SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION. 



33 



taries of the Tennessee with resulting devastation, which, 

 when added to that on the Catawba, sums up to more than 

 $7, 000, 000 damage . Add to this the damages from floods on 

 other streams rising in different parts of this region dur- 

 ing the spring and summer, and the total this 3'ear approxi- 

 - mates $10,000,000. (See Pis. XXXV and XXXVI.) 



Such has been the story, on a smaller scale, of other 

 similar but less violent floods about the sources of these 

 mountain-born rivers during the past few years. If we 

 are to continue the destruction of these mountain forests, 

 this story will have to be repeated in successively larger 

 editions in the future. 



THE CLIMATE OF THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS. 



As shown in the accompanying paper by Professor 

 Henry, of the Weather Bureau (p. 143), the climate of the 

 Southern Appalachian region possesses distinctive fea- 

 tures of its own, although it partakes somewhat of the 

 main features of the climatic zones both to the west and 

 to the east. Its distinctive features, due to higher alti- 

 tudes, are a lower tempei-ature, both summer and win- 

 ter, a drier atmosphere, and at the same time a greater 

 rainfall and snowfall, and higher wind velocity. There 

 are of course local variations in the climatic conditions 

 of the region, owing to its extremely varied topography, 

 but the limited number of stations where observations 

 have been made in this region makes it impossible to dis- 

 cuss these local variations at the present time. 



It is in temperature that we might expect the greatest iii^^™P||fonn®t 

 variations, but, unfortunately, with the exception of a fe^^ extreme, 

 months' observation on Mount Mitchell (elevation 6,711 

 feet), no observations are available at elevations greater 

 than 4,000 feet. The highest temperature observed on 

 Mount Mitchell during May, June, July, and August in 

 1873 was 72° in July; the lowest, 41° in June. At High- 

 lands, N. C. (elevation 3,817 feet), the mean temperature 

 of the summer is given by the Weather Bureau records 

 as 65.7°, and the mean winter temperature as 35.4°. The 

 extremes during a period of eight years (1893 to 1900) 

 were 19° below zero in February and 86° above zero in 

 June. 



The rainfall along the southern slopes of the Blue Eidge , Rainfall heav- 



o f >^ iest in the East- 



is the heaviest in the United States, with the exception of states, 

 that on the northern Pacific coast, ranging from 60 inches 

 *S. Doc. 84 3 



