FOREST CONDITIONS OF MISSISSIPPI. 11 



omingo and Itawamba Counties lie in the oldest geological 

 formation of the State. Here alone has a high-grade 

 buildfQg stone been found. This stone and the gravel of 

 these hills are excellent for road building, and will doubt- 

 less be exploited for that purpose. 



On the Mississippi side of the Tennessee River, which 

 borders the northeast comer of the State, the hills begin 

 only a short distance away, and there is very little bottom- 

 land. The original forest of oaks, black walnut, yellow 

 poplar, ash, hickories, sycamore and gums on the immediate 

 banks of the Tennessee has for many years been culled of 

 the merchantable species. The Tennessee hills, which 

 divide the waters of the Tennessee River from those of 

 the Tombigbee, were or'ginally forested with shortleaf 

 pine mixed with post, blackjack and Spanish oaks. In 

 the more fertile situations, as on the low slopes and near 

 the heads of streams, white and red oaks, yellow poplar 

 and dogwood enter into the mixture. 



xne portions of the region within eight or twelve miles 

 of railroads have been cut over for from fifteen to twenty- 

 five years. A line of railroad, extending in a southeasterly 

 direction through Tishomingo County, has recently been 

 built by the Illinois Central. It traverses large tracts of 

 virgin shortleaf pine timber land, the greater part of which 

 is held by a few large companies. One company owns 

 130,000,000 feet of shortleaf pine stumpage in Tishomingo 

 County. This is less than nine years' run with a mill 

 cutting about 15,000,000 feet a year. The largest tract 

 in the region contains approximately 28,000 acres, and is 

 located in eastern Itawamba County along the Alabama 

 State line. The timber on this tract is mainly shortleaf 

 pine mixed with white and red oaks and yellow poplar. 

 It will average fully 6,000 board feet an acre. The land 

 was purchased a few years ago for about $5 an acre, and 

 the timber alone is now worth several times that amount. 



In northern and eastern Lowndes County there are a 

 few very large tracts of shortleaf pine timber land. On 

 one tract of 5,000 acres, where the company which owns 

 the timber has already cut a great deal, it is estimated 



