PHYSICAL AND CLIMATIC FEATURES OF THE AREA 



On the whole the terrain is rather rough and bold. (Plate 1, p. 33) 

 Within the area are Mount Cardigan, 3.121 ft. elevation; Mount Cube, 

 2,914 ft. elevation; Smart's Mountain, 3,240 ft. elevation, and several 

 lesser mountain ridges. There are a few level intervales at about 1,000 

 feet elevation, but most of the fields and former fields are on the tops or 

 sides of ridges or on broken upland. Rocks, except on the intervales, 

 are numerous and impede cultivation. 



Approximately 45 per cent of the area (Table 1) is above 1,500 feet 

 and probably is handicapped by climatic conditions in its crop produc- 

 tion especially if there is air drainage from higher lands. There are 

 very few going farms above 1,500 ft. elevation in the State. Some of 

 the original home sites in this area were as high as 1,900 ft., but since 

 these were the first to be given up it would appear that unfavorable 

 climatic conditions may have been the chief factor in this early aban- 

 donment. There are a few occupied places at present near the 1,500 

 ft. level, but these are not operated aggressively as farms and the air 

 drainage in these particular spots may be advantageous. 



Table 1. Acreage of region, arranged by elevations. 



Elevation 

 (feet) 



Acreage 



Per cent 



500 to 1,000 

 1,001 to 1,500 

 1,501 to 2,000 

 2,001 to 2,500 

 Over 2,500 



22,723 

 80,477 

 62,488 

 21,208 

 2,461 



12.0 

 42.5 

 33.0 

 11.2 

 1.3 



189,357 



100. 



