FOREST CONDITIONS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. LO 



are delivered at the mill. From $10 to $15 per thousand feet log scale 

 is paid for these blocks at the mill. 



A small factory has recently been started in Mitchell County for the 

 manufacture of specialties used in textile manufactures. Bobbins, 

 skewers, and spools are made from beech, birch, and maple left on 

 areas after lumbering. Clearer rolls are made from cull poplar and 

 other suitable woods. Logs down to 8 inches in diameter, 8 feet long 

 are used, for which an average price of $5 per thousand feet log scale 

 is paid. 



For many years dogwood has been cut for the manufacture of shut- 

 tles. Small portable mills cut the wood into blocks of varying sizes, 

 the ends of which are generally dipped in paraffin to prevent checking. 

 In this form they are usually shipped out of the State, some of them 

 being exported to France. Some dogwood blocks are hauled 40 miles 

 to a shuttle mill at Westminster, South Carolina. Dogwood brings 

 from $6 to $8 per cord at the yard, but the demand at present is very 

 limited, while the supply is nearly exhausted. 



Two small mills cut blocks from the stumps or burls of the Kalmia, 

 or mountain ivy for the manufacture of tobacco pipes. These burls, 

 which weigh anywhere from 5 pounds up to 600 pounds, are brought 

 in by the surrounding farmers, who receive about $5 a ton for them. 



TKANSPOKTATION. 



RIVERS. 



Some 15 to 25 years ago, before the development of the present sys- 

 tem of railroads, much of the finest poplar timber in these western 

 counties was taken out by floating it down the streams. That was also 

 before the present high price of timber and the waste involved in such a 

 method of transportation made it prohibitive. The logs were cut and 

 put in the small creeks and either allowed to remain until high water 

 took them out, or else were splashed out by a system of dams. When 

 the logs reached the river, their transportation depended entirely upon 

 the natural rise of the water. Often millions of feet of the finest tim- 

 ber remained in the rivers to rot on rocks and shoals. The rivers are 

 no longer used for this purpose, and the smaller streams only to a very 

 limited extent. The water courses in these mountains have too rapid 

 a fall and are in consequence too rough to allow the use of this method 

 under present market conditions. 



RAILROADS. 



Several standard gauge railroads traverse the region. The Southern 

 Railway runs in eight of the sixteen counties, while the Carolina, Clinch- 



