SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION. 



71 



ward exposure and an altitude of 2,500 to nearh' 6,000 

 feet. In addition to this uniform tract, this drainage sys- 

 tem comprises the semicircular interrupted basin drained 

 by Beaver, Tennessee Laurel, Green Cove, and White 

 Top Laurel creeks, which join and cut through the moun- 

 tains near Damascus. 



In this area are two distinct classes of land — mountain soii. 

 slopes and alluvial or sedimentary basins. The mountain 

 slopes, steep and principally underlaid by quartzite, have 

 light soil, with thorough drainage both on surface and 

 underground, while the sedimentary valleys — as Holston 

 River bottoms, Shady Va,lley, Laurel Bloomery, and 

 others — have deep, loamy soils, remarkably fertile. 



On the Tennessee Laurel substantially all the arable Agriculture 

 land is under cultivation, but along Shady Valley and 

 White Top Laurel only a small portion of the arable land 

 is cleared. The Holston River bottom is cleared to the 

 foothills of the mountain. This land is well adapted to 

 diversified farming, but is now devoted principally to corn 

 and grazing. 



Erosion is less marked in this ai'ea than in most others, Erosion, 

 a fact which is probably due to the larger proportion of 

 wooded area. 



The Tennessee Laurel is, however, subject to sudden 

 rises, endangering the narrow bottom lands and even the 

 lives of travelers who must cross the numerous fords in 

 the gorge. There is also much erosion of soil locally on 

 the older neglected fields of the tributaries of the Tennes- 

 see Laurel and on the poor portions of the foothills of 

 Holston Mountain. 



Excepting a few mountain pastures, all the mountain The forest, 

 ridges are wooded, and both east and west of Damascus 

 are large ai'eas of unbroken forest, covering both mountain 

 and valley. The north slope of Holston Mountain also 

 remains entirely wooded. 



The forest of this drainage varies, naturally, with the 

 soil, altitude, and exposure, and has also been seriously 

 modified by fires. The northward slopes of Holston and 

 Iron mountains are lightl}' timbered with oaks, black pine, 

 chestnut, gum, etc., with some hemlock and white pine in 

 ravines, nearl}^ all culled. The southward slopes of the 

 same mountains, and especially the lower portions of these 

 slopes, are better wooded, except as cleared or deadened 

 for grazing, and have some heavy stands of hemlock and 

 white pine, among- which hard woods are freely distributed. 



