LITTLE TENNESSEE RIVER BASIN. 207 



Water power. There are two small water mills on the creek and there are 

 sites for other mills requiring only a limited power. 



Ownership. The standing timber has been largely bought by various lumber 

 companies, but the land is still owned by the residents. There are 43 families 

 on the creek, which are about as many as it can support. The farms are small 

 and poor and there is not much more land suitable for tillage. 



Prices of land. Agricultural lands on the alluvial valleys bring from $15 

 to $50 per acre, while that on hillsides bring only from $4 to $7 per acre. 

 Forest land sells at $1 to $4 per acre. 



TELLICO CREEK BASIN (mACON COUNTY, N. C). 



Area. Total, 11 square miles; cleared, 1 square mile; wooded, 10 square 

 miles; severely burned, none. 



Surface. Tellico Creek occupies a narrow valley 6 miles long, its head- 

 waters Ij^ing on the steep upper slopes of Tellico Mountain. It flows into 

 Little Tennessee River about 10 miles below Franklin. The upper part of the 

 valley is steep and rough and there is almost no bottom land. The valley 

 broadens out below; the hills are lower and not so steep and there are limited 

 areas of alluvium. 



Soil. The soils, derived from mica-schists, quartz-schists, sandstones, and 

 pyrophyllite, are generally deep, gray loams, for the most part even and fine- 

 grained. Where the slopes are steep they wash badly on denudation. 



Humus and Utter. The accumulated leaf mold is deep on north slopes and 

 in the hollows, especially at a high elevation. On the lower hills and on south 

 slopes, where the density is low and the forest has been badly burned, the ground 

 in places is almost devoid of humus. 



Agricultural value. Nearly four-fifths of the land under cultivation is situated 

 on slopes. Much of it has been in cultivation from fifty to one hundred years 

 and many of the fields have been so badly worn as to be abandoned and have 

 grown up in black pine. Some of these are now being recleared, the fertility 

 of the soil having to some extent recuperated by this rotation. Corn, small 

 grain, fruit, potatoes, and grass are grown. The land is not considered so 

 productive as formerly, apples and grass especially not doing so well. Along 

 the summits of the higher ridges there are occasional broad, rounded knobs, with 

 deep, dark, fertile soil, upon which there is a natural stand of blue grass and 

 other native grasses, which afford excellent pasturage during the summer and fall. 



Timber trees. On north slopes chestnut, white oak, red oak, hickory, some 

 poplar, ash, and chestnut oak compose the economic forests. Chestnut and the 

 oaks form three-fourths of the growth. On the hills and southern slopes scarlet 



