46 WORKING PLAN, FOREST LANDS IN ALABAMA. 
The valleys of the smaller creeks and branches are usually steep and} 
narrow; those of the larger streams are generally rather broad and} 
only gently sloping or almost level. The elevation of the highest 
ridges is nearly 600 feet above sea level; that of the bottoms of the 
larger creeks is about 250 feet. 
The four principal creeks which drain the tract are Little Sandy and | 
Elliott, which flow west into the Black Warrior River, and Affonee — 
and Blue Gut creeks, whose general direction is southeast into the 
Cahaba. None of these attains a width of more than 20 or 25 feet 
before leaving the tract. 
SOIL. 
The soil in Bibb County is but little suited to agriculture, being far 
poorer and less productive than that of Coosa County. Lighter and 
more sandy, it is less fertile and, on the removal of the forest cover, 
is quicker to lose its fertility. On the slopes it washes and gullies 
much more readily. The result is that on the Bibb County tract there 
is a larger proportion of worn-out and abandoned farm land, in all the 
various stages of reversion to forest, than on the Coosa County tract. 
It is likely that in the future this proportion will increase rather than 
diminish. 
THE FOREST. 
Settlement on the Bibb County tract began over eighty years ago, 
but the land in general is so unsuited for farming that the greater 
part of the 70,588 acres, namely, 62,789 acres, or 88.9 per cent, still 
remains under forest. The lack of railroads has prevented the devel- 
opment of large lumbering enterprises, and the cutting of timber bas 
been confined to the supply for one or two small mills, so that in spite 
of its long-continued use as a public range, and the effect of the fires 
set to improve it as such (see Pl. III, fig. 2), the forest is practically 
virgin. In general character it is much the same as that in Coosa 
County, and the same two main types, the longleaf pine land and the 
creek land, have been distinguished, but there are minor points of dif- 
ference which should be considered. 
Forest Types. 
LONGLEAF PINE LAND.. 
The longleaf pine land covers 55,159 acres, 87.8 per cent, of the 
forested area, or 78.1 per cent of the whole tract. As in Coosa County, 
the greater part of the type consists of a pure open stand of longleaf 
pine, but in certain localities where the soil is more loamy, particularly 
in sections 7, 18, 19, 80, and 31 of township 23 north, range 6 east, 
sections 4, 5, 6, 7, 17, and 18 of township 23 north, range 7 east, and 
sections 27 and 34 of township 22 north, range 7 east, the shortleaf, 
