60 RESOURCES OF TENNESSEE 



will be most largely agricultural and will be pitched on a relatively high 

 plane. 



WEST TENNESSEE PLAIN. 



General character. This is a part of the Gulf Coastal Plain which 

 reaches its northern limit in southern Illinois. The eastern edge of this 

 division may for the present purpose be taken as the Tennessee River in 

 its northward course across the western part of the State. The plain 

 slopes gently westward from an elevatioi? of from 500 to 700 feet on its 

 eastern margin to an elevation of 300 or 400 feet, where it overlooks the 

 Mississippi flood plain. Its surface is a gently rolling one that becomes 

 somewhat broken along the main streams. It is distinctly hilly along its 

 eastern margin facing the flood plain of the Tennessee River, and its 



FIG. 7. Characteristic view in West Tennessee. 



western one overlooking the flood plain of the Mississippi. The streams 

 that drain its surface head near the Tennessee and flow westward into 

 the Mississippi. They have cut their channels down to low grades, flow 

 sluggishly in meandering courses, and have usually developed flood 

 plains from a half to several miles in width. Owing to their low grade, 

 these flood plains are usually swampy, and one of the present day prob- 

 lems of the region is the drainage and reclamation of these swampy lands. 

 The upland soils of the region are either sandy, loamy, or clayey, and 

 the distribution of the soil types is dependent upon the various geological 

 formations of the region. These outcrop in belts whose general course 

 is north and south. The sandy soils may be, according to circumstances, 

 either fertile or infertile. The loams are usually fertile, while the clays 

 are usually poor. 



