PHYSIOGRAPHIC INFLUENCES IN TENNESSEE. 47 



the entire social and economic setting of these mountaineers is peculiar, 

 and presents certain problems that our sociological workers are now grap- 

 pling with. It is by no means certain, however, that these people as a 

 class deserve the rather sharp criticism that has sometimes been heaped 

 upon them. They have very much in their lives and characters that is 

 commendable, and for the most merely need certain conditions bettered 

 rather than to have their entire plan of existence overturned. Conditions 

 well suited to other thickly settled communities might not be at all suitable 

 among the isolated farmers hidden away in remote mountain coves. 



Resources. In a few places in these mountains there are deposits of 

 iron, copper, slate or other materials of economic value, and on the sur- 

 face there grow in most places, magnificent forests of hardwood trees. 

 The soil in many places is too steep to cultivate without serious erosion. 

 There are, however, mountain benches, many coves, and small stream 

 valleys that may be cultivated, and the forested lands may be grazed. 

 Mining, lumbering, and some special forms of agriculture, such as graz- 

 ing and fruit raising, offer the most promise for the future of this region. 

 The people will remain a sturdy stock. 



GREAT VALLEY OF EAST TENNESSEE. 



Features. This is a broad belt 30 to 60 miles wide, that crosses the 

 eastern part of the State from Alabama to Virginia, and consists of numer- 

 ous long, narrow valleys, separated by narrow, parallel mountain ridges 

 that trend northeast and southwest, in harmony with the general Appa- 

 lachian structure. The valleys are rolling surfaces, formed by the solu- 

 tion of the limestone that underlies them and not flat, alluvial ones due 

 to flood-plain building by streams, though each valley usually has a stream 

 of some size with a narrow flood plain as a portion of it. The ridges are 

 usually narrow, steep-sided, and for most part run in straight lines. They 

 are formed generally by the upturned edges of the more resistant rocks 

 of the region, many of which are cherty limestones. In some places the 

 ridges consist of shales. In this case they are usually more rounded and 

 less distinctly linear, even though they may be steeper, than when com- 

 posed largely of chert. These ridges vary in length from a few to many 

 miles, and their ends often overlap each other in such fashion that in 

 traveling across the Great Valley, it is necessary to make many detours 

 around their ends. Travel northeast and southwest parallel to the ridges 

 is direct and easy. As a result the main lines of communication whether 

 by highway or railway, are those paralleling the topography. Railways 

 that cross the Great Valley, such as the Southern from Knoxville to Clin- 



