38 



FOREST CONDITIONS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 



Murphy brancli of the Southern Kailway, which runs through the cen- 

 tral part of the county. Much lumber and cordwood, however, are 

 shipped from Bushnell. A branch line of the same railroad extends 

 down the north bank of the Little Tennessee River from Bushnell to 

 Montana, a distance of 12 miles, which line is to be continued to Knox- 

 ville, Tennessee. The Appalachian Railroad runs out from Forney eight 

 miles to Cherokee, and is soon to be extended four miles farther up the 

 Oconalufty River. With these extensions, transportation facilities will 

 be materially improved. 



The wagon roads in the western part of the county are rough and 

 badly washed, so that the lumber hauling is difficult. In the central and 

 eastern part of the county, however, the roads are in fair shape, the best 

 roads being those on the Cherokee Indian reservation. 



This reservation is located in the northeastern part of the county and 

 contains some 18,000 acres of land. Up to a short time ago the Chero- 

 kee Indians owned several times this amount of land, but a large tract 

 has recently been sold off to a lumber company. 



Lumbering, the principal industry of the county, is carried on chiefly 

 by means of small portable mills. One large band mill, however, is in 

 operation at Eagle Creek, the logging being done by a narrow gauge 

 railroad. The Whiting Lumber Company, also, runs a narrow gauge 

 railroad from its mill in Graham County to Judson, the shipping point, 

 where it owns a large planing mill. 



Most of the lumber sawed in the county by small mills is flumed out 

 to the railroad, because of the difficulty of transporting lumber by road, 

 and the expense of building railroads. Within easy hauling distance of 

 the railroads and near the flumes, where the better grades of timber have 

 previously been removed, the land is now being cut over again for tan- 

 ning extract wood, pulp wood, and tanbark, which find a ready sale 

 delivered at all the small stations. These industries have become im- 

 portant factors in forest utilization. After the farm crops are harvested 

 many persons spend the rest of the year getting out wood and bark. 

 This thorough culling has resulted in a second growth of black oak, 

 white oak, poplar, chestnut, ash, and hickory, which in a few years, if 

 fires are kept out, will produce good timber. 



About 94 per cent of the land is forest, of which at least one-third is 

 virgin. The best stands are found near the heads of the streams and in 

 the coves. The trees are tall, often with 80 feet clear length, and with 

 diameters varying from 2 to 5 feet. The forest in such situations is 

 made up chiefly of chestnut, poplar, hemlock, red oak, and basswood, 

 associated with small quantities of other and sometimes even more valu- 



