LITTLE TENNESSEE RIVER BASIN. 189 



Rate of growth. Accretion is generally good, except on dry and steep slopes, 

 or at high elevations, where there is a coarse, thin, sandy soil. 



Water power. The stream is too small to afford more than a small power. 

 Several gristmills are at present utilizing a, portion of it. 



Ownership. The timber land is largely owned by residents. There are onl}^ 

 a few tracts of more than 1,000 acres. These lie at the upper part of the, creek 

 on the north side of the Cowee and south side of the Alarka mountains. 



Occupancy. There are about 50 families living on the stream. 



Prices of land. Farming land sells at $6 to $20 per acre; woodland, at $2 

 to $4. 



GRASSY CAMP AND NORTON CREEK BASINS (jACKSON COUNTY, N, C). 



Area. Total, 6 square miles; cleared, 1 square mile; wooded, 5 square miles. 



Surface. The greater part of the area is rolling or cut up by numerous 

 streams into hills with gentle slopes. The Cowee Mountains, however, lie at the 

 head of Norton Creek, and with their northern spurs, which are steep, makes the 

 topography very rugged. 



Soil. In the upper part of both basins the soil is a coarse, sand}^ loam, 

 often gravelly and shallow, and closely underlain by the granite from which 

 it is derived. In the lower part of the valleys the soils are gray loams, often 

 ver}-^ sandy, derived from gneiss, or from a coarse granite similar to that at the 

 heads of the streams, but are deeper and more largely the result of washing. 



Hiimns and litter. On the steeper slopes the accumulated leaf mold is 

 scant because of repeated fires. There is more or less humus in all the deep 

 hollows, and in hemlock forests where fires seldom or never occur. 



Agriculture value. The upper parts of the basins lie at an elevation of from 

 3,600 to 4,000 feet, with a generall}^ northwestern exposure, and are too cold for 

 any but the hardiest crops. Grasses do well where the soils are sufficiently fine 

 grained to preclude drying. Yellow corn in many places is successfully raised; 

 neither wheat nor oats, however, do so well. The hardier varieties of apples 

 are grown. 



Timber trees. Scarlet oak, white oak, chestnut, black oak, white hickory, 

 red hickory, and sand hickory, with occasional yellow pines, form the dominant 

 growth on all the steeper and drier slopes. On north slopes, birch, maple, and 

 occasional ash are associated with the chestnut and oaks. Narrow groves of 

 hemlock form the forests bordering some of the streams in the colder valleys, 

 and there are occasional white pines on lower slopes and along the borders of 

 the streams. 



Yield. The hemlock forests along the alluvial lands will yield from 5,000 to 



