SOUTHWARD BOUND. 13 



The fences of this portion of Kentucky are mostly 

 of stone, gray, lichen covered, and seemingly capable 

 of withstanding the elements for centuries. At one 

 point I note a chipmunk, Tamias siriatus L., seated 

 on his haunches on top of one of these fences within 

 a rod of the fast moving train. The first of March 

 sees him abroad here the first or middle of April in 

 central Indiana. I can almost hear his scolding 

 "tchwk tchwk" as the train dashes past him. 



About McKinney and South Fork, in Lincoln 

 County, we first strike the scrub oak thickets, which 

 mark the passage from the limestone region into one 

 of sandstone or mixture of lime and sand. The soil 

 for many miles thereafter is red with a superabund- 

 ance of iron oxide, and so poor and rocky that one 

 would have difficulty in raising a disturbance upon 

 it, unless a little leaven or fertilizer of "moonshine" 

 was present to serve as a starter. 



Just before reaching Waynesburg, we strike the 

 foothills of the Cumberland Mountains, and the rail- 

 way passes through the first of the twenty-seven tun- 

 nels which it was necessary to cut through the 

 ridges along it's line. This is King's Tunnel said to 

 be one and a half miles in length. Crossing the Cum- 

 berland River at Burnside, the railway winds on 

 through tunnel after tunnel and down valley after 

 valley, until Harriman, Tennessee, is reached. This 

 is a boom town, which stands out prominently on the 

 hills, two or three miles to the left of the main line 

 of the Southern. 



