SECTION FROM THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER TO POUND GAP. aay 
ing bushes” (Euonymus Americana) are also found. The 
formation is coal measures. 
At Whitesburg the North Fork of Kentucky river is 
reached again, and for some distance beyond the road follows 
the river pretty closely. The usual lowland timbers, of which 
lists have been given, are met with. “A great deal of sweet 
gum is found in localities, especially about five miles from 
Whitesburg. The hills near the river are largely covered 
‘with poor sandstone shale, and the timbers are not very good. 
At a distance from the river, however, the hills are richer, 
and the forests are very valuable. Considerable white walnut 
and black birch are found all through the woods. Otherwise, 
the timbers remain comparatively unchanged, until the head 
waters of North Fork of Kentucky river are reached, at the 
base of the mountain below Pound Gap. 
On the mountain sides near Pound Gap and along the 
‘dark, rich ravines, stately and beautiful walnut, linden (Amer- 
ican and white), black birch, black cherry, white oak, lirioden- 
dron, hickories, and most of the valuable forest timbers of the 
State, flourish in the greatest abundance. The ancient forests 
stand unharmed by the ax, and are likely so to remain for some 
‘years to come. 
About three quarters of a mile from Pound Gap, the road 
crosses the Pine Mountain fault, and we pass at once from 
the coal measures to Devonian shale. The shale is only a 
Marrow strip, however, and we are soon on the overlying 
Keokuk, and, inasmuch as that is one of the richest timber- 
producing formations in the State, growing alike the timbers 
of the limestones and those of the sandstones, the splendor 
of the forests is only slightly interrupted. When I speak of 
the Keokuk being one of the richest timber-producing forma- 
tions known, I have reference to the Keokuk limestones of 
the East, for the Waverly shales are among the poorest of all 
formations—as dry, thin, and unproductive as the Devonian 
shales. 
The observer will notice, all through this part of Pine Moun- 
tain, that there are two belts of pine trees. The mountain 
207 
