180 THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN FORESTS. 



LITTLE TENNESSEE RIVER BASIN. 



Topography. Little Tennessee River, with its tributaries, drains a large area, 

 extending from the Blue Ridge on the south to the Great Smoky Mountains on 

 the north, including all the territory between the basins of Pigeon and Hiwassee 

 rivers. Its larger tributaries are the Tuckasegee from the east, the Oconalufty 

 from the northeast, the Cheoah from the southwest, and the Nantahala from 

 the south, while the upper portion of the Tennessee heads on top of the Blue 

 Ridge. These waters pass through the Tennessee into Ohio River. 



The upper or southern part of the basin lying on the northwest slope of the 

 Blue Ridge is an elevated plateau region, having an altitude of more than 3,000 

 feet, with low, rounded, granite knobs and few high summits, and broad alluvial 

 flats, the deposit of the slow streams. The Balsam, Great Smoky, and Unaka 

 rtioun tains, with many crests over 6,000 feet high, form the watershed on the 

 north and west, and from these descend into the northern portion of the basin 

 many swift streams, which have carved deep, narrow valleys, leaving high inter- 

 vening ridges with steep and rugged slopes. The watersheds between several 

 of these streams are high and rough, especially in the Cheoah, Nantahala, and 

 Cowee ranges. The lower part of the basin includes some of the most rugged 

 land in the Southern Appalachians, with only a very small part suited for tillage, 

 and few alluvial bottoms, but in the upper part much of the mountain land is 

 not steep, and there are several large and fertile valleys. 



This basin has an area of 1,018,054 acres, of which 91 per cent is wooded. 



Soil. The soils in the upper part of the basin are sandy, derived from 

 granite. On the Little Tennessee River, around and above Franklin, where most 

 of the good farms are located, they are of deep and fertile red loams, derived from 

 schists. In the narrow valleys around the high mountains, where sandstones, 

 quartzite, and conglomerates prevail, the soils are generalh' thin and sandy, and 

 poor agriculturally, but on north slopes and in hollows are well suited to forests. 

 The alluvial bottoms of many of the streams are also light and sandy, though 

 those of the Little Tennessee are silts of the finest texture. 



Agriculture. All of the land available for tillage has been cleared. Corn is 

 the staple crop on both alluvium and upland, the yield of small grain, grass, and 

 apples being much smaller than in other mountain counties farther north. At 

 high altitudes and on some of the stiffer soils grass thrives, but on the whole 

 the soils are too light and too subject to drought for either grazing or forage 

 grasses. Orchards have been planted, but are much neglected, and onl}' a few 

 apples are produced for market. 



Much of the best valley land has been badly washed, especiallj'^ on Tuckasegee 



