YADKIN RIVER BASIN. 277 



places OH the lower parts of the streams, but the greater portion of the area has 

 never been culled. 



Reproduction. Nearly all of the broad-leaved species, when small, sprout 

 from the stump when cut or lire killed. Where protected from tire and suitable 

 light conditions prevail, there are abundant seedlings of the dominant elements 

 in the forest. 



Second growth. There is a considerable amount of second-growth poles and 

 saplings at various places in the forest where old tires have run. This is 

 especially the case in the pine woods at low elevation. 



Undergrowth. Shrubby undergrowth is scant, but there are occasional 

 thickets of Kalmia and other shrubs. 



Rate of growth. On moist soils accretion is good. On dry soils and at high 

 elevation it is not so rapid. 



Water potcer. The streams are too small to yield a large power, but there 

 are many falls which could be utilized by small plants. 



Ownership. There are 9 families on Crib Creek, 20 on Clear Creek, and 

 about the same number on Brush Creek. 



Prices of land. Farming land sells at $4 to $20 per acre; woodland, at %1 

 to $5 per acre. 



YADKIN RIVER BASIN. 



Topography. The portion of the basin of this river examined includes the 

 eastern slope of the Blue Ridge, with its spurs from Bullhead Mountain south- 

 ward to Blowing Rock. It is drained by the head streams of the Yadkin and 

 all of its northern tributaries eastward to and including Roaring River. The 

 crest of the Blue Ridge, with an elevation of more than 2,500 feet, limits the 

 area on the north; and from this, numerous sharp and steep spurs penetrate the 

 area, dividing it into a series of narrow parallel basins, trending northwest and 

 southeast, from the southern ends of which the streams emerge and unite to form 

 the Yadkin, at an elevation of 1,000 feet. 



The topography is rough, the slopes of the ridges steep, the intervening 

 valleys narrow, showing unchecked, natural erosion from a high mountain mass 

 to a lower base level, in a country with rock of varying hardness and an abun- 

 dant rainfall. 



The basin has an area of 253,120 acres, of which 84 per cent are wooded. 



Soil. The alluvial lands in the valleys are narrow strips or small bodies, 

 seldom more than a few acres in area, of dark, sandy-loam soils, rich in humus, 

 and fertile; or occasionallv of coarse sand, and poor. The soils of the uplands, 

 produced b}^ the decomposition of slates, sandstone, and gneiss, are highly siliceous, 

 and often coarse and poor. On north slopes and in the hollows accumulated 



