PIGEON EIVEE BASIN. 163 



Yield. The best lands will cut more than 3,000 feet B. M. per acre; the 

 poorer and dryer lands not so much. 



Demand. The best poplar brings about $4 per thousand feet on the stump; 

 oak and other hard woods less. There are at present six small mills in opera- 

 tion, with a combined capacity of 40,000 feet per day. The best timber has been 

 removed to within 4 miles of the head of the basin. 



Accessibility. A well-graded wagon road leads to Waynesville, 8 miles from 

 Delwood. 



Second groxoth. Scarlet oak and chestnut form the greater portion of the 

 second growth. 



TJndergrmnth. Small thickets of rhododendron and Kalmia form the under- 

 brush, which is scant, except in the hollows. 



Reproduction. In the forest there is scant young growth, even where cutting 

 has been in progress. 



Rate of groivth. Accretion is about normal for the altitude. 



Water power. The stream is too small to aflford sufficient power for any 

 except very small mills. 



OionersJii'p. There are many small tracts. About 25 families live above 

 Delwood. 



Prices of land. Agricultural land sells at $10 to $50 per acre; woodland, at 

 $2 to $20 per acre. 



WEST FORK OF PIGEON RIVER BASIN ABOVE LAVINIA (hAYWOOD COUNTY, N. C). 



Area. Total, 33 square miles; cleared, 5 square miles; wooded, 28 square 

 miles; severely burned, 1 square mile. 



Surface. The stream flows in a gorge between Fork and Balsam mountains. 

 In the lower part of the valley there are some small alluvial bottoms and a few 

 gentle slopes, but in the upper part there are no bottoms. The slopes are steep, 

 many of them very rough, rocky, and precipitous, and unsuited even for grazing. 

 There are many tributary streams which have a rapid descent, and toward 

 the heads of some of them are some gentle slopes, though the prevailing topog- 

 raph}' is extremely rough. 



So'ls. The upland soils are generally loose and thin; those of the bottom 

 lands are sandy and not very productive. The uplands are often rocky. On 

 account of the prevailing aspect, which is northerly, and the surrounding high 

 mountains and the great altitude, the region is very cold; this in itself tends to 

 limit the productive power of the soils. 



Humus and litter. Leaf mold is generally very deep, except along the crests 

 of ridges and on southern slopes, or on burned lands. 



