88 



SOUTHEKN APPALACHIAN REGION. 



lands below, which receive the material washed from 

 them. (See PI. LXVII.) 



The slight protection fui-iiishcd In- the frequently hurned 

 forests does not prevent the washing awa}' of the humus 

 from the woods, and being so light, it is carried far down 

 the stream to still waters before it finds a lodging place. 

 The forest. Substantiall}' all the ridges and steeper slopes are for- 

 ested more or less densely', while the creek bottoms are 

 cleared. The cleared area on the Saluda comprises 6 per 

 cent of that basin, while 20 per cent of the area of the 

 Broad basins is cleared. 



In composition these forests are principally oaks and 

 hickory, with a sprinkling of nearl}- all other species men- 

 tioned in the accompanying list (p. 93). 



In condition these forests are very inferior. There is 

 ver}^ little log timber. Many of the trees are tire-scarred; 

 man}', though old, are sural 1 because fire and erosion of 

 humus have retarded growth. Much of the area has a 

 deficient stand, because fires have killed seedlings. 



To improve this forest it would })e necessary to prevent 

 fire and possibly to thin out defective trees and undesir- 

 able species. The species to l)e favored here are poplar, 

 ash, walnut, shortleaf pine, post oak, and white oak, and, 

 in the higher altitudes, white pine. 



CATAWBA RIVER BASIN. 



[321,440 acres; 82 per cent wooded.] 



Topography. This area, as hei"e limited, includes the eastern or south- 

 ern slope of the Blue Ridge, with its numerous spurs, 

 from Blowing Rock southward to Edmondson Mountain, 

 and is drained by the headwaters of the Catawba River, 

 including Johns and Linville rivers, and the north and south 

 ^orks of the Catawba, direct!}- through the Catawba River 

 into the Atlantic. The elevated crest of the Blue Ridge, 

 with few points on it at a lower elevation than ^,000 feet, 

 and rising at Grandfather Mountain and Pinnacle to an 

 elevation of more than 5,000 feet, forms the western and 

 northern limits of the area; and from it extend steep, 

 rugged spurs with a general north and south trend, grad- 

 ually diminishing in altitude as they recede from the pa- 

 rent range, dividing the region into numerous parallel, 

 narrow, often gorge-like, valle3^s. This type of valle}' 

 reaches its culmination in the gorge of the Linville River, 

 the wildest and most picturesque stream of the southern 



