Introduction - by Teresita Press

Canaro Drayton Smith (1813-1894) was the eighth son of a pioneer Macon 
County family. In 1820, his father Samuel purchased a tract known as the 
Tesenta Town (Tessentee), an old Cherokee village site. The family place 
was a mustering ground and Smith's Bridge became the name of the militia 
district. Today Smiths Bridge is one of eleven townships in Macon County.

C.D. Smith became a Methodist circuit preacher, but when traveling 
impaired his health he returned to Macon County and pursued his interest 
in minerals. He and his wife Margaret Bearden had seven children. Son 
Frank operated Smith's Drug Store in downtown Franklin and was a 
photographer whose work helped document the turn-of-the-century landscape. 

The "Brief History" Smith wrote in 1891 enjoyed considerable local 
interest. It went through several printings as a pamphlet published by The 
Franklin Press, with an accompanying chapter on topography by W.A. Curtis.
Smith knew many early settlers and was present when some of the early work 
of organization and building was underway. His booklet is about one-third 
history and two-thirds philosophy, but it was for many years the only 
printed source of local history. Because of its historical interest, we 
are offering it here, unedited (except for paragraph breaks to make it 
more readable). The reader will note that some of Smith's comments are 
insensitive by today's standards but were reflective of his time. Other 
comments, such as his diatribe about concealed weapons, provide an 
interesting glimpse of his own time - a time that is more remote to us 
than the era of settlement was to him.




A BRIEF HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA

Part I
Early Settlement of Macon County 

I propose to write a brief history of Macon County so far as I have been 
able to gather the facts. There has heretofore been, and still exists, an 
unaccountable indifference in particular communities in regard to their 
local history- the historic facts showing their rise and progress. This is 
especially true of this great plateau of country lying west of the Blue 
Ridge in North Carolina. This neglect on the part of the early settlers to 
keep a true historic record of the early settlement, progress, development 
and succeeding changes of population and civilization, is a culpable 
injustice to the posterity of the strong, resolute men who, on the 
retirement of the savages, took possession of the county and subjected its 
lands to the arts of agriculture and civilization.

It is both interesting and instructive to know something of the men who 
first built habitations in the wild forests of Macon County and introduced 
Christian civilization and customs where only savage life and customs 
prevailed from away back beyond the historic era. These sturdy pioneers 
flocked into this valley in 1820, only seventy years ago, and yet I have 
found it very difficult to get together the leading facts of history for 
so short a period.

Paucity of Records

There ought to be in some county department a complete and official report 
of the commissioners having the matter in hand of the survey of the lands 
of the county then ordered, the location and survey of the county site 
(the town of Franklin), and a report of the surveyor-in-chief giving a 
complete program of the lands surveyed. The commissioners reported to the 
State authorities and there are some files in the Secretary's office. No 
such record can be found in the Register's office of Macon County. Such 
record would, however, make an instructive and attractive feature in our 
county records and would interest the student of history and the lovers of 
antiquarian lore. A proud spirited Board of Commissioners ought to take 
steps to supply this deficiency in our county records.

After what seemed at one time would prove to be a fruitless search, I 
found the record of the organization of the county, which took place nine 
years after the survey of the lands and the location of the site for the 
town of Franklin. all back of this is blank so far as any official record 
is concerned. And for other valuable information which I now proceed to 
give I have had to rely mainly upon the statements of the few remaining 
individuals who were participants in the work of survey and location 
referred to.

Organization of New Territory

It has been a mooted question as to whether Macon County ever belonged to 
the territory of Buncombe County. The facts show that it did not, the 
Buncombe line never having extended further west than the Meigs and 
Freeman line. The territory now embraced in Macon and a portion of Jackson 
and Swain, was acquired by treaty from the Cherokee Indians in 1817-19. 
During the summer and fall of 1819 a few whites came amongst the Indians 
with a view to purchasing when the lands should come into market. During 
that fall many of the Indians moved west of the Nantahala chain of 
mountains but the entire tribe did not leave the Tennessee valley until 
the fall of 1820.

In the spring of 1820 the State Commissioners Jesse Franklin and James 
Meabin, in accordance with the provisions of an act of the General 
Assembly, came to the Tennessee Valley, now the chief part of Macon 
County, and organized for the survey of lands, a corps of surveyors of 
whom Capt. Robert Love, a son of Gen. Thomas Love who settled the place at 
the bridge where Capt. T.M. Angel recently lived, was chief. Robert Love 
had been an honored and brave Captain in the war of 1812, was much 
respected on account of his patriotic devotion to American liberty, and 
was consequently a man of large influence.

Surveyors Select Site of Franklin

The work of survey went rapidly forward, as there were five or six 
distinct companies in the field. The commissioners first determined upon 
the Watauga plains where the late Mr. Watson lived for the county site for 
a court house and four hundred acres (the amount appropriated by the State 
for that purpose) was located and surveyed. There was, however, a good 
deal of murmuring and protest among the surveyors, especially by Capt. 
Love, the chief, who favored the present site or the flat ridge where Mrs. 
H.T. Sloan now resides.

To harmonize with their employes and to give more general satisfaction, 
the Commissioners, who had no personal interest in the matter, proposed to 
call together the entire corps of surveyors and leave it to a majority 
vote of them. This proposition was agreed to and the respective companies 
of surveyors were ordered to assemble. On counting the vote the present 
site of Franklin had a majority. This result was mainly brought about 
through the influence of Capt. Love, the chief of the corps.

In compliance with their proposed terms a survey was ordered by the 
commissioners, the four hundred acres were located and a portion of it 
laid off into lots including the court house square. I obtained a few 
years ago the foregoing facts from the late Rev. John McDowell, who as a 
member of Capt Love's corps and a participant in the election. I have been 
thus particular in giving them in order to settle any dispute that might 
hereafter arise as to the location of the town of Franklin.

The work of survey as mapped out by the Commissioners having been 
finished, a general auction sale of the lands to the highest bidder took 
place at Waynesville in September 1820.

Development of Franklin

The settlement of the town of Franklin commenced at once. The first house 
built in Franklin was built by Joshua Roberts on the lot now occupied by 
Mr. Jackson Johnston. It was a small round-log cabin. But the first house 
proper was one built of hewn logs by Irad S. Hightower on the lot where 
Mr. N.G. Allman's hotel stands. It now constitutes a part of that 
building. That first house passed into the hands of the late Capt. N.S. 
Jarrett, thence to Gideon F. Morris, and from him to John R. Allman and 
then to the present owner, N.G. Allman.

Early houses

There were several log cabins built about that time, but the order in 
which it was done and the claims to priority I have been unable to 
ascertain. Lindsey Fortune built a cabin on the lot where the Franklin 
House, or Jarrett Hotel, now stands. Samuel Robinson built on the lot now 
occupied by Mrs. Robinson. Silas McDowell first built on the lot where 
stands the residence of D.C. Cunningham. Dillard Love built the first 
house on Mr. Trotter's lot. N.S. Jarrett built on the lot owned and 
occupied by Sam L. Rogers. John F. Dobson first improved the corner lot 
now owned by C.C. Smith. James K. Gray built the second house made of hewn 
logs on the lot owned by Mrs. Dr. A.W. Bell. Jesse R. Siler, one of the 
first settlers, built the house at the foot of the town hill where Mr. 
Geo. A. Jones now resides. He also built the second house on the Gov. 
Robinson lot and the brick store and dwelling owned at present by Capt. 
A.P. Munday. James W. Guinn or Mr. Whittaker built the house owned and 
occupied by Mr. Jackson Johnston.

First hotel

I am indebted for much of this information about the early settlement of 
Franklin to the late James K. Gray and Silas McDowell. There is one other 
fact worthy of notice. John R. Allman operated the first hotel in 
Franklin. Shortly after this, Jesse R. Siler opened his house at the "foot 
of the hill" and these two houses furnished the hotel accommodations here 
for many years. These are facts of history about Franklin so far as they 
go. Though meager and unsatisfactory, they may be interesting to future 
generations.


Part II
Formation of County Government

After the land sale in September 1820, at which a large part of the 
surveyed land was disposed of to the highest bidders, the Tennessee Valley 
was settled quite rapidly, but it was not until the spring of 1829 that a 
county government was organized. During this interim all the legal 
business of this entire territory west from the Tuckaseige river to the 
Tusquittee and Valley River chain of mountains was transacted by the 
county authorities of Haywood county and in the Superior Court for said 
county.

Whipped for hog-stealing

I remember distinctly the case of a man living within the territory of the 
present Smith's Bridge township who was tried and convicted in the 
Superior court for Haywood county for hog stealing, and for this crime 
received twenty-nine lashes at the public whipping post in the town of 
Waynesville. This is the only case of the kind that ever happened in the 
territory of Macon County.

During this interim the late Col. Joab I. Moore, who resided near 
Franklin, held for four years the position of Deputy Sheriff under Col. 
James McKee, who was at that time Sheriff of Haywood County. Col. Moore 
did all the business pertaining to that office in the new territory, and 
was regarded as a very efficient and faithful officer.

County established

This transition covering the formative period of our first population 
finally crystallized into the elements for self county government. Hence 
at the session of the General Assembly for 1828-29 an act was passed to 
create a new county and the name of Macon was given it in honor of 
Nathaniel Macon, who was a pure statesman and a perfect specimen of an old 
time American patriot and gentleman.

First County Court

The law creating the county appointed thirty-three leading citizens to be 
qualified and to serve as the first Board of Magistrates. I here quote the 
minutes showing the organization of the county: "Minutes of a Court for 
Macon County, Held for Said County on the 4th Monday in March, 1829, 
Agreeable to an Act of the General Assembly Made and Provided for Said 
County." "Present and organizing said county, from the county of Haywood, 
Wm. Deaver, Esqr., who appointed Joshua Roberts to administer the oath to 
the following Justices of the Peace for said county, to-wit: Aaron Pinson, 
Saul Smith, Jesse R. Siler, John Howard, Jacob Siler, John Moore, John 
Cook, Enos Shields, Jonathan Phillips, Bynum W. Bell, Benjamin S. 
Brittain, Joseph Welch, Michael Wikle, Thomas Rogers, Wm. F. McKee, Andrew 
Cathey, George Dickey, Edward L. Poindexter, Irad S. Hightower, James 
Buchanan, Wm. Tathem, Wm. H. Bryson, Matthew Patterson, Barak Norton, Wm. 
Wilson, Thos. Love, Jr., Mark Coleman, Hugh Gibbs, Asaph Enloe, Robert 
Huggins, John Wild, Henry Dryman and Jefferson Bryson, who, after taking 
the said oath agreeable to law, proceeded to appoint a clerk for said 
county. After balloting for said appointment, it appeared to the 
satisfaction of the court that Nathan B. Hyatt was duly elected clerk."

First Officers

The court having thus been duly organized, consisting of thirty-three 
magistrates, they proceeded, by ballot, to elect all the county officers - 
the election continuing from day to day. John Dobson, father of our 
countryman, Capt. J.W. Dobson, was elected first County Register, Bynum W. 
Bell first Sheriff, Montraville Patton first County Solicitor, Jacob Siler 
first County Surveyor, Michael Wikle first County Trustee, Nathan Smith 
first Coroner, Robert Huggins first County Ranger and James K. Gray first 
Standard Keeper. James Poteet was the first constable appointed by the new 
court.

Of that first Board of Magistrates I knew nearly all personally. Something 
over sixty-two years have passed away since that first Board of 
Magistrates was organized into a court. Of the whole number there is but 
one now living, the venerable William H. Bryson who resides in Jackson 
County.

Taken as a body, for general intelligence, integrity of character and 
fortitude and fidelity in the administration of law coming within their 
jurisdiction, they suffer nothing in comparison with the best County 
Boards of Magistrates within the State at the present writing. For public 
spirit and patriotic labor in the direction of county development and in 
building and keeping in repair public roads for public comfort and 
convenience, they have not had their equal in the county for the last half 
century. If we take the Scriptural axiom as true that the "tree is known 
by its fruit" then the deterioration of our public roads does not place 
the present population in an enviable light when compared with the 
population of Macon County fifty years ago. This comparison stands out 
with special prominence when we consider the present unaccountable 
disinclination of our population to render even a day's labor on repairs 
to say nothing of the more needed improvements on our public roads.

To tell a plain historic truth in plain language, our fathers, from 
patriotic motives and with a sense of public and personal comfort and 
convenience, and prompted by county pride, built our county roads, and the 
present generation is too trifling to keep them up.

Building the Tennessee River Road

As an illustration of the spirit of the men who first settled Macon 
County, it was agreed that the county should build a road leading from 
Franklin down the Tennessee River to the mouth of the Tuckaseige River to 
connect with a turn pike for which Joseph Welch had a charter to the 
Tennessee State line. Accordingly the court appointed a jury to lay off 
and mark the way for said road commencing at the junction of the Tennessee 
and Tuckaseige rivers and to divide it into lots as near equal as their 
limited means would enable them to do.

The jury, laid and marked off into seven lots, No. 1, commencing at the 
Tuckaseige Ford and No. 7 terminating not far from the Shallow Ford on the 
Tennessee river. There was some sort of lottery in assigning this work to 
the respective captains' militia companies. I suppose there was drawing of 
straws or perhaps numbers on slips of paper. The record reads on the 
appointment of the respective overseers: "This lot falls to Capt. Love's 
company" etc. etc. to the end of the chapter. It seems that there were six 
militia companies at that time in the county. It may be well to mention 
here the overseers of the respective lots, and the Captain's company 
assigned to each lot, as the building of this road furnishes an 
interesting and instructive chapter in the history of Macon County. Henry 
Addington No. 1, Capt. Love's company; Lot No. 2, Robert Johnson, Capt. 
Johnson's company; Lot No. 3, Benjamin S. Brittain, Capt. McKee's company; 
Lot No. 4, Jacob Palmer, Capt. Smith's company - now Smith's Bridge 
Township; lot No. 5, Joshua Ammons, Capt. George's company. Lot No. 6 
being regarded as a very hard lot was divided into three sections with 
Jesse R. Siler, Joseph Welch and James Whitaker as the overseers of the 
respective sections with special hands assigned them. Lot No. 7 had Wm. 
Bryson as overseer. This lot fell to Capt. Wilson's company. This lot 
terminated some where about the Shallow Ford, the road from Franklin 
having been somewhat worked out to that point.

The foregoing lots were worked out by respective companies - the hands 
forming themselves into masses, taking wagons to haul their provisions, 
tools, camp-fixtures, etc.

The Smith's Bridge company had the lot which lay between the 18 and 19 
mile-posts. The mess consisting of my brothers and some neighbors took me 
along as cook and camp-boy. There I saw the men taking rock from the river 
with the water breast deep to aid in building wharves. They remained until 
the work was finished. This work was done without compensation and for the 
public good. It illustrates the sort of stuff of which our fathers were 
made - the spirit of patriotism that prompted a noble race of men to 
sacrifice and work for their country's good. This work done they returned 
home feeling that they had rendered a service that was to benefit their 
county and their posterity.

Road Overseers

The overseers of the roads generally, of that time, were of the best men 
in the county. That first Board of Magistrates did not believe in any 
class distinction in their demands for public service. I find in the 
records of that first court an order appointing Joshua Roberts, the most 
prominent member of our local bar, the overseer of one of our roads. This 
record set me to thinking. There is a whole lot of lawyers in Western 
Carolina, who are not the peers of Joshua Roberts for respectability and 
legal attainments who might be utilized by our county authorities by 
making road overseers of them and thereby causing them to render some 
good, honest service to their country. It would be at least a healthy 
exercise and may be it would bring the rebellious spirit of our young 
American patriots against road duty to proper terms. At all events it 
might prevent the boastful young men of the present time from fighting 
their overseers when they demand reasonable and legal service of them. Try 
it, Esquires, and let us see if there is any blood of our noble sires in 
the present generation - any pride of character - any love of the general 
brotherhood which binds together the people of a county and without which 
its good name and prosperity cannot long continue.


Part III
The First Court and Remarks on the Character of the Magistrates 

First Jurors

The Courts of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of that day as they were called, 
were regular jury courts, and I give the names of the first venire 
summoned to serve as jurors, for the June term following:

Wymer Siler 
Jonathan Whiteside 
Jacob Hice 
Wm. Cochran 
Benj. Johnston 
Wm. McLure 
Peter Ledford 
Martin Norton 
John Lamm 
John Addington 
Matthew Davis 
James Whitaker 
Henry Addington 
Michael Wikle 
Wm. Welch, Sr. 
Samuel Smith 
Geo. T. Ledfford 
Ebenezer Newton 
Joseph Welch 
Luke Barnard 
George Dickey 
Zachariah Cabe 
Mark Coleman 
Lewis Vandyke 
Thos. Love. Sr. 
March Addington 
Jacob Trammel 
John Dobson 
Andrew Patton 
George Black 
Isaac Mauney 
John M. Angel 
John Gillsespie 
Joseph Chambers 
John Howard 
Jacob Siler. 

This venire was composed of typical and representative men of the early 
population of Macon County. It would be hard to find an abler body of 
jurors, even now, in any county in the State. It is true they were a style 
of men different from the present edition. They were men of sound minds, 
of the strictest integrity, profoundly impressed with the obligations of 
law and justice and for old-fashioned courtly deportment one towards 
another, and for manly bearing in the discharge of their duties as 
conservators of public peace and justice they have no superiors at the 
present day.

Many of them came to the years of manhood in and about the close of the 
Revolutionary war which achieved American independence - at a time and 
under conditions that "tried men's souls" and when "the survival of the 
fittest" gave to us a race of men brave, true and thoroughly impregnated 
with a love for those rights and that justice which cost so great a price 
of blood.

That love was quickened and intensified by the war of 1812 when the mother 
country, for the second time, attempted to enslave freemen and levy unjust 
tribute upon this grand and productive country of ours. Is it any wonder 
that men raised in such times and familiar with the heroes who staked 
their all on the struggle against oppression and injustice should be 
eminently qualified to try all legal disputes between their compeers and 
mete out justice to the violators of the code?

Remembering the first jurors

I have a distinct recollection of many of the members of that jury. They 
would compare favorably with any similar body of men, then or now. In 
stature they were above the ordinary juryman and were decidedly manly in 
appearance with a bearing expressive of firmness and a will to do the 
right. They were very affable gentlemen and well read for men of their 
times. In fact, they constituted a brotherhood of patriots who loved and 
labored for their country's honor and their country's good.

This constitutes the highest type of citizenship for a commonwealth. Such 
obedience to law and order - such devotion to the public good - such 
fidelity to public trust and such unity of action and purpose in behalf of 
the well-being of the whole as characterized those men furnish a guarantee 
of a prosperous and happy people.

Planning the first courthouse

At that first court for Macon county the court appointed the following 
named persons commissioners whose duty it should be to draft plans and 
specifications for a courthouse and jail for the county of Macon and 
directing them to advertise the letting of the same to the lowest bidder 
at the next term of the court in June following, viz: "Jesse R. Siler, 
Thomas Kimsey, Luke Barnard, Mark Coleman, James Whitaker, Aaron Pinson, 
John Bryson, Sr."

I find, in the "Minutes" of the June term of the court for 1829 that the 
contract for building the courthouse was awarded to Col. David Coleman "at 
three thousand eight hundred dollars," with Gen. Thomas Love and Zachariah 
Cabe as securities for the faithful performance of the contract. At the 
same time the contract for building the jail was awarded to Col. Benjamin 
S. Brittain as securities for the faithful performance of the contract.

At the same time the contract for building the jail was awarded to Col. 
Benjamin S. Brittain for "twenty-nine hundred and ninety-five dollars," 
who gave as securities for the performance of the contract, Joseph Welch, 
Jeremiah R. Pace and John Hall.

Courthouse masons

The masons who undertook the brick work of the court house were Samuel 
Lyle and Dr. T.T. Young, of Washington county, Tennessee. They were good 
honest workmen in their line. The brick they manufactured were of 
excellent quality and the house they built would have stood for a half 
century longer. But in style and capacity it was wholly inadequate to the 
needs of the present population and from sheer necessity gave way to the 
substantial and commodious new one which now occupies the site of the old 
one.

For the new and much needed court house, the public are mainly indebted to 
a few public spirited and patriotic surviving sons of the fathers of the 
county. We are further reminded of the times and patriotic character of 
the early settlers, in the manner and spirit with which they served the 
public interest.

First tax order

I find in the "Minutes" for March term, 1829, with a court house and jail 
to build, this order: "Ordered by the Court, that the State tax be 20 
cents, and fifty cents on the poll - for public buildings 12 1/2 cents on 
each poll, for to defray county charges 5 cents - for weights and measures 
on each 300 dollars value of land equal to one poll." This order is rather 
unique in style, but it brings to our knowledge the rate of taxation.

The wide difference between the taxes of 1829 and 1891 is indeed worthy of 
our serious consideration. The present population complain most bitterly 
of the heavy burden of taxation under which they drag out their weary 
lives. I believe that in the main they lay this sin at the door of 
ringsmen and the extravagance of officials. Let us see how this is. Our 
fathers believed that they owed a debt to good government - to faithful 
administration of law and the conservation of public peace and morality, 
and they patriotically undertook to perform the public service without 
compensation.

I can well remember the good cheer which prevailed when the people 
gathered at the quarterly courts to transact the county business and such 
other business as came within the jurisdiction of a quarterly court jury. 
It seemed to be a sort of ovation when they could meet and conserve the 
public interest. But the last third of a century has developed new ideas 
and methods for the public service. Indeed, it may be said of this 
generation as Robert Burns said of the Scotch youth in his day: "That 
beardless laddies should think they better were Inform'd than their auld 
daddies."

Loss of patriotic spirit

Losing that patriotic spirit which prompted their noble fathers to the 
performance of a public service without a pecuniary reward, they commenced 
to murmur about the hardships of the public service without a per diem 
compensation. Nor did they cease this howl for a paltry sum until they 
secured the coveted prize. Then of course came taxation in order to raise 
the funds to meet the demand. It presents, in fact, the odd spectacle of a 
people taxing themselves that they might get it back in a draft upon the 
county treasury. It is the necessity of this self-imposed new order of 
things that makes the difference between the taxes of the present and 
sixty-two years ago. It has created and fostered a mercenary spirit in the 
conduct of all public affairs, than which there is no greater bane to all 
civil and political purity.

This mercenary spirit is a poison that works imperceptibly but none the 
less surely. It has cost kings their crowns and republics their liberty 
and perpetuity. It is especially insidious in public affairs, and there 
can be little doubt that it has been a poten agent in weakening public 
virtue. It has, indeed, been a fruitful source of the perjury and bribery 
that now disgraces our civilization - that corrupts our public officials - 
that defeats the administration of justice and threatens the permanency of 
our noble principles of government. It had its beginning in little matters 
but has grown to dangerous proportions, and the end is not yet. Perhaps 
the reader will consider this an unpardonable digression. While I admit 
that it is not narrative, I claim that it is nevertheless history and as 
such commends itself to the sober consideration of all. Little as mankind 
may think about it, one generation impresses itself upon another. And 
singularly enough, the further removed, as a general rule, each generation 
is from the original stock the feebler becomes the impression of the 
original type. This is the history of nations and commonwealths.

I mean this to apply not to mere conditions of luxury and style under 
which lie a vast amount of moral obliquity, but to those nobler traits of 
heart and brain which constitute real worth of character and quality men 
to bear up the pillars of good government and a sound public morality. Let 
the candid reader compare the prevalent disinclination of the populace of 
today to perform any public service only from mercenary considerations - 
the general spirit of insubordination to law and authority whenever it 
conflicts with their private prejudices and personal whims with the ready 
and cheerful compliance with the public demands for the public good, 
rendered by our fathers of sixty years ago, and he must be convinced of 
the truth of this axiom.

This chapter is written not in a spirit of vindictiveness or the mere love 
of complaint, but with a view to awakening the public mind to a sense of a 
prevalent evil, and with a hope thereby to induce a return to healthier 
methods and a more loyal and patriotic course in the conduct of public 
affairs. Should this result in stirring up a spirit of emulation of the 
noble men who subdued the wilds of Macon County to the arts of Christian 
civilization, I will have gained the coveted reward.


Part IV: Early Customs and a Comparison With The Present Day (1891)

The manner and customs of a people usually form a fair index to their 
leading traits of character. By this rule I propose to speak of some of 
the customs of the people of Macon County from sixty to seventy years ago. 
While the customs of society were not then so airish as now there was 
among the more prominent families a quiet unobtrusive dignity and sense of 
propriety expressive of true man and womanhood upon which the arts of 
fashion have not made any improvement. The matter of courting among young 
people was done in different style from the present, yet it had the merit 
of being honest and straight. And although incidents in some of the 
courtships of those day furnished matter for amusement and laughter, the 
resulting marriages were usually happy and prosperous.

A regular dude could not have got in his work of nonsense and deception 
amongst those people. There were no dukes or princes to delude the giddy 
and foolish with high sounding titles without merit, and less capacity for 
conjugal happiness. Merit then consisted in sound native brains, honest 
industry, sobriety and frugality. Whatever of goodness and usefulness 
there is in the present generation has come from such source. Whatever 
education teaches or results in idleness, deteriorates manhood and 
womanhood.

The old classic adage is as true of woman as it is of man: "An idle man's 
brain is the devil's workshop." Nor does refinement, so-called, alter or 
modify this verdict.

Neighbor Helping Neighbor

It was the custom in those early days not to rely for help exclusively 
upon hired labor. In harvesting small grain crops the sickle was mostly 
used. When a crop was ripe the neighbors were notified and gathered in to 
reap and shock up the crop. The manner was for a dozen or more men to cut 
through the field, then hang their sickles over their shoulders and bind 
back. The boys gathered the sheaves together and the old men shocked them 
up. The corn crops were usually gathered in and thrown in great heaps 
alongside of the cribs. The neighbors were invited and whole days and into 
the nights were often spent in husking out a single crop. I have seen as 
many as eighty or ninety men at a time around my father's corn heap.

If a house or barn was to be raised the neighbors were on hand and the 
building was soon under roof. Likewise if a man had a heavy clearing, it 
was no trouble to have an ample force to handle and put in heaps the 
heaviest logs. It was no unusual thing for a man to need one or two 
thousand rails for fencing. All he had to do was to proclaim that he would 
have a "rail mauling" on a given day, and bright and early the neighbors 
were on the ground and the rails were made before sun-down.

Peace and Good Will

This custom of mutual aid cultivated a feeling of mutual dependence and 
brotherhood, and resulted in the most friendly and neighborly intercourse. 
Indeed, each man seemed to be on the lookout for his neighbors' comfort 
and welfare as well as his own. It made a community of broad, liberal 
minded people who despite the tongue of gossip and an occasional fisticuff 
in hot blood, lived in peace and good will one toward another. There was 
then less selfishness and cold formality than now.

This difference is not for the want of any natural disposition or good 
impulses, but as a result of the force of custom and habit. Indeed our 
social and moral tempers are very much the result of our habits and 
customs. Any method which discards the habit of neighborly interchange of 
good deeds and mutual helpfulness, broods and fosters selfishness. This 
leads legitimately to the withdrawal of each family into a sort of 
community of its own, unconcerned for the comfort and welfare of others. 
This, in its turn, affects the manners of a people. it freezes out that 
warmth and good cheer so characteristic of our fathers of seventy years 
ago, and brings upon the stage a set of cavaliers in deportment whose good 
offices are rendered on the basis of pecuniary benefit. Such is the change 
from the primitive customs there referred to, to the new methods, and I 
leave the candid reader to judge of the result.

I am free to admit that there has been improvement along some lines, such 
for instance as that of education, the building of church houses, style of 
dress, etc., But I am sure that there has been none in the sterner traits 
of character, generosity, manliness, patriotism, integrity and public 
spirit.

Fisticuffs Settling Disputes

There was another custom in those bygone days which to the present 
generation seems extremely primitive and rude, but which when analyzed 
shows a strong sense of honor and manliness of character. To settle minor 
disputes and differences, whether for imaginary or real personal wrongs, 
there were occasional fisticuffs. Then it sometimes occurred in affairs of 
this kind that whole neighborhoods and communities took an interest. I 
have known county arrayed against county, and state against state, for the 
belt in championship, for manhood and skill in a hand-to-hand tussle 
between local bullies.

When these contests took place, the custom was for the parties to go into 
a ring. The crowd of spectators demanded fairness and honor. If any one 
was disposed to show foul play he was withheld in the attempt or promptly 
chastised by some bystander. Then again, if either party in the fight 
resorted to any weapon whatever other than his physical appendages, he was 
at once branded and denounced as a coward, and was avoided by his former 
associates. While this custom was brutal in its practice there was a bold 
outcropping of character in it, for such affairs were conducted upon the 
most punctilious points of honor.

Remember this, young man, to the day of your death.

A Bully Learns a Lesson

I remember that on one occasion, I think it was court week, a man by the 
name of Kean came from Tennessee to Franklin. He had quite a reputation in 
his state as a local bully. He paraded up and down the street making all 
sorts of boars and banters. The truth is he had come to carry off the belt 
for manhood. The very boys in the street were roused to hot blood in 
behalf of what they regarded as the honor of their county and state.

One of our first Board of Magistrates, Edward L. Poindexter, was known to 
be a man of great physical powers. He was a North Carolinian of the old 
type, and no doubt, partly prompted by state pride, he made up his mind to 
tackle the Tennessee bully. The result was that after a long and manly 
struggle the Tennessean went away next day all bruised and sore with his 
game feathers fallen and drooping all around him.

This custom illustrates the times, and I have introduced it more for the 
sake of contrast than a desire to parade it before the public.

The Unfortunate Reign of the Pistol

How marked the difference between then and now. The custom now is to fight 
with all kinds of deadly weapons, knives, razors, pistols, and in fact any 
and every kind of weapons that come to hand. From the mere stripling who 
is a novice in crime to the old offender who has grown gray in iniquity, a 
large number of men now carry pistols. In defense of this habit, it is 
usual to plead personal protection and changed conditions.

Analysis of the real cause for this habit, together with a long series of 
observations, shows that it grows out of about three conditions, viz: 
cowardice, a thirst for blood, or a consciousness of guilt for some 
offense and consequent fear of arrest and punishment for it. The most 
common of these three specifications is, no doubt, cowardice.

The young man, especially, who stuffs a pistol into his pocket betrays a 
sinister purpose not to observe the proprieties of a gentleman, and not to 
confine himself to good company, and his cowardice prompts him to arm 
himself with a pistol. As a rule it is the coward who first uses his 
pistol and is almost uniformly first to shoot. Conscious of having 
violated the proprieties of a gentleman, or of having wronged a fellow 
being, with the first intimation that he will be required to account for 
it, and prompted by a craven spirit he whips out his pistol and commence 
shooting.

It would perhaps be a great mercy to a certain class of young men, were 
they sent to the penitentiary for the act of carrying a pistol before 
their cowardly souls are stained with innocent blood.

There is another class - a sort of nondescript - who carry pistols. They 
can give no valid reason why they carry them other than a mere desire to 
do so. This class is mostly of small mental caliber. They possess a 
strange sort of vanity - are deluded with the idea that they are real 
objects of both fear and admiration among timid people.

An Illustrative Incident

I can best illustrate this senseless vanity by relating an incident in the 
life of an old East Tennessean, who in the olden times used to carry boat 
loads of flour, bacon and iron down to Gunter's Landing in Alabama. He 
would anchor his boat and spend a month or two in selling out his cargo to 
the newly settled people. It happened, that one night he went out to a 
country frolic. Being a lively old buck he took a full hand with them.

There was one girl in the crowd who was a little better dressed than the 
others, having a big flounce or ruffle around the skirt of her dress. She 
had not taken any part in the dance. So my friend B. concluded to bring 
her out. She ha a very large roasted potato in her hand at the time, and 
stepping in front of her with a very low and courteous bow, he said: 
"Miss, won't you be so very kind as to take a reel with me?" She whirled 
about and said: "Here, mammy, hold my 'tater till I dance with this 
fellow."

Dashing into the center of the room with arms swinging right and left and 
tossing her head into the air with a gyration of the neck, she shouted: 
"Clear the way here you common sort and let border-tail come out!" And my 
friend B. said he found the most ample test for his powers for endurance.

Now, here is a portraiture of the young man of this class with a pistol in 
his pocket, and when I meet one of them I always think of my old friend B. 
and his Alabama girl; and as for that matter, I find a great many places 
for this application.

Before dismissing this class let me tell you a secret upon them. The very 
presence of a pistol in the pocket of one of them creates a desire to use 
it. The more he thinks about it the stronger the desire becomes, until it 
deadens the moral sensibilities and as a final result develops a new 
fledged criminal.

Young man, if you should ever have a lucid moment of reason, I beg of you 
to throw your pistol into the mill pond and be a man among men.

There is also the blood-thirsty villain who by nature or habit is 
insensible to all the nobler impulses of our common humanity, and to whom 
nothing is sweeter than human gore. When he is armed with a pistol he 
becomes a very scourge to society. He seeks every possible pretext to 
satiate his cormorant appetite for blood, and that too without regard to 
age or condition. And as to the old hardened criminal from whose soul and 
heart crime has obliterated all sympathy for the good elements of human 
society and deadened every tie that binds man to his fellow man it is not 
o strange that he carries a revolver, because he expects to meet at every 
turn either the stern hand of justice or retribution, and consequently he 
prepares to sell his life at the dearest possible price.

What think you of the contrast between the past and present?

Pistols Bring a Scourge of Crime & Suicide

It is, dear reader, an open question as to whether Colt, Wesson and others 
with their patented inventions and manufacture of pistols have not been 
the greatest national scourge of the age. With the pistol has come an 
avalanche - an inundation of robbers. They bear the ear-marks of pistol 
paternity. It is the revolver that arrests the railway train, goes through 
the express and mail cars, appropriating their contents, and rifles the 
pockets of innocent passengers without regard to age, sex, or condition. 
It is the chief reliance of the assassin. It steals into the apartments of 
decrepitude and old age at the still hour of midnight and leaves them 
stripped of their valuables and occupied by death.

The imprints of Colt and Wesson figure in most cases of suicide. by the 
way, the pistol age is the age of suicides. Singularly enough, the 
presence of the pistol begets in the human mind all manner of evil 
thoughts and intent. Indeed, it seems to be a fruitful source of the mania 
for self-destruction. Nor does it regard age or sex.

Now cast up in your mind the immense destruction of human life in which 
the pistol has been the most potent instrument - the woe and anguish that 
have settled down upon the innocent and helpless on this account - the sad 
weeds of widowhood and orphanage, with which the once happy domestic altar 
has been shrouded, and the many schoolhouse doors which have been thereby 
closed against helpless orphans, and tell me what this infant industry has 
done for the nation. It seems to me that a little prohibition along this 
line might do the nation some good.




                      THE TOPOGRAPHY OF MACON COUNTY
                              by W.A. Curtis


Introduction - by Teresita Press

William Asbury ("W.A.") Curtis (1841-1910)

W.A. Curtis purchased The Franklin Press in 1889 and served as its editor 
until his death in 1910. His crusty, witty, opinionated style makes the 
old papers a delight. Mr. Curtis was one of the greatest boosters Macon 
County ever had. He lent his support to any effort that would improve the 
quality of life of his adopted county. A former schoolmaster — he taught 
the Rabun Gap School (GA) for 15 years before moving to Franklin — Curtis 
remained devoted to educational causes throughout his life.

About 1900, Curtis penned an article on the "Topography of Macon County." 
The Franklin Press published it in pamphlet form with C.D. Smith's Brief 
History through several printings in the early 20th Century. Curtis's 
Topography remains an excellent introduction to the complex geography of 
Macon County.


THE TOPOGRAPHY OF MACON COUNTY

The topography of Macon County is an interesting study. I do not wonder 
that the late Dr. C.D. Smith loved so well to write of these mountains and 
their wonderful productions. I propose chiefly in this article to devote 
my attention to the numerous knobs in, and on the borders of, Macon that 
raise their heads majestically towards the heavens. In doing this it is 
difficult to decide where to commence, and just how the subject should be 
handled. But the great Creator in the formation of these grand mountains 
seems not to have had a starting place so far as human minds can discern, 
but that he created the whole simultaneously and the mountains grew up 
together. 

Macon county embraces two large and interesting valleys mostly within her 
borders, the Tennessee and the Nantahala, and these are separated by a 
grand range of mountains an off-shoot from the Blue Ridge, the Nantahala 
range. Of course there are numerous smaller valleys tributary to these, 
all of which are not lacking in interest and importance.

The Cowee Mountains: Macon's Eastern Boundary

Commencing at the State line between North Carolina and South Carolina 
west of Chattooga river, the line between Macon and Jackson counties 
follows the Cowee range of mountains in a northerly course — the watershed 
between the Tennessee and the Tuckaseige valleyes. 

The altitudes I shall mention in this article are approximately correct, 
and are taken from the latest topographical maps published in 1897. 

The first high peak we encounter on this boundary line is Black Rock, due 
east from Highlands, altitude 4,500 feet. Next comes Wildcat Cliffs, 4,200 
feet, and a short distance east is Whiteside Mountain, 4,931 feet. 

An attractive feature of Whiteside is an escarpment of perpendicular rock 
1,800 feet high on the south side. 

Leaving Whiteside and following the Cowee range northward we come to 
Shortoff, 5,000 feet, Yellow Mountain, 5,132 feet, Black Mountain, 4,900; 
Hogback, 5,100; Cedar Cliff, 4,824; Turkey Knob, 4,400; Corbin Knob, 4,
400. Then we dip down to the Watauga Gap where the road from Franklin to 
Dillsboro crosses the Cowee range at an altitude of 3,100 feet.

Proceeding we reach the top of Rocky Face, 4,500 feet, and further on 
Cherry Mountain, 4,600; and next the Cowee Bald, 4,979 feet. We are now at 
the corner of Macon and Swain counties with Jackson adjoining on the east. 

On the Line with Swain

We now take a westerly course on the line between Macon and Swain still 
following a watershed several miles until near the Tennessee river. We 
pass over Raven Knob, 4,700 feet; Little Bald, 4,800; and Davis Bald, 4,
500. Here we gradually descend until within 2 1/2 miles of the Tennessee 
river where a straight line commences between the counties of Macon and 
Swain, running in a direction a little south of west, crossing the 
Tennessee river about 13 miles below Franklin and continuing in a straight 
line across the Nantahala range and Nantahala river just above Jarrett's 
station. 

Red Marble

Just after crossing the river, the line makes a right-angle turn to nearly 
north until it reaches the railroad, thence an irregular line a short 
distance to the Graham county line, then southeast to a point opposite Red 
Marble Gap, the corner of Cherokee county. 

The line then runs southeast with the Cherokee line, passing the Red 
Marble Gap at an altitude of 3,100 feet, thence with the Valley River 
range irregularly following the watershed, passing Junaluskee Gap, 3,700 
feet high, thence over Rich Knob 4,300 and to Beal's Knob, 5,000 feet, at 
Clay county line, thence southeast to top of Tusquittee Bald, 5,200, 
thence northeast to Niggerhead 4,900, thence eastward to Nantahala river 
at the mouth of Clear creek. 

The Nantahala River, with its Meanderings

The county line then follows the river with its meanderings up to the 
mouth of Buck creek. It then leaves the river and follows the watershed of 
a spur of the Blue Ridge, passing Black Gap at 4,000 feet, then climbs to 
the top of Penland Bald about a half mile at an altitude of 5,000 feet, 
thence onward to Standing Indian 5,500 feet, and a short distance further 
we reach the Georgia line on the Ridge Pole. 

As the southern boundary of Macon follows straight lines, I will notice it 
further on. 

Following the Nantahala Range

We will next take the peaks of the Nantahala range commencing at the Swain 
county line. First we find the Wesser Bald, 4,800; Black Bald, 5,100; 
Tellico Bald, 5,200; Copper Bald, 5,400; Burningtown Bald, 5,200; 
Burningtown Gap, 4,000; Wayah Bald, 5,400; Wine Spring Bald, 5,500; Wayah 
Gap, 4,158; Little Bald, 5,000; Wallace Gap, 3,900; Cartoogechaye 
Mountain, 4,300; Pinnacle, 5,200; and Pickens' Nose, 4,822. 

Interior Mountains of the East

Now, we visit the interior mountain peaks east of the Tennessee river, 
commencing near Highlands: Mt. Satulah, 4,490; Fodderstack, 4,300; Brush 
Mountain, 3,800; Scaly, 4,769; Fork Mountain, 4,200; Dog Mountain, 4, 100; 
Bear Pen Mountain, 4,000; Jones Knob, 4,600; Fishhawk, 4,684; Lamb 
Mountain, 5,100; Houston Mountain, 3,800; Ammons Knob, 3,700; Lyle Knob 
and Onion Mountain, each 3,500. Other detached peaks west of the Tennessee 
river are Dobson Mountain, 3,500; Jarrett Knob, 4,400; Rocky Bald, 5,300, 
and Trimont, 3,700. 

Forty-four Peaks Over 4,000' 

Thus it will be seen that Macon county has 17 peaks that rear their heads 
5,000 feet and upwards, the two highest contending for the mastery being 
Standing Indian and Wine Spring Bald at 5,500 feet. As the contour lines 
of the topographical maps show the elevations as divided into intervals of 
100 feet, it is impossible to ascertain from them the exact altitude in 
intervening feet except where noted on the maps. There are 27 peaks 4,000 
feet and upwards to 4,999, making the total number of peaks 4,000 and 
upwards, forty-four. From most of these elevations can be seen the 
grandest views of landscape and topographical features to be found east of 
the Mississippi river. From some of these, portions of four states, 
possibly five, can be seen in clear weather. 

Georgia Line: Is It Wrong?

It has long been accepted as a fact that the southern boundary of Macon 
and Clay counties, constituting the state line between North Carolina and 
Georgia is located on the 35th parallel of latitude. This is either a 
mistake or else the latest topographical charts are incorrect. 

According to the charts a straight line starts from the top of Indian Camp 
mountain on the southern boundary of Transylvania county 6 3/4 miles north 
of the 35th parallel, and dips somewhat south of west until it reaches the 
Endicott (Ellicut) Rock at the corner of South Carolina exactly on the 
35th parallel, and instead of turning due west at this place it continues 
on in a straight line for about twenty miles, or to 83 1/2 degrees west 
longitude, which is near the top of the Ridge Pole close by the southwest 
corner of Macon county, then it turns due west, running parallel with the 
35th, and about one mile south of it on towards Alabama. 

One peculiarity of this survey is that Estatoa, or Mud Creek Falls, which 
has long been considered as being in Georgia are, according to the map, in 
North Carolina. Mud Creek crosses the state line a few yards above the 
Falls into North Carolina, and about half way between the Falls and the 
Tennessee river passes back into Georgia. But, by examining some old 
records belonging to the State library at Raleigh in 1881, I am convinced 
that the line between the states of Georgia and North Carolina has never 
been correctly surveyed. 

Lower Spots

Now a few words about lower altitudes down in the range of civilization. 
The lowest point in Macon County is the place where the Tennessee river 
crosses the Swain county line at an altitude of 1,900 feet. The range of 
altitudes from this to the top of Wine Spring Bald, 5,500, is 3,600 feet. 
Every other point in the county lies within this range. Rabun Gap is 2,168 
feet, and the Tennessee river heading near the gap flows, with its 
meanderings, about 30 miles before reaching the iron bridge at Franklin 
where the altitude is a little less than 2,000 feet, giving a fall of less 
than 168 feet. Franklin is 2,100 feet; Highlands, 3,817 feet; Aquone, 3,
000; Cullasaja, about 2,100 feet. 

Elevations of Nearby Towns

Hayesville (Clay County) is about 1,850 feet; Webster, 2,188 (Jackson 
County); Dillsboro, 2,006 (Jackson County) and Bryson City, 1,753 (Swain 
County).