FOREST CONDITIONS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 



39 



able trees. These stands will sometimes run from 25,000 to 40,000 

 board feet to tlie acre over considerable areas, but the average yield will 

 not exceed 7,000 feet. 



About one and one-half miles north of Siler's Dome, on the Great 

 Smoky Mountains, occurs the southwestern limit of the spruce type. The 

 trees near the windswept summit of the mountains are rather small and 

 scrubby, but where protected they average 2 feet in diameter and 4 to 5 

 logs to the tree. Some of the better forests of this type will run from 

 40,000 to 50,000 board feet to the acre. 



Fires have been numerous in Swain as in the other mountain coun- 

 ties. It was estimated by some of the residents that from 30 to 50 per 

 cent of the land has been burned over every year for a long period. 

 Fortunately, however, conditions are changing, and most of the large 

 companies now employ men to watch against fire, and there is a growing 

 sentiment throughout the county against burning the woods. 



MACON COUNTY. 



Macon, in the southern tier of counties, is largely mountainous. It is 

 drained by the Tennessee and ISTantahala rivers, which flow north from 

 the Blue Eidge. The Tennessee Eiver, flowing through the center of 

 the county, has formed a broad flood plain from one to four miles across, 

 and this plain extends several miles along the principal tributaries. The 

 Cowee, Blue Ridge, and ITantahala mountains rise abruptly above this 

 fertile farming region and cover four-fifths of the county's area of 340,- 

 000 acres, of which about 15 per cent is cleared. The rock formation is 

 chiefly granite, gneiss, and schist, decomposing principally into a mica- 

 ceous red clay soil. This soil washes easily where it is cultivated on the 

 steeper slopes, though most clearings on these slopes are kept in grass, 

 which largely prevents erosion. The soil of the Highlands plateau is 

 sandy and poor. Only about one-third of the county is owned in tracts 

 of 1,000 acres or more. Most of such tracts are held for timber or spec- 

 ulation. Lumbering is extensive. In 1909 some 25 mills manufactured 

 about ten million board feet of lumber, though most of this was cut by 

 only three companies. There are some valuable mineral deposits, such 

 as iron, mica, gold, and precious stones, but only the mica resources 

 have been developed. 



Franklin, the county seat, is the terminus of the county's only rail- 

 road, which enters from Georgia. Shippers complain of excessive 

 freight rates, which, they say, render impossible the proper utilization 

 of the poorer grades of lumber and of the less valuable species. The 

 ISTantahala Transportation Company operates a flume in the western 

 part of the county, which carries, besides a great deal of hemlock, oak. 



