SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION, 



21 



hence nearer to the Blue Ridg'e than to the Unakas. (PI. 

 IX.) As a rule, they vary in width from a few hundred - 

 feet to as many yards. Some of the most notable of these 

 valleys, reaching a width of 2 to 5 miles in places, are 

 those on New River in Virginia, on the French Broad 

 above Asheville, on the Tennessee River in southwestern 

 North Carolina, and about the headwaters of the Coosa 

 and other rivers in Georgia. As these streams approach 

 and cut through the mountain borders of this region they 

 run in deep gorges, the full width of which is often occu- 

 pied by the streams. (See PI. XXIX.) 



The slopes of these mountains vary considerably in their 

 steepness. The northwestern slopes of the Blue Ridge 

 are usually gentle and in manj^ places cleared. The south- 

 eastern slopes are generally much steeper and usually 

 forest covered. In a few places these southeastern slopes 

 are rocky and precipitous. Especiallj^ is this the case 

 along the South Carolina border, as seen in Csesars Head, 

 Whiteside, and Table Rock mountains (see Pis. X, XI, 

 and XLV), where the bare rock walls rise 600 to 1,000, stespnsss 9f 



' the mountain 



feet in height. The slopes of the Unakas, like those of '^^opes. 

 many of the interior ridges, are fairly steep on both sides, 

 ranging generally from 20 to 50 degrees. About the inte- 

 rior ridges there is still greater variation. Some of the 

 rocky faces are precipitous, while elsewhere the slopes 

 are gentle, ranging from 5 to 20 degrees. But taking the 

 mountains and the valleys together, the land surface with 

 a slope of less than 10 degrees is not more than 10 per 

 cent of the whole. 



THE FORESTS. 



It is the forest covering of these great mountain slopes — 

 a covering that should never be removed — about which 

 interest centers in the present investigation. The re- 

 sults of this examination during the past two years are 

 given at length in a paper published as Appendix A (p. 41). 

 They are stated separately for each of the larger river suus^^of'the^ex- 

 basins, following a somewhat general discussion of the 

 forest conditions in the region as they exist to-day and 

 of how the forests may be economically protected and im- 

 proved under Government control. 



These forests have been carefully studied and classified, 

 and over much the larger portion of the area their density 

 and distribution have been indicated on the excellent topo- 

 graphic maps furnished for this purpose by the Depart- Forest maps. 



