WESTERN RED HILLS. 29 



SOILS. 



The soils seem to be mainly residual from the Eocene 

 strata, and range from black sticky calcareous clay to sand 

 and rocky slopes. Although few chemical analyses are avail- 

 able, the fertility seems to be a little above the average, 

 phosphorus for one thing being usually present in ample 

 amounts. Some shade of red is the prevailing color. The 

 predominating texture classes, in the western red hills and 

 lime hills together, are fine sandy loam (making a little over 

 half the total), clay, sandy loam, fine sand, sand, gravelly 

 sandy loam, meadow, silt loam, and stony clay. 



FIG. 4. Looking about northeast from brow of Lookout Hill, one 

 of the Buhrstone ridges, said to be the highest elevation in Monroe 

 County. Horizon probably 10 or 12 miles away. Oct. 28, 1919. 



TOPOGRAPHY AND DRAINAGE. 



The topography varies from rolling to almost moun- 

 tainous, and in some portions is decidedly rugged as com- 

 pared with most other parts of the coastal plain. The steep 

 Buhrstone ridges attain a height of over 500 feet above sea- 

 level, or perhaps 200 feet above the neighboring valleys, in 

 Choctaw and Monroe Counties, and some of those in the 

 Hatchetigbee anticline cannot be much lower. The only 

 railroad tunnel in southern Alabama and perhaps the 

 southernmost one in the United States pierces one of the 

 Buhrstone ridges near Tunnel Springs in Monroe County. 



