216 THE SOUTHEEN APPALACHIAN FORESTS. 



OCONALUFTT RIVER BASIN ABOVE FORKS (SWAIN COUNTY, N. c). 



Boundaries. The divides, including the entire drainage basin above the forks 

 of the river. 



Area. Total, 140 square miles; cleared, 5 square miles; wooded, 135 square 

 miles; severely burned, 3 square miles. 



Surface. The area is very rough and rugged. The valleys are narrow, 

 and, except on Mingus Mill Creek, there are almost no alluvial bottom lands. 

 The divides between the different tributaries of the river are high, with steep 

 slopes, which begin at the very banks of the streams. There are extensive areas 

 strewn with great fragments of rock, and cliffs and precipitous banks are 

 frequent. 



Soils. Loams and sandy loams are the common soils on the slopes and in 

 the narrow bottoms. Where not too coarse and gravelly they produce well until 

 the organic matter is exhausted. 



Humus and litter. There is a deep accumulation of leaf mold in the deep" 

 hollows at the heads of the streams where there has been no fire, but on all the 

 drier land, especially that at a low elevation and on south slopes, it is deficient. 



Agricultural value. Corn is the staple crop; though some oats' and a small 

 amount of wheat are grown on some of the sandy alluvia, the soils are too light 

 to render grain a profitable crop or farming a very profitable business. Apples 

 and peaches do well in certain places. 



Timber trees. Mixed hard woods, with hemlock, and, near the heads of the 

 streams, spruce, compose the forest. About 70 per cent of the stand is oak and 

 chestnut. 



J^<gZ<?. -The forest will cut more than 3,000 feet B. M. per acre, except on 

 the dry slopes in the lower part of the valley. 



Demand. There is no demand except for shipping lumber, and only for the 

 best grades of that, which command about 50 cents per thousand feet on the 

 stump. 



Accessibility. The nearest point in the basin is more than 15 miles from 

 the Asheville and Murphy Branch of the Southern Railway, over a rough road, 

 which, however, could cheaply be improved. A railroad could easily be constructed 

 up the river to the forks and several miles beyond up either fork. 



Cutting. Some cutting has been done on Raven Fork, and several small 

 areas on the left fork have been culled. Only one mill is at present in operation, 

 but it is stated that a company which has purchased one of the largest areas is 

 to construct a railroad. 



Undergrowth. A great part of the area is destitute of undergrowth, but on 

 many of the colder slopes there are dense thickets of laurel or Kalmia. 



