WATAUGA EI VEE BASIN. 91 



5,964 feet; Beech Mountain, 5,222 feet; Yellow Mountain, 5,600 feet; Roan 

 Mountain, 6,313 feet, and Ripshin Mountain, 4,800 feet. These are on the 

 border. The interior portion is broken into many subordinate ridges, reaching 

 an altitude of 3,000 to 4,000 feet, with deep, narrow valleys eroded down to an 

 altitude of 3,000 to 2,000 feet. 



This basin has an area of 440,992 acres, of which 66 per cent is wooded. 



Soil. The soil of the mountains and ridges is derived directly from granite, 

 gneiss, and schist by decomposition, and much of it is very fertile loam, of 

 excellent physical, as well as chemical, composition. Washing, however, has 

 carried much of the desirable material down to the valleys and left the soil of 

 the ridges inferior, especially on southern slopes. The valley soil is of two 

 general classes (1) the red clayey loam of the lower foothills and (2) alluvial 

 bottom land, some of which is too porous or too stony, but most of which makes 

 excellent farm land. Altogether, the newly cleared soil is very good, but many 

 burned ridges and old washed fields are in a very poor condition, notably in 

 the valley of Little Doe River. 



Agriculture. Along Stony, Cove, and Roane creeks, Doe River, the main 

 Watauga, and manj^ minor streams are excellent large farms, growing corn, 

 wheat, rye, oats, grass, and vegetables. On almost every creek and in many 

 of the mountain coves are families depending upon the farm for the greater 

 portion or all of their living. While much has been cleared that would be 

 better adapted to timber growing if a timber market were within reach, there 

 is altogether a large area that is best adapted to farming. It is safe to say 

 that a broad economic policy would have little or no more forest land cleared 

 than is now under cultivation, and that attention should be given to keeping 

 what land is cleared in good condition rather than to clearing more to be 

 exhausted and washed until worthless. 



Damage hy floods. In this basin it is estimated that on farm land the 

 average damage by floods during the season of 1901 was not less than $1 per 

 acre. This amounts to over $200,000 for the whole basin. Damages to rail- 

 roads amounted to 1250,000, 9 bridges and about 25 miles of track being washed 

 out. The damage to wagon roads can hardly be estimated; at many points 

 entirely new roads were necessarj^, costing probably $500,000 altogether. 

 Buildings and personal property destroyed swell the total loss to approximately 

 $2,000,000. 



The forest. The remaining forests are on the ridges, mountain ranges, 

 and spurs. These are somewhat dotted with clearings, especially in the granitic 

 region south of the Iron Mountain gorge and along the north slope of Beech 

 Mountain and in the Elk Creek basin. The lowlands have been almost entirely 



