In 1840 there were 19,915 slaves in East Tennessee, valued at $10,813,845.[5] In 1850 there were 22,187 valued at $11,248,809; and in 1860 there were 27,560 slaves valued at $23,536,240.[6] There were in 1856 only 4,784 slaveholders in East Tennessee. Of these, one held between 200 and 300 slaves, 3 between 70 and 100, 4 between 50 and 70, 12 between 40 and 50, and only 718 owned more than ten slaves, and 1207 owned only one; 719 owned two slaves. Practically half the slaveholders of East Tennessee owned either one or two slaves. The average price of land per acre in East Tennessee was $4.62, slightly more than half of what it was for middle and West Tennessee.[7] The value of the slave in 1859 ranged from $563 in Johnson County, which is in the northeastern part of the state, in the mountains, to $953 in Blount County, which is bordered by the Tennessee River and is traversed by some of its branches. Middle Tennessee was more adapted to the slavery system than East Tennessee. It contained the rich Central Basin, traversed by the Cumberland River, and also portions of the valley of the Tennessee. Slavery was profitable in Middle Tennessee, especially for the cultivation of tobacco and cotton. Middle Tennessee in 1856 raised 19,621 bales of cotton and 4,511 hogsheads of tobacco. It produced 1,825,423 bushels of wheat and 21,968,114 bushels of corn.[8] The big cotton counties were Lincoln, producing 2,558 bales; Williamson, 3,167 bales; Maury, 4,623 bales; and Rutherford, 4,623 bales. All these counties are in the Central Basin. The big tobacco counties were Robertson, producing 1083 hogsheads, Smith, 1050 hogsheads, and Williamson, 1179 hogsheads. There were 74 farms in Middle Tennessee, containing more than one thousand acres each and 299 farms having between 500 and 1000 acres each. The counties having plantations of more than 500 acres were Wilson, with 24, Davidson, 27, Bedford, 33, Montgomery, 23, Williamson, 49, Lincoln, 50, Rutherford, 52, and Giles, 60. Most of these counties are located in the Central Basin, and have a rich, loamy soil. The response was the big plantation and a dense slave population. The slave population of Middle Tennessee, increased from 106,640 in 1840, to 131,666 in 1850 and to 148,028 by 1860. Land was very valuable in the cotton and tobacco counties, ranging in value from $13.54 in Giles County to $18.84 per acre in Williamson. The slave in Giles County was worth $797 while in Williamson County he was valued at $855. Both of these counties were rural and produced cotton. The average value of land for this section was only $8.82 per acre while the average value of slaves was $838. The total value of slaves in Middle Tennessee in 1860 was $126,488,926. There were 18,524 slaveholders in Middle Tennessee in 1856; of this number, 14,145 held less than ten slaves; only one owned more than 300 slaves; about four thousand held only one slave. There were practically no large slaveholders in Middle Tennessee.