West-central Tennessee is mostly Highland Rim 

 country, but it includes also the western valley of the 

 Tennessee River. The valley averages only 12 miles in 

 width and much of the bottom land has been in- 

 undated since the construction of Kentucky Dam. 

 Farms are generally small and receive income from a 

 variety of crops such as dairy products, livestock, 

 cotton, and tobacco. Outside of the stream bottoms 

 the soils are generally poor (fig. 5). 



West Tennessee, flanked by the Mississippi and 

 Tennessee Rivers, is a region of fertile alluvial soils and 

 gently rolling uplands (fig. 6). It drops gradually in 

 elevation from 600 feet on its eastern ridges above the 

 Tennessee to 300 feet at the bluffs overlooking the 

 Mississippi. Soils of wind- or stream-laid origin pre- 

 vail. Windblown (loessial) soils are of great depth in 

 the Mississippi bluffs, but gradually decrease toward 

 the east, until they expose sedimentary sandy loams. 

 The area is largely agricultural. Much of the forest is 

 confined to the wide bottoms of the sluggish streams. 

 These bottoms are generally fertile, but some are so 

 poorly drained and frequently flooded that they are 

 valuable chiefly for timber. 



Memphis is the economic focal point of west 

 Tennessee. It is the principal market for the cotton 

 crop, which is the main income source for the pre- 

 dominantly rural population. Memphis also serves as 

 the marketing and manufacturing center for much of 

 the hardwood of west Tennessee and adjoining States. 

 The bottom-land forests contain most of the high- 

 grade timber in the region; upland forests are of 

 secondary importance. 



The Original Forests 



At the time of earliest settlement, age-old forests 

 blanketed all regions of the State. 



Although hardwood species were most numerous, 

 softwoods were by no means absent. The swamps and 

 stream bottoms of west Tennessee supported large 

 bodies of cypress. Shortieaf pine occurred exten- 

 sively in the Cumberland Plateau and in smaller 

 patches in the Highland Rim. White pine was less 

 abundant, but could be found in many parts of the 

 Cumberland Plateau and the mountain to the east. 

 Redcedar, present in most sections of the State, was 



^^Ptt*!^*, 



Figure 5. — Eroded mils, small farms, and poor woodlands mark much of the western Highland Rim. (TV A photo.) 



Forest Resource Report No. 9, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



