ashevilleNC1903

SOIL SURVEY OF THE ASHEVILLE AREA, NORTH
CAROLINA.
By J. E. LAPHAM and F. N. MEEKER.
LOCATION AND BOUNDARIES OF THE AREA.
The area surveyed is the southern half of the Asheville quadrangle,
United States Geological Survey, and comprises about 500 square
miles. It is situated between 820 30' and 831 west longitude and 350
30' and 351 45' north latitude. Of this area Buncombe County con-
stitutes about one-half, about 40 square miles lie in the southern part
of Madison County, and the remainder in Haywood County. The
northwestern edge of the map approaches to within 2 or 3 miles of
the Tennessee line. Asheville is in about the same latitude as Mem-
FIG. 10.—Sketch map showing location of the Asheville area, North Carolina.
phis, Tenn., and is nearly due south of Cleveland. It is about 400
miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean and about 270 miles by rail
from Raleigh, the capital of the State.
HISTORY OF SETTLEMENT AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT.
The first settlements in the Asheville area were made about one
hundred and twenty years ago, the country having been previously
occupied by the Cherokee Indians. Though a little corn, tobacco,
and a few pumpkins were grown here and there by the Indians, they
lived mainly upon fish and game, supplemented by the native nuts, wild
279

280 FIELD OPERATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF SOILS, 1903.
fruits, and berries, which grew abundantly in this region. Save for
occasional outbreaks they were on fairly friendly terms with the white
settlers.
The earliest pioneers settled along the creeks and rivers and began
tilling the richer and more easily cultivated bottom lands. Rye and
oats were the first grain crops sown; afterwards wheat was more
important, and later corn became the principal product. The virgin
soils produced well, game was then abundant, and the simple needs of
the settlers comparatively easily supplied. Except for their isola-
tion and the difficulties of transportation and communication with the
outside world, their hardships were less than those suffered by pio-
neers in some of the more northern latitudes.
These pioneers were mainly from Virginia, and the settlement of
this part of the country was of slow growth. North Carolina was
early divided into three counties —Albemarle, Bath, and Clarendon —
and each county subdivided into precincts. Clarendon consisted of
only one precinct —New Hanover —and con4prised all of the western
part of the State, including Tennessee. In 1738 this division into pre-
cincts was abolished and the precincts called counties. Buncombe
County was formed in 1791 from Burke and Rutherford counties,
formerly a part of Rowan County; and from Buncombe County,
Haywood, and Madison counties were formed in 1808 and 1850,
respectively.
The population and crop production increased, and in 1850 Bun-
combe and Haywood counties contained about 20,000 inhabitants and
grew 363,611 bushels of corn, 38,462 bushels of wheat,104,807 bushels
of oats, and 25,247 pounds .of tobacco. After the war of 1861 the
growing of tobacco became quite an important industry. A part of
the product was marketed at Asheville, though many of the larger
growers sold on the Richmond and Lynchburg, Va., markets and at
Greensboro and Durham, N. C. The height of this industry was
reached in 1870, when the prices began to decline and the cultivation
to fall off, until at the present time the acreage devoted to this crop is
relatively small.
CLIMATE.
The following climatological data are drawn from the records of the
Weather Bureau. The official weather observatory has only been
established at Asheville within the last two years, and the tables and
summaries are mainly made up from records of voluntary observers.
These records were quite continuous from 1868 to 1879 and from 1889
to 1897.
The climate of the area is characterized by light annual precipita-
tion compared with the remainder of the mountain portion of North
Carolina. There is a large proportion of bright days and a compara-

SOIL SURVEY OF ASHEVILLE AREA, NORTH CAROLINA. 281
tive absence of disagreeable or destructive winds. The mean annual
precipitation for the western portion of the State is 53 inches, while
that for the vicinity of Asheville is but 43 inches, 41 per cent of which
occurs in the months of March, June, July, and August. The average
annual precipitation at Waynesville, situated just outside the south-
west corner of the area, is somewhat greater.
The mean annual temperature is 54.60 F., the warmest month being
July, with a mean of 720 F., and the coldest January, with 37.90 F.
The three winter months are nearly alike in temperature. The highest monthly
mean temperature ever recorded at Asheville was 76.8, in June, 1876, and the lowest
mean was 27.2, in January, 1897. * * * The highest temperature observed was
95°F., on September15,1897, and the lowest —9°F., January 16,1893. * * * Below
zero temperature may occur in January, February, and December, but generally only
during severe cold winters.a
A five-year record gives the annual snowfall as 16.4 inches, which
is stated to be much above the normal. The average date of the last
killing frost of spring is April 21, and the first killing frost of autumn
October 16.
The relative humidity is somewhat high, due mainly to the early
morning fogs, which are quite prevalent during the summer season.
These do not occur to any considerable extent away from the river
valleys, and are generally dissipated early in the day.
The prevailing direction of the wind in the summer is southwest, and
in winter northeast.
Normal monthly and annual temperature and precipitation.
Ashev:.:e, N.C.
----i--
Asheville, N.C.
Month.
Month.
Temper-
ature.
Precipi-
tation.
Temper-
ature,
Precipi-
tation.
OF.
Inches.
OF.
Inches.
January ......................
37.9
.8.04
August.......................
70.6
4.63
February .....................
89.7
3.57
September...---......----...
64.9
2.95
March ........................
45.9
4.14
October.......--......---....
53.6
2.61
April .........................
54.6
3.35
November .............--....
46.5
2.76
May ..........................
62.6
3.62
December....--.......---....
38.9
3.13
June ..........................
69.6
4.08
Year ...................
54.6I
42.72
July ..........................
72.0
4.84
PHYSIOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY.
For convenience of reference the area mapped may be placed in two
physiographic divisions, mountain and intermountain, the areas of the
two divisions being about equal. In a general way the western half
of the sheet will fall into the former division and the eastern portion
into the latter. The northern two-thirds of the western half of the
a Climatology of Asheville. C. F. von Hermann.

BOIL SURVEY OF ASHEVILLE AREA, NORTH CAROLINA. 283
the coves and valleys and on other hillsides deciduous trees vary the
coloring.
The adjacent mountain ranges form quite abrupt margins to this
intermountain or valley land, the boundaries being slightly obscured
in some instances by outlying knobs and larger hills and ridges from
400 to 700 feet high. There is little really level land in these big
valleys, the rolling topography being quite continuous, and as the
descent of one hill is made the ascent of another is begun. A strip
of level or only slightly sloping bottom land of from 50 to 100 yards
wide borders many of the smaller streams. In some instances along
the French Broad, Swannanoa, and Big Pigeon rivers and Hominy
Creek these bottoms broaden to one-fourth mile and extend for a
short distance along the streams. North of Asheville the French
Broad River has almost no bottom land along it, the hills rising quite
abruptly to a height of 200 or 300 feet for most of the distance to the
northern edge of the map.
In its course of 25 miles through the area .the French Broad River
falls about 300 feet, and thus develops considerable water power, to
utilize a part of which an electric power plant is at present being
installed about 5 miles below Asheville. The current is quite rapid
below Asheville and flows over a rough, rocky bed. Many of these
rocks are loose, while others are in place and show a nearly vertical
dip. The stream is from 80 to 120 yards in width.
The Swannanoa River is one of the principal tributaries of the French
Broad, and its waters are discharged just below Biltmore. Big Pigeon
River, third in point of size, flows in a general northwesterly direction
across the southwestern corner of the sheet, its length within the area
being about 20 miles. On it are situated the towns of Canton and Clyde.
It flows through a comparatively smooth and fertile, though narrow,
agricultural valley to a point about 2 miles below Clyde, where it
becomes hemmed in between precipitous hills and mountains. Hominy
Creek rises in the eastern edge of Haywood County, and after break-
ing through the Newfound Range flows the remaining 10 or 12 miles
of its length to the French Broad River through a broad intermountain
valley coalescing with that of the French Broad. The other important
streams —Crabtree, Fines, Spring, Sandy Mush, and Turkey creeks —
all have their sources in the higher mountains, and throughout the
greater part of their lengths their valleys are narrow and belong to
the truly mountainous type of country. The average elevation of
these valleys is about 2,500 feet.
Geologically, the area surveyed is entirely underlain by the older
rocks, and from the gneisses, mica-schists, talcose-schists, and massive
hornblendic rocks, together with numerous quartz veins, all of the
soils are derived. Little granite is found within the area, and gneiss
constitutes the greater proportion of the rock. From this, especially

SOIL SURVEY OF ASHEVILLE AREA, NORTH CAROLINA. 285
Porters sand is almost exclusively confined to the northwestern part
of the area, where it is found on the mountain ridges. It generally
occupies only the tops of these ridges, and usually where the slope is
not steep. It occurs typically developed upon the long, gently sloping
buttresses and spurs of some of the larger mountains. The drainage
is always good.
The soil is principally derived from the coarse -grained gneisses,
especially those containing considerable quartz and feldspar.
The principal crops are corn, oats, and tobacco. Probably four -
fifths of the tobacco grown in this section is raised on Porters sand.
The yield is about 500 pounds to the acre. The commonest trees seen
are white and red oak and chestnut.
It is not a very strong or productive soil, and this fact, combined
with its elevated and difficultly accessible position, renders it of limited
agricultural value.
The following table gives mechanical analyses of typical samples of
fine earth of this soil:
Mechanical analyses of Porters sand.
o
o
o❑❑
d
❑�
No.
Locality.
Description.
o
r
C
0
8
N
CV
F
d 0
y
m
�
P. et.
P. ct.
P. ct.
P. ct.
P. ct.
P. et.
P. ct.
P. ct.
9755
21 miles NE. of
Graymediumsand,
0.38
6.68
13.56
10.60
28.06
19.76
15.66
5.58
Canto.
0 to 8 inches.
9757
11 miles N. of
Gray mediumsand,
.86
5.20
12.10
6.92
20.84
19.64
26.80
8.48
Crabtree.
0 to 9 inches.
9756
Subsoil of 9755....
Yellow sand, 8to 30
.13
4.44
24.02
16.62
28.46
13.54
7.76
4.9C
inches.
9758
Subsoil of 9757....
Yellow sand, 9 to
33
4.80
12.80
8.80
23.72
17.60
23.82
8.4C
20 inches.
PORTERS BANDY LOAM.
The soil of the Porters sandy loam is a light gray to grayish -yellow
sandy loam of a minimum depth of 7 inches and varying from that to
12 inches. The sand grains are irregular in shape and variable in size,
and mixed with them is more or less silt and clay. Much of the sand
in this type of soil is highly micaceous, and if persistently rubbed
between the fingers a great deal of the grit disappears. Notwith-
standing this and notwithstanding the fact, too, that a physical analysis
shows the texture to be rather fine, the soil in the field has decidedly
the appearance and tilling properties of a sandy loam. There is fre-
quently from 5 to 20 per cent of irregular fragments of rock present

288 FIELD OPERATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF SOILS, 1903.
densely shaded coves. It almost never occurs upon the southern
slopes, except in a few instances where it has crept over from the north
side of the highest ridges and extends for a short distance down upon
the other side. In a few instances, in densely wooded coves, small
local spots of it have been encountered upon the southern and eastern
slopes, but these are never more than a few feet or rods in extent and
have not been mapped. Though the lower boundary of the soil is
usually found up the side of a mountain, in some instances it extends
down nearly to the trough of the valley, where the angle of the slopes
is sometimes not over 101. It ranges from this to 400 in the highest
positions. Good drainage is thus always afforded. Only rarely have
instances of soil washing been observed on this type.
The Porters black loam is derived from various classes of the meta-
morphic rocks, and there seems to be no particular kind to which may
be traced a preponderating influence either in the origin of its physical
characteristics or color. The color is due to the large amount of
organic matter present, and it is in nowise influenced by the character
of the rock from which the soil is derived —that is to say, a black
hornblendic rock, for instance, is no more likely to yield Porters black
loam than is a light gray gneiss. The only explanation which can be
offered for the confinement of this black soil to the north side of a
mountain is that upon that side, where there is more shade and less
evaporation, vegetation is more rank and there is more vegetable d6bris.
This decays more rapidly and completely than upon a slope exposed
directly to the sunlight and yields a greater amount of the rich black
vegetable mold. With the cutting off of the forest and the removal of
the shady conditions under which the soil had its formation it might
be expected that a change would gradually take place, the organic
matter be used up, and the soil grow lighter in color. Available evi-
dence, however, ,goes to show that these changes are very gradual,
and probably a good many years might elapse without appreciable
diminution of the productiveness of the soil.
Comparatively little Porters black loam is at present in cultivation.
Large areas of it are still in forest and a considerable proportion is
devoted to pasture. After deadening the trees and harvesting two or
three crops of corn these mountain pastures have been seeded to tim-
othy, bluegrass, and redtop. These grasses grow luxuriantly, and
wher_ sheep are not allowed to run furnish grazing for cattle for a
number of years without renewal. Corn without any fertilization
yields from 40 to 50 bushels to the acre. In some of the coves near
the }:ighest mountains, and where the soil extends well down into the
valleys, apples are grown successfully, though not extensively.
Red, white, and chestnut oak grow abundantly, together with many
large chestnut trees. On Spring Creek are seen a number of fine
specimens of buckeye, some of theme exceeding a foot in diameter,

SOIL SURVEY OF ASHEVILLE AREA, NORTH CAROLINA. 289
Upon no type of soil in the area have apples been so successfully
grown as upon this black loam. Its peculiar adaptability to this fruit
is not confined to this section, but is known and recognized in other
localities in the State, and in the Valley of Virginia apple growing
is successfully carried on upon the same soil, which the Bureau of
Soils has recognized and mapped there. It is particularly suited to the
Albemarle pippin in sheltered coves at not too great elevation. Besides
apples, the soil is well adapted to most of the ordinary farm crops, and
especially to corn and Irish potatoes.
The following table gives the mechanical analyses of typical samples
of this soil:
Mechanical analyses of Porters black loam.
s
a
s
o
a
o
C!
p
No.
Locality.
Description.
q
a
o
o
y
p
y
4i
�
O
0
e
Q
P. ct.
P. ct.
A et.
P. et.
A et.
P. et.
P. et.
P. ct.
9745
1# miles SW. of
Dark brown loam,
2.66
6.14
10.80
6.06
16.70
14.68
20.70
24.96
Turnpike.
0 to 7 inches.
9747
3 miles NW. of
Black flue loam, 0
10.18
7.32
8.88
4.46
10.38
11.84
22.70
84.60
Canto.
to 8 inches.
9746
Subsoil of 9745.....
Brown loam, 7 to 30
1.16
5.40
10.26
6.82
16.92
15.20
21.70
24.10
inches.
9748
Subsoil of 9747.....
Brown loam, 8 to 30
2.46
3.08
7.26
4.70
11.20
13.10
26.10
33.90
inches.
11
NOTE. -Sample No. 9747 contained a large amount of woody or but partially decomposed material,
which would account for the high organic matter content as compared with other samples.
PORTERS LOAM.
The soil of the Porters loam averages about 8 inches in depth and
consists of a yellowish -gray loam containing varying amounts of fine
sand and silt. While there is enough clay present in the first 6 inches to
give moderate coherence to the soil, it nevertheless feels quite gritty
between the fingers and is friable. In areas where the soil is deepest
it sometimes has a gray appearance at the surface, but as a rule the
surface soil has a characteristic yellowish cast, with reddish -yellow
spots where the soil has been partially washed away and the subsoil
exposed. A few small rock fragments are sometimes seen scattered
about on the surface, but are not usually plentiful enough to be a.
serious hindrance to cultivation. 'The upper few inches of the subsoil
is a coherent yellowish clay loam, with a small percentage of fine sand
intermixed. This usually grades at 18 inches into the heavy, adhesive
red clay which is so characteristic of the area, and which underlies also
the Porters clay. In the more mountainous parts of the area, however,
this red clay is usually found at a greater depth, and sometimes the
H. Doc. 746, 58-2-19

290 FIELD OPERATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF SOILS, 1.903.
yellow loam persists to a depth of 30U inches or more. By reason of its
coarser texture this type of soil yields more readily to cultivation than
the Porters clay, and a mellow seed bed is prepared with less difficulty.
Along the streams in the upper end of some of these mountain valleys
are small, narrow areas of soil made up of a combination of the detrital
material of the talus slope and the small amounts of sediment deposited
by the streams themselves. These areas have been mapped as a phase
of Porters loam, it being considered undesirable to include them with
the meadow type. They usually have a slope of from 50 to 150, and
the subsoil contains numerous irregular rock fragments. Such areas
are all more or less subirrigated.
Porters loam is found in all parts of the sheet, but is developed in
larger and more continuous areas over the rolling valley lands of the
intermountain part of the country. It usually also marks a strip on
each side of the stream bottoms of the mountain valleys. Here it is
sometimes found well up on the sides of the mountains, and in some
instances even persists clear up to the top. It has a steeper slope on
the mountains than in the rolling lands of the valleys of the French
Broad River and Hominy Creek, where it occupies hillsides and
hilltops alike.
The drainage is always sufficient, and often there is considerable
washing and gullying of the soil, leaving exposed the underlying red
clay and rendering necessary the abandonment of occasional fields.
The soil is derived from the weathering of the underlying gneisses
and schists, the finer particles resulting from the decomposition of the
feldspars, hornblende, etc., the more resistant siliceous minerals yield-
ing the sand grains, the arrangement of the component materials then
being effected by gravitation and the assorting power of percolating
waters.
Corn, wheat, and oats are the principal crops grown upon Porters
loam. Wheat gives an average yield of 10 or 15 bushels to the acre,
and corn about 25 bushels. On the heavier phases of the type grass
does fairly well. Fruit is grown to some extent, and with fairly good
success in favored locations. The principal forest growth is short -
leaf and loblolly pine, white oak, and red oak, together with some
maple and chestnut. The chinquapin forms a thick undergrowth in
some localities.
This is one of the best soils in the area for general agricultural pur-
poses. Soils of this nature are suited to a wider variety of crops than
are either the heavier clay soils or the sands and sandy loams. Por-
ters loam can not be as highly recommended for wheat or grass as
Porters clay, but for corn, oats, Irish potatoes, etc., the soil is fairly
well adapted. It is believed that alfalfa would do well on some of the
mountain creek bottom phase already referred to, where the subsoil
is very porous and where the roots can penetrate to water.

294 FIELD OPERATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF BOILS, 1903.
The Meadow is found in all parts of the area as a level strip border-
ing both the large and small streams. Its continuity along the streams
is oftentimes interrupted, the hills closing in and the valleys becoming
so narrow that no room is left for sedimentary deposition. Its aver-
age width. along the smaller streams is less- than 100 yards, though in
a few instances in the wider valleys it broadens out to a quarter of a
mile in width. A great part of the type is subject to overflow, and the
drainage is deficient in many places.
The soil is sedimentary in origin, the particles being washed down
from the hills and mountains and deposited where the streams are
broadest and the currents most sluggish.
Corn and hay are the principal crops grown, the former yielding on
an average about 30 bushels and the latter about 1J tons to the acre.
The soil is held in high esteem, as well for its convenient physio-
graphic position and ease of cultivation as for the natural renewal of
its fertility by sedimentation. Prices out of all proportion to its agri-
cultural value are sometimes paid for land of this character. Vegeta-
bles are grown upon it to some extent, and it is also used for pasture
land.
ROCK OUTCROP.
Certain areas, amounting in all to less than 1 per cent of the areas
surveyed, are classed as Rock outcrop and shown in the map by suitable
symbol. These embrace ledges of bare rock, areas of scant soil cover-
ing, or areas so covered with stones and bowlders as to be unsuited to
cultivated crops.
AGRICULTURAL METHODS.
Considering the isolation of many of the farming communities, it is
not surprising that more improvements in agricultural methods have
not been adopted. Some excuse, too, for the primitive implements
and practices may be offered by reason of the rough and oftentimes
stony character of much of the mountain land. The steep slopes and
uneven surfaces which prevail in much of the mountain country are
prohibitive of the use of grain drills, wheeled double cultivators,
harvesters, and other implements which contribute so much to the
easy and economical prosecution of the work on more level farms.
A few reversible disk sulky plows are being used in some localities in
the rolling intermountain country. They give very good results, and,
with the same draft needed for the old-style walking plow, cut a
deeper furrow. No instances are known where they have been tried
upon the steep mountain slopes. It is likely that much of the plow-
ing on the steepest slopes will for a long time continue to be done with
the small plows drawn by one horse or an ox. These plows have
reversible moldboards, so that they can be drawn back and forth along
the lower edge of a field and the furrows always turned downhill.

SOIL SURVEY OF ASHEVILLE AREA, NORTH CAROLINA. 295
Many of the farms are so steep that the crops are taken off on sleds,
and, in fact, the ox sled is the only vehicle which some of the mountain
farmers possess.
The cultivated areas on the mountain farms are often quite limited
in extent, and the crops correspondingly small in quantity. In thrash-
ing seasons it is frequently necessary for a crew to haul their machine
(a small, light one, the motive power to run which is furnished by
horses —no portable engines being used) up rough and stony mountain
roads for only two or three hours' work.
The method of harvesting corn is to cut the top off the stalks above
the ears, and, with the leaves left on, put them in shocks. The leaves
left on the standing stalks are then stripped off, tied into small bundles,
and hung over one of the standing stalks to cure. After a few days
these leaves and top stalks are removed to shelter, and the butt stalks
with the attached ears left standing in the field until the grain is thor-
oughly dried out. It sometimes stands in this way for a month or six
weeks, when the ears are pulled and carried to the crib, the husks
being left on in many instances and removed only as the corn is wanted
for feeding. While by the use of this method nearly the whole of
the waste part of the stalk is left in the field and the edible portion
preserved in more convenient form for feeding, the process appears
tedious and expensive and its economy seems very doubtful.
Little attention has been paid to crop rotation or fertilization in the
mountain section, though these have been practiced to some extent by
the more progressive farmers in the lower hill country, where the soils
have been longer in cultivation. Heretofore the land has always been
so cheap that when the soil became exhausted the field was left to
grow up to pine and additional land cleared.
AG4RICULTURAL CONDITIONS.
The average mountain farmer produces little more than enough for
home consumption. As the result of long years of isolation, the scar-
city of money, and the difficulty of reaching the towns, he has learned
to grow or manufacture at home things which the farmer in more
accessible districts finds it more economical and convenient to pur-
chase. A part of his clothing is made at home from the wool grown,
carded, spun, and woven there; he manufactures brooms from home-
grown broom corn; he raises sorghum and makes his own sirup;
weaves his own baskets; substitutes gourds for tin dippers; and grows
tobacco for his own use. The wants of the mountain farmer are sim-
ple. Many of the things which people living in the more advanced
and progressive sections regard as necessities, he looks upon as luxu-
ries, and neither indulges in nor desires. The mountain farmer is
fairly prosperous, judged by his own standards, and is generally con-
tented with his lot. His intellectual enjoyments are few. He cares