SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION. 



the deep, cool hollows. Oi) the drier slopes, and especially 

 on the south sides, oak and chestnut form thv ji'i-eater part 

 of the tinilx'r. witli some black and ^yellow pine on the 

 ridg-es. The timber in the hollows is moi'e varied and the 

 stand is heavier, poplar. l)irch, liim, and l)uckeye l)eino- 

 associated with the oak and chestnut. The finest and 

 largest bodies of spruce in the Southern Appalachians 

 occur here, along the crest of the i-idge and the north 

 •slope of both the Cataloochee and Smoky mountains. 

 There are about 20,000 acres of spruce and nearly as nuich 

 hemlock. There is no spruce on the Smoky Mountains 

 southwest of Silers Meadow. 



The forests of the north slope of the Smoky Mountains 

 have been much culled and injured by burning and pas- 

 turage. There is yet a great deal of fine timber, however. 

 Fires have also done much injur}^ on the south slope, 

 especially to hard woods, and the growth is often ver}' open 

 on account of the suppression of .young trees hy burning 

 for a great number of years. The valleys of Cataloochee 

 and Big Creeks are heavily timbered, though they have 

 been culled to some extent, and the ridges have often been 

 burned. A railroad is now being built up Big Pigeon 

 River in order to exploit the timber on these streams. A 

 railroad is also under construction up Oconalufty River to 

 remove a part of the timber from the east prong of that 

 stream. 



FORESTS OF THE SOUTHERN END OF THE APPALACHIANS. 



South of the Nantahala cross ridge the Appalachian 

 Mountains no longer consist of two well-detined parallel 

 ranges with prominent cross ridges, but break up into a 

 number of small, low mountains, or small ridges, with 

 broad, alluvial valleys or low hills between them, or in 

 some places there are a series of low ridges which are 

 separated by deep, narrow, gorge-like valleys. In north- 

 western Georgia their identit}^ is entirely lost, and they 

 pass into the hills of the Piedmont Plateau. While only 

 a few of these mountains have an altitude of more 

 than i,500 feet, the topography is rough, as the stream 

 level is much lower than it is further northeastward, 

 not being more than 1,000 feet. The resisting char- 

 acter of the rock — quartzite, sandstones, and slates — 

 which forms these mountains, which have eroded into 

 sharp-pointed ridges with deep, narrow intervening val- 



