LITTLE TENNESSEE RIVER BASIN. 209 



WHITE OAK CREEK BASIN (mACON COUNTY, N. C). 



Area. Total, 15 square miles; cleared, 1 square mile; wooded, 14 square 

 miles; severely burned, ver}^ little. 



Surface. The lower portion of the valley is narrow and rough, and the 

 descent of the stream is very rapid. Above, there is a succession of benches, and 

 the valley broadens out with a more gentle topography of low hills with rounded 

 slopes. 



Soil. The soils for the most part are rather deep, gray loams, largely free 

 from rocks and derived from metamorphosed sandstones. Where steep, they 

 wash rapidly when cleared. 



Humus and litter. The south sides have little leaf mold on them. It is 

 much deeper on the north slopes, especially in the hollows. 



Agricultural value. Corn and rye are the chief grains grown. Apples do 

 well, and also grass and potatoes. 



Timber trees. Chestnut, scarlet oak, white oak, black oak, hemlock, and 

 poplar form the greater part of the commercial forests. The hemlock and poplar 

 and the best chestnut are in the hollows. Chestnut and scarlet oak form two- 

 thirds of the forest on south slopes and at high elevations. Most of the timber 

 its situated on Holloway and White Oak creeks above the flats. 



Yield. ^There are about 4,000 feet B. M. of milling timber per acre, 

 except on the steep and rocky southern slopes, where there is less than half that 

 amount. 



Demand. A considerable amount of timber has been cut below the flats and 

 floated down the river. There is no sawmill on the creek, and very little timber 

 has been cut above the flats. 



Accessibility. Roads can easily be made to the timber in any part of the 

 basin, except in the lower part, where logs can be snaked directly into the creek. 

 The creek can be driven during freshets. 



Cutting. Most of the merchantable poplar, ash, oak, and chestnut above 12 

 inches in diameter has been cut from below the flats. 



Fire. South slopes have been badly burned by repeated ground fires but 

 the forests of the hollows and north slopes have suffered little, if at all. 



Reproduction. There is already a vigorous crop of young seedlings and stump 

 sprouts on the lands which have been cut over, and it will do well unless 

 destroyed by fire. 



Second grov)th. There is not much second growth in any of the denser 

 forests, but in the wood lots attached to the farms there are many thickets of 

 young trees. 



10336 No. 3705 14 



