through 
this hilly section, however, there is a great deal of white oak 
and liriodendron, the latter amounting to an average of prob- 
ably eight*per cent. of the forest timbers. There is a valua- 
ble body of timber off to the east of Blandville, on the net- 
work of creeks, consisting of Wilson’s Fork, Mahon’s creek, 
Sugar creek, and others which are tributary to Mayfield 
creek. Of course, the bottom lands on Mayfield creek grow 
wider as we approach its mouth, and the body of timbers 
along its banks grows more extensive and valuable. But 
north of Milburn, before reaching the net-work of creeks 
referred to, there is a section of. country where the white 
‘oak ceases to be a forest timber. It is found only on the 
lowest spots of ground, and, elsewhere,is superseded entirely 
by black oak and Spanish oak. 
_ About thirteen miles from Paducah, on the Blandville road, 
we again meet with the more or less grayish table land lying 
south of Paducah, throughout which white oak, black oak, 
Spanish oak, post oak, and black hickory are irregularly 
scattered, alternating one with another in a seemingly un- 
-accountable way. 
TABLES. 
The following are tables of the timbers met with in various 
parts of the Purchase. The areas usually cover twenty-five 
hundred square yards of ground, more or less, are chosen at 
intervals of four to eight miles along the road, and are as 
nearly representative as such tables could be made. They 
are given in the order in which they were taken, which will 
‘be gathered from the previous section, “Timber in Detail.” 
159 
