ISTEW EIVEE BASIN. 67 



Water poiver. The lower portion of Elk Creek would furnish abundant power 

 for large factories. This tract also borders on New River, which has enormous 

 power and very favorable mill sites. 



Ownership. Local . 



Occupancy. About 150 families are living in this district. 



Prices of land. The mountain lands are worth from 50 cents to $1 per acre; 

 the valley land, from $10 to $40. 



PEACH BOTTOM CREEK DISTRICT f GRAYSON COUNTY, VA.). 



Boundaries. On the north, the Elk Creek divide; on the east, New River; 

 on the south and west. Buck Mountain and its southeastward spur to New River 

 near the mouth of Peach Bottom Creek. 



Area. Total, 37.75 square miles; cleared, 19 square miles; wooded, 18.75 

 square miles. 



Surface. Rolling to mountainous, with narrow and interrupted creek bottoms. 



Soil. In general a red clayey loam. 



Agricultural value. All the soil was very productive when first cleared, but 

 is now much depleted by continued cropping and erosion. Many of the hill 

 fields are deeply gullied and can be used only for pasturage. Frequently the 

 scant grass and Japanese clover on 6 acres would hardly support a cow. About 

 one-third, or 4,000 acres, of the cleared land is adapted to permanent agriculture. 



Timber trees. Chestnut, 25 per cent; chestnut oak, 10 per cent; red oak, 6 

 per cent; white oak, 10 per cent; maple, 8 per cent; gum, 3 per cent; linn, 2 

 per cent; cucumber, 2 per cent; hemlock, 5 per cent; white pine, 1 per cent; 

 black pine, 1 per cent; other species, 27 per cent. 



Yield. \^o^ timber, 26,400 M feet B. M.; small wood, 91,200 cords. 



Demand. One dollar per thousand feet for white pine on the stump is the 

 best price known. Choice hard woods might bring more, but the haul is long 

 and expensive. 



Accessibility. Soft woods could be floated down New River. Heretofore 

 hard woods were too far from rail to be put on the general market. If the 

 proposed branch of the Norfolk and Western Railway be built up New River, it 

 would make a convenient market for this timber. The haul would then be 

 down grade. The slopes of Point Lookout and Buck Mountain are steep and 

 rocky and diflBcult to log. 



Fire. The woodlands on Point Lookout and Buck Mountain have been much 

 burned in the general effort to make pasture land. Elsewhere the woodlands are 

 protected by the surrounding clearings, and fires are not common. 



