INDUSTRY OF COUNTIES. 
319 
tion to their owners. Few, if any, counties in the State con¬ 
tain as fine, well cultivated and well watered farms as the Bear 
Creek and Wilson Creek Yalleys. 
As the county is generally new, there have not probably been 
very thorough or systematic efforts made for the cultivation of 
fruit; but as far as the trial has been made with the hardier and 
acclimated species, the result has generally been satisfactory. 
The principal fruits which seem natural to the soil and climate 
are the currant, grape, raspberry and strawberry, all of which 
do well here, but particularly the grape, which grows spontan¬ 
eously in our forests in abundance. 
Little pains, I believe, has ever been taken to ascertain the 
geological character of the rock strata which underlie this 
entire region of country, and are often seen cropping out of 
the bluffs often a hundred feet above the land of the valley 
around them. These rocks show indications of the action of 
water upon their surfaces at some remote period. There are 
less indications of volcanic action in this section than in sev¬ 
eral counties farther south. The rocks in the bluffs are gener¬ 
ally of a species of hard sandstone, in many instances a hundred 
feet in depth. There are, however, occasional layers of lime¬ 
stone interspersed along the bluffs. Hydraulic power is 
abundant in this county. The Pine river, so named from several 
fine groves of pine timber growing near it, Bear creek, Willow 
and Mill creeks, which seem to have been located at convenient 
and necessary intervals, afford a sufficient power, at least for 
many years to come. 
In former years large quantities of the ginseng root were 
dug from the rich timber lands in this county, and at one time 
constituted its principal export; but within the last two or 
three years less attention has been given to this trade in con¬ 
sequence of a falling off of the price, though much of it is yet 
here and can be obtained with little labor or investment. In 
the year 1857 it was estimated that from seventy to eighty 
thousand dollars worth of ginseng was sent to China from this 
county alone. 
The principal villages are Lone Rock, the present depot for 
