Coal Seams. Iron Ore. conifers, capable of reproduction in kind. Shaler continues: "The considerable part of its surface that is not fit for agriculture is admirably suited for the production of hardwood timber of the most valuable varieties, and will doubtless have in this fitness a source of wealth scarcely less than tillage of the best lands could give."25 Coal seams occur in all of the thirty-four counties, increasing in number and thickness toward the southeast and reaching their climax in the Black Mountain region. The seams are favorably disposed for extraction except in the Pine and Cumberland mountains, where the contorted condition of the strata renders mining difficult. The deposits are all bituminous, and there are several varieties. The most valuable are: cannel, found in limited basins throughout the field; coking, appearing in large quantities only in the vicinity of Pound Gap (Elkhorn district); high class steaming coals, occurring in quantity in the southeastern counties and at a few points along the western margin.26 Iron ore, nowhere abundant, is distributed, at a number of geological levels, in different sections of the field. The most important deposits found lie along the western Cumberland Valley thus: "The hillside soils yield largely if properly cultivated, but as they must lie idle every other year and cultivation must be largely by hand, they can not be considered as desirable farming lands. It is a little surprising to find the soil on a hillslope so steep that it can not be plowed yielding from sixty to eighty bushels of corn to the acre, and continue to give a good yield for twenty or twenty-five years without fertilization if allowed to lie idle every other year." margin, especially in the Kentucky and Licking basins (Red River district) and in the Little Sandy basin (Hanging Rock district).27 The water of many springs contains common salt (NaCL), and in numerous places a richer brine can be obtained by boring. It is found associated with oil and natural gas, which are inearthed in certain localities where the structure and composition of the rocks are favorable to the conservation of hydrocarbons.28 Salt, Oil, Gas. Clays, plastic and non-plastic, are found in every part Clays. of the region, as residuum from the coal measures along the base of the hills, imbedded in the coal measures or as unconsolidated silt in the valleys.29 Forest only Permanent Source of Commerce. In the past the resources have been 'merely exploited rather than developed, and if the process is continued it must inevitably lead to their exhaustion. In the case of coal and other minerals the exhaustion is of course only a matter of time in any case, though the end may be postponed by more careful methods. But with the timber it is otherwise. By scientific methods of forestry the region, Necessary. because of its natural adaptability to the production of hardwoods, might be made a permanent source of wealth. On this account the perpetuation of the forest is of the utmost importance to the mountain people. It is equally a The basins of many springs impregnated with salt and formerly the rendezvous for buffalo, bear, elk, deer, and other wild game, became known as "licks." Oil also issues from the base of cliffs as springs; gas in some localities, escaping through rock fissures, when ignited blazes high in the air, causing "burning springs." Scientific Methods Preservation of Central Kentucky. as important to the entire State for another reason; the effect of the forest as a regulating and conserving factor of stream flow in five extensive drainage basins where three of the main rivers in Central Kentucky take their rise, and where, moreover, there is the heaviest rainfall in the State. Rainfall. Storage CLIMATE The rainfall is derived in part from the Pacific Ocean, but chiefly from the Gulf of Mexico, drawn inland by southerly and southwesterly winds, and diminishing to the northward.30 The average annual precipitation is greatest (50-60 inches) throughout the Cumberland basin and at the head of the other main streams. It decreases northwardly and westwardly to 40-45 inches in the basins of the Kentucky and the Licking, and to 35-40 inches in the basins of the Big and Little Sandy. A little more than half of this precipitation (from fifty to sixty per cent) is received during the six months from April to September. Where the forest cover exists, a portion of the downpour is absorbed by a hardwood humus. The water, sinking into the pores and cracks of the rocks, saturates the underlying strata and at certain levels again reaches the surface as springs, which are feeders to the streams. However, the storage capacity of the region is slight, and the greater part of the rainfall runs off immediately. This is due chiefly to the steep slopes, especially when, having become |