160 THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN FORESTS. 



road through the "Gulf" is reached. The old State road, lying at an elevation 

 of 4,000 feet on the west slope of Max Patch Mountain, is the only means of 

 reaching Waynesville, which is 22 miles from the head of Cold Spring Creek, 

 There is no road down Cold Spring Creek and no post-office within 7 miles of 

 the settlement on this stream. 



Cutting. No cutting has been done for commercial purposes on either stream, 

 and as most of the farms are new, there has been but little culling for domestic use. 



Fire. Most of the southern slopes are burned over each fall, but the lires 

 rarely pass beyond the leaves, destroying the young growth and occasionally 

 injuring mature trees. 



liejjroduction. All of the important trees seed frequentlv and would reproduce 

 abundantly but for the tires. Small trees of nearly all the hard woods sprout 

 from the stump, but there is little growth of this kind except from young seedlings 

 killed by fires. 



Second growth. On account of the dense forest cover on the north slopes, 

 there are few 3'oung trees beyond an occasional group of shade-enduring beech, 

 hard maple, or hemlock. On south slopes and crests fires suppress joung trees. 



Undergrowth. Thoi woods are open below, and there is scant undergrowth 

 beyond an occasional thicket of laurel or witch-hazel. 



Bate of growth. The rate of growth is very good, except on the dry ridges 

 and southern slopes or where the ground has been robbed of its humus by fire. 

 Yellow poplar and chestnut make excellent growth. 



Water power. There is a small sawmill, cutting only for local use, and a 

 gristmill on Cold Spring Creek, and there are other available sites for small 

 mills, but the power obtainable would not be over 20 horsepower. 



Ownership). There are 10 families on Cold Spring Creek 1 on Ground Hog 

 Creek and 9 at Waterville on Pigeon River but their combined holdings are not 

 large. 



Prices of land. Land, whether cleared or j'^et in timber, is valued at $6 to 

 $12 per acre, 



EAST FORK OF PIGEON RIVER BASIN (hAYWOOD COUNTY, N. c). 



Area. Total, 49 square miles: cleared, 8 square miles; severely burned, 1 

 square mile; wooded, 41 square miles. 



Surface. The greater portion of the watershed is a deep, narrow valley about 

 18 miles long, surrounded, except near its mouth, by loftv ridges with steep and 

 often rocky slopes. There are some alluvial bottoms of limited area on the middle 

 and lower part of the stream, but these are not extensive and have been badly 

 washed in places by terrible freshets, which arc frequent on this stream. 



