CATAWBA RIVER BASIN. 271 



JOHN RIVER BASIN ABOVE FORKS (CALDWELL COUNTY, N. c). 



Ai'ea. Total, 92 square miles; cleared, 14 square miles; wooded, 78 square 

 miles; burned, 6 square miles. 



Suiface. The basin is divided by the chief tributaries into a series of long, 

 parallel valleys, which rise on the steep southern slopes of the Blue Ridge 

 between Blowing Rock and Grandfather Mountain, and debouch toward the south. 

 The slopes of these ridges are steep, rough, and rocky, and in many places 

 there are cliffs.- Very narrow strips of alluvial land border most of the streams 

 nearly to their heads, but the mountains rise almost immediately from the borders 

 of the alluvial land. In many places from crest to crest of the intervening 

 ridges the width of the valley is less than a mile, while the difference of 

 elevation is from 1,500 to 2,000 feet from the stream to the crest of the 

 watershed. 



Soils. The upland soils are gray, sandy loams, in a few places fine grained 

 and stiffer, but generally coarse grained, often gravell}^ or very rocky, derived 

 from gneiss and conglomerates. The soils of the bottoms are too light and 

 porous to be productive. 



Humus and litter. As the prevailing aspect is southerly and the slopes are 

 diy, fires are frequent. The ground cover is proportionately scant. Many of 

 the hollows face the south and fire passes through them. 



Timber trees. Oak and chestnut with hemlock, white pine, and maple form 

 the greater portion of the forests, especially in the upper part of the basin. In 

 the lower part and on the dryer slopes there is more oak, and chestnut is more 

 largely replaced by various yellow pines. Many of the trees are fire scarred, 

 and on all the coniferous slopes there are pines which have been killed by fires. 



Yield. The yield is from 2,500 to 3,000 feet B. M. per acre in the upper 

 part of the valley, except on the thinly timbered upper slopes, where it is less. 

 The merchantable timber has been cut from below Globe and some of the best 

 has been removed from above that place. 



Demand. There is an active demand for good hard wood, for white and 

 yellow pine lumber, and for chestnut-oak tan bark. 



Accessibility. There is a logging road from Lenoir up the valley. 



Cutting. The best timber on the main river has been cut, and cutting is 

 in progress on Anthony Creek, one of the largest western tributaries of the river. 



Reproduction. There is generally very good reproduction after fires, 

 especially of the pine, which finds a suitable seed bed for germination on the 

 naked earth. Oaks and chestnut sprout freely after fires. 



Second grovith. There is a limited second-growth woodland in the lower part 

 of the valley and around the farms. 



