18 



SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN EEGION. 



ville, from which point it extends south westward across 

 portions of Georgia and Akhama. Into and through this 

 valley drains the larger portion of the water which leaves 

 the mountain region. Along the upper reaches of these 

 streams are numerous valuable water powers, and along 

 their lower courses through the valley are some of the 

 finest farming lands in Tennessee. To the west of this 

 valley lie the southern remnants of the Allegheny Moun- 

 tains and the better delined Cumberland Plateau. 



Between this great valley on the west and the Piedmont 

 Plateau on the east and south are the Southern Appala- 

 chian Mountains, with which this report has especiallv to 

 deal. 



THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS. 



The accompanying maps (Pis. IV and XII), show that the 

 Blue Ridge, as it crosses Virginia southward, increases and 

 holds its prominence and its individuality. As it passes 

 into North Carolina it enlarges both vertical!}' and later- 

 allj, widening out into a complex zone or belt of moun- 

 tains, with a maximum width of about 70 miles in western 

 North Carolina and east Tennessee, and contx'acting again 

 toward its southei'n end. These mountains show none of 

 the regularity exhibited by the Northern Appalachians, 

 but, on the other hand, are composed of massive ranges 

 and cross ridges and more or less isolated mountains, often 

 with rounded, dome-like tops (see PI. VIII), in striking 

 contrast with the sharp, regular, parallel, rocky ridges of 

 the more northern Alleghenies. 

 The Blue Along the southeastern margin of this southern moun 



Ridge and the ° ^ 



unaka Moun- tain belt is the Bluc Ridge proper, which, as it crosses 

 North Carolina, is a fairly well-defined mountain range, 

 standing more than 3,000 feet above the sea and rising in 

 four peaks to more than 5,000 feet, and in one — the Grand- 

 father — to practically 6,000 feet. Bordering this region 

 on the northwest is a mountain range — the Unakas — 

 somewhat higher, and in its southern portion more mas- 

 sive, but less continuous, than the Blue Ridge; less con- 

 tinuous for the reason that its course is cut across hy half 

 a dozen rivers, which rise" on the Blue Ridge on the east, 

 flow across this intervening mountain region, and cut 

 through the Unakas in wild, deep gorges. (See PI. V.) 

 Between these river gorges the segments of the Unakas 

 are known by such local names as the Iron Mountains, 

 Bald Mountains, and Great Smok}- mountains. In southern 



