LITTLE TENNESSEE EIVER BASIN. 201 



AccessihiUty. The mouth of the creek is 13 miles from Andrews, on the 

 Asheville and Murphy Branch of the Southern Railway, the wagon road crossing 

 the Valley River Mountains. The creek debouches into the Nantahala River 16 

 miles above Nantahala Station and the mill of the Nantahala Lumber Company. 

 Nantahala River is large enough to float logs, except at very low water, without 

 erecting splash dams. 



Cutting. The lower part of the stream has been cut over, and the oak, 

 poplar, and ash suitable for mill stock have been floated to Nantahala. No cutting 

 has been done on the upper part of the stream. 



Timher trees. Chestnut, white oak, red oak, hemlock, birch, Spanish oak, 

 poplar, and ash, in relative abundance about in the order named, form the greater 

 part of the growth. Chestnut constitutes about 30 per cent and white oak about 

 20 per cent of the forest. Chestnut oak, Spanish oak, white oak, and chestnut 

 form most of the forest on south slopes and crests; while red oak, chestnut, 

 hemlock, poplar, and ash constitute the dominant growth on north slopes and in 

 the hollows. 



Yield. The merchantable timber has been largely removed from the lower 

 part of the stream. There are about 15 cords of small wood per acre on the cut- 

 over lands. The upper part of the basin will yield from 3,000 to 5,000 feet 

 B. M. per acre, and about 20 cords of small wood in addition. 



Fire. Occasional ground fires on crests and steep slopes have replaced many 

 seedlings of fire-tender species by stool shoots. Fires, however, are not common, 

 and the burned area is not large. 



Reproduction. All the species seem to reproduce freely from seed and the 

 oaks and chestnut sprout from the stump or stool of small trees when cut or 

 fire killed. 



Second growth. The woods are generally open in the upper part of the 

 basin and there is very little young growth. On the cut-over lands, lying on the 

 lower part of the basin, there is reproduction of oak and chestnut by stool 

 shoots and thickets of saplings from the seed of defective trees which were 

 left in lumbering. 



Undergrowth. There is very little undergrowth, except on the crests of 

 ridges, where there are huckleberries and brambles, and on the cut-over lands. 



Rate of growth. Accretion is good, especially on vigorous young trees on 

 the lumbered lands, which have been afforded abundant sunlight by the removal 

 of the surrounding or overtopping trees. 



Water pov)er. This stream can afford only a very slight power, though it 

 has ample fall, on account of its small size. 



