TENNESSEE. 



343 



7. Vegetable Productions. Nearly all the forest trees of the western country are found in 

 this State, but the laurel tribes are not common. Juniper, red-cedar, and savin, cover the 

 mountains. Ap])les, pears, and plums, which are properly more northern fruits, are raised in 

 great perfection. The sugar maple is very abundant. 



8. Minerals. Inexhaustible quarries of gypsum, of the finest quality, abound in East Ten- 

 nessee. Marble, in many beautiful varieties is abundant. Iron ore is found in plenty, and 

 some lead mines have been worked. Salt springs are numerous, but the water is not sufficient- 

 ly strong to admit of their being made profitable. Nitrous earth abounds in the saltpetre caves. 

 The gold region, already described in the Southern States, extends into the southeastern part 

 of Tennessee. The spot affording the metal, is situated about 12 miles south of the Tellico 

 plains, near the Unaka mountain, which separates this State from North Carolina. The gold 

 occurs in small grains, and appears to have been produced by the disintegration of the rocks 

 which compose the mountain ; it is found in the small rivulets and brooks, and also on the de- 

 clivities of the mountains, and very near their summits. It is contained in a stratum of the 

 soil of 10 or 12 inches in depth, and is separated from the earth by washing. Tennessee also 

 contains an ore of zinc, of excellent quality. The Cunjberland Mountains are rich in coal. 

 Manganese, roofing slate, and inagnetic iron-ore, may be also numbered among the mineral pro- 

 ductions, and mineral springs are numerous. The great coal-field of Tennessee is co-extensive 

 with the Cumberland Mountains, whose summit is occupied by the coal-measures. It extends 

 into Kentucky across the Cumberland, and, perhaps, across the Kentucky River, and into 

 Alabama across the Tennessee ; the coal crops out at numerous points on the declivities of 

 the mountains, and is worked in Fentress, where it is sent down the Obey River to the Cum- 

 berland, in Morgan, where Emery's River affords facilities for transporting it to the Tennessee, 

 and in the Sequatchee Valley ; from tiiese points, and froin the banks of the Cumberland b 

 Kentucky, it is carried down the rivers in flat boats as far as New Orleans. 



9. Caves. The mountains of this State contain a great number of caverns, which are 

 among the most remarkable features of the country. They are of so frequent occurrence that 

 very few have been explored ; and little more is known of them, than that they abound m 

 nitrous earth. One of them has been descended 400 feet below the surface, and found to con- 

 sist of a smooth limestone rock, with a stream of pure water at the bottom, sufficient to turn a 

 mill. A cave on a high peak of the Cumberland Mountain has a perpendicular descent, the 

 bottom of which has never been sounded. A cave which may be descended some hundred feet, 

 and traced for a mile, is an object too common to be pointed out to the traveler's attention. 

 Some of these caves are several miles in extent ; they are in limestone. The Big Bone Cave, 

 has received its name from its containing the huge bones of the mastodon and megalonyx. 



Among the Enchanted Mountains, the name given to several spurs of the Cumberland Ridge, 

 are some very singular foot-prints, marked in the solid limestone rock. These are tracks of 

 men, horses, and other animals, as distinctly marked as though but yesterday impressed in clay 

 or mortar. Their appearance often indicates that the feet which made them, had slidden, as 

 if in descending a declivity of soft clay. The human feet have uniformly 6 toes, with the ex- 

 ception of one track, which is thought to be that of a negro. One of the tracks is 16 inches 

 long, and 13 inches wide from toe to heel, with the ball of the heel 5 inches in diameter. On 

 the shore of the Mississippi, is a similar impression of two human feet in a mass of limestone. 

 No satisfactory explanation has ever been given of these singular appearances. 



10. Face of the Country. This State is more diversified in appearance than any other in 

 the western country, ^fountains and hills occupy a great portion of its surface, and the whole 

 region offers, in general, the most striking and picturesque scenery. 



POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY 



1. Divisions. This State is divided into East and West Tennessee; the former has 26 

 counties, and the latter 45.* 



*West Tennessee, 



Bedford 



Benton 



Cannon 



Carroll 



Coffee 



Davidson 



Dickson 



Dyer 



Fayette 



Fentress 



Franklin 



Gitison 



Giles 



Hardinian 



Hardin 



Haywood 



Henderson 



Henry 



Hickman 



Humphreys 



Jackson 



Lauderdale 



Lawrence 



Lincoln 



Madison 



MarKhnll 



