NOLICHUCKY RIVER BASIN. 113 



interior basin. The mountain coves also contain deep dark loam, which is very 

 fertile. Some of the ridges, however, have a light shallow soil, owing to erosion 

 of humus and loose earth. 



Agr'icuUure. Twenty-four per cent of this basin is cleared land, most of 

 which is grazed, although much of it is well adapted to diversified farming, 

 which is unprofitable now because of the distance from market, k great draw- 

 back to agriculture is the cutting awaj^ of uncovered hill fields by the dashing 

 rains and the deposition of the eroded material on other fields in the bottoms. 



Floods. The floods of the Nolichucky are notorious. The}^ may be partly 

 due to the topographic configuration of the area, by reason of which a rise of 

 the three main tributaries at one time may cause a flood in the river. There is 

 no room for doubt, however, that the large amount of cleared land in this basin 

 greatly increases the floods. Every resident who has known the river ten years 

 or more states very positively that the volume of water is now much less 

 constant than in former years. In Yance}'^ County manj^ of the steep slopes in 

 the basins of Caney River, Bald Creek, and in the vicinit}^ of Burnsville, which 

 have for man}- successive years been planted in corn or small grain, are deeply 

 eroded, and some such fields have been abandoned. The same statement will 

 apply to much steep land in Mitchell County, on the waters of Cane and Big 

 Rock creeks, and in the vicinity of Red Hill. The lands at higher elevations, 

 which have been retained in grass, are less damaged. 



The alluvial lands of the Nolichucky were severely washed b}^ several freshets 

 during the spring and summer of 1901, the most severe being that of May 20 

 to May 23, which caused damage to land and other property in Mitchell County 

 to the amount of $200,000 or more. All of the soil on the flood plain of Cane 

 Creek, 9 miles in length, was removed, leaving only the large stones and rock, 

 and many fine farms on North Toe River were destroyed. More than twenty 

 dwellings, several mills and dams, and many million feet of sawlogs are known 

 to have been washed away. In addition, the damage to the public highways was 

 $50 or more per mile, aggregating $50,000, while the railroad sustained an 

 equal loss in the injury to roadbed, bridges, and culverts, making the total loss 

 in one season by erosion at least $300,000 in Mitchell County alone. 



The forest. Although greatly broken by clearings, large areas of woodland 

 remain on the Unicoi and parallel ranges, on the northwestern border, on Roan 

 Mountain, the Blue Ridge, the Black Mountain group, and the western tribu- 

 taries of Cane}'- River. The basin contains 1,553,340 M feet B. M. of log timber 

 and 7,100,360 cords of small wood. 

 10336 No. 3705 8 



