H532, 533, 534, 535] east itawamba — tombigbee valley. 257 



532. East Itawamba, beyond the wide and fertile bottom of the 

 Tombigbee (unfortunately subject to annual overflows), is very 

 much broken and possesses a sandy, inferior soil, of the Pine Hill 

 character, which is often remarkable for its deep orange-red tint. 

 Occasionally there are tracts possessing a surface covering of 

 good loam soil ; and the bottom, though narrow, as well as the 

 slopes towards them, have soils of good quality, which are not as 

 sandy as might be expected, in consequence of the streams cutting 

 their channels, not unfrequcntly, into the clays (" soapstones ") of 

 the Eutaw Group (ll()l). 



The bottoms of Bull Mountain, Hurricane Creek, etc., are wide, heavily 

 timbared and very fertile ; their bottom soils contain a great deal of bog ore or 

 " black gravel" (Tf 387, ff.). On the dividing ridge, in the fork of the Tombigbee 

 and Bull Mountain, we find quite a fertile red loam, timbered with large Post, 

 Spanish ("lied"), Scarlet ("Spanish"), Red, and sometimes Black and White 

 Oak, with Hickory and usually some sturdy Short-leaf Pine. South of the 

 Bull Mountain, as we approach Smith ville, the country becomes level and there 

 begins the extensive flat or second bottom, which skirts the Tombigbee on the 

 «ast, with a width of from two to six miles, down to the Alabama line ; while 

 in North-east Monroe, we observe the character of the hilly country adjoining 

 this fiat on the east, to be the same as in East Itawamba. 



533. East Monroe, and Valley op the Tombigbee. — The 

 portion of Monroe county lying between the flat or hommock of the 

 Tombigbee, and Sipsie and Buttahatchie Creeks, is generally hilly 

 and broken (as indicated on the profile, Fig. 2, PI. L), and its 

 northern portion, as has been stated, differs little from the Pine 

 Hills region of East Itawamba; the creek bottoms, though fertile 

 are narrow, and it is but occasionally that in the uplands, small 

 tracts of good loam soil are found. 



The land gradually improves, however, as we advance southward, Pine 

 fceco nes less frequent, and the ridges broader. Eastward of Athens, the main 

 dividing ridge between the waters of the Tombigbee and Buttahatchie, is a 

 kind of plateau or table land, possessing a fine mellow soil resembling in aspect 

 the yellow loam land of the Pontotoc Ridge (see below, H562), and forming 

 some considerable bodies of good farming land, which is already well settled. 

 The loam stratum is not very thick, however, and being underlaid by loose 

 eands, it "caves" and washes away badly on the hillsides (on which extensive 

 gullies are often formed), though otherwise possessing, to a considerable extent, 

 the advantage of being underdrained by the pervious sands On the slopes or 

 rather, the spurs of the main ridge, however, the Pine Hill character is prevalent, 

 and rockv knolls not unfrequently appear perched on the ridges (nil, 12). 



534. With the extreme south-east portion of Monroe, and north-east Lowndes, 

 I am thus far unacquainted. The bottoms of the Sipsie and Buttahatchie are- 

 wide, heavily timbered, and possess a rather light, fertile soil, bearing chiefly 

 Beech, " Poplar," Sweet Gum, Black Gum, Shell-bark and other Hickories. 

 The slopes towards these bottoms are mostly gravelly (IT 18), and springs with 

 freestone water are generally abundant. 



535. The hommock which, south of the Itawamba line, skirt3 

 the Tombigbee on the east (while on the west side it is usually 

 bordered by high hills or bluff<), generally p >sses?es a rather light 

 Boil, underlaid by a pale yellow loam subsoil, which is some- 

 what heavier, but commonly at the depth of a few feet, is underlaid 

 R— 17 



