History of Western North Carolina - Chapters 19-21



CHAPTER XIX.
SWEPSON AND LITTLEFIELD

That the "evil that men do lives after them while the good is oft interred
with their bones" seems to be untrue in the ease of the frauds of Swepson
and Littlefield. The former was a native of North Carolina and Littlefield
of Maine. Together, they managed to sell about $4,000,000 of the bonds of
the Western North Carolina railroad, which had been endorsed by the State,
and appropriated the proceeds to their own use. This delayed the building
of that road from 1869 to 1880. But most of the younger people have never
even heard of this gigantic theft. The true story as told to the Shipp
Fraud Investigating Commission follows in condensed form, and every
statement in this chapter not otherwise noted was taken from that report
between pages 220 and 498.

Soon after the Reconstruction election of 1868 there was a special session
of he legislature which, by an act ratified August 19, 1868, divided the
Western North Carolina railroad into the Eastern Division--to extend from
Salisbury to Asheville-and the Western Division-to extend in two lines,
one to Paint Rock and the other to Ducktown, in Tennessee. The State also
agreed to take two-thirds of the stock of the Western Division, which was
authorized to issue its stock, not exceeding $12,000,000, for the
completion of these two lines. Under this act, subscriptions were invited,
and 3,080 shares of stock subscribed. Of this stock Milton S. Littlefield,
a carpet-bag adventurer, subscribed to 2,000 shares and Hugh Reynolds, of
Statesville, to 1,000 shares. But only five per cent of eighty shares
subscribed by citizens line of this proposed road was paid in cash,
Littlefield and Reynolds giving their drafts for five per cent of their
subscriptions, payable to the order of Geo. W. Simpson, who was elected
president at the meeting to organize the Western Division, which was held
in Morganton October 15, 1868. Four directors, representing the private
stockholders, and eight, representing the State, were also elected at that
meeting. As, however, the whole of the Western Division was required to be
under contract for its construction before the State could be called on
for its subscription, the directors made a contract with M. S. Littlefield
for this work; but it was understood that it was a mere nominal contract,
for the purpose of complying with the terms of the charter, the actual
work to be let afterwards to bona fide contractors. But, as no provision
had been made for a special tax levy to pay the interest on the bonds, the
act did not accomplish its purpose.

Mr. Swepson went to Raleigh in the fall of 1868 and urged the passage of
another bill through the legislature to cure this defect; but was told by
Littlefield and a man named John T. Deweese, who were lobby lawyers, that
he would get no bills through the legislature unless he paid the same
percentage that all the other railroad presidents had agreed to pay--viz.,
"ten per cent in kind of the amount of the appropriations." Swepson agreed
to this and claimed that he afterwards "paid Littlefield $240,000 in money
and some bonds for his services in procuring the passage" of the necessary
legislation (Ch. 7 and 20, Laws 1868-9). Swepson had certified to the
Executive of the State on October 19, 1868, "that the entire road had been
let to contract"; and at some subsequent date he received from the State
treasurer $6,367,000 of special tax bonds of the State, and began
hypotbecating or selling them in New York.

But in the spring of 1869 the case of the University Railroad v. Holden
(63 N. C., p.410) came before the Supreme court on the question of the
constitutionality of the special tax bonds authorized to be levied for the
railroad; and Chief Justice Pearson, believing that his associates on that
bench would be compelled to agree with his reasoning, wrote an opinion
declaring those bonds unconstitutional, meaning to submit it to his
brethern for their approval or rejection. So confident was he that they
would agree with his conclusions, that he told Col. Wm. Johnson, a lawyer
and an intimate friend, that the court had decided the University Railroad
bonds to be unconstitutional. He then read his opinion to Col. Johnson,
and Johnson told Swepson on Thursday, July 1, 1869, that "he had just seen
the opinion in Judge Pearson's room" and that it "made the whole of the
special tax bonds unconstitutional."(1) But, before the decision of the
court was announced, a motion was made by Judge Fowle for a further
hearing. The motion was granted and the majority of the judges concurred
in holding the University railroad act to be constitutional, thus over-
ruling the chief justice, who, however, filed a dissenting opinion. Mr. T.
H. Porter, representing Soutter and Company, stock brokers of New York
City, came to Raleigh and arranged with the lawyers for the rehearing.

There was much discussion in the State as to this decision. According to
the testimony of James C. Turner, as given before the Shipp Fraud
Commission (p.307), G. W. Swepson told him in New York "on more than one
occasion that he had in his pocket a decision adverse to the one given and
published by the court, and that it had cost a large amount to obtain the
published opinion." Indeed, Mr. Swepson himself swore (p.207) that his
proportion, as president of the Western Division of the Western North
Carolina railroad was "60 State bonds, charged as paid attorneys, and the
following cash charges: Paid attorneys in Raleigh $2,000. Attorneys,
establishing validity of bonds, $21,250." When it is remembered that there
were ten railroads to which bonds aggregating $25,250,000 were authorized
to be issued at the same session as the University railroad bonds had been
authorized, Swepson's proportion of expenses in securing a favorable
decision would indicate the expenditure of an enormous sum of money.

But the Shipp Fraud Commission examined Judges R. M. Pearson, E. G. Reade,
W. B. Rodman and R. P. Dick, four of the Supreme court judges, upon the
question of obtaining this decision, and found that none of these judges
knew of any improper or corrupt means or practice concerning it. The only
thing that could be construed as of a doubtful character was Judge
Rodman's statement, to the effect that, in August 1869, after the decision
had been rendered, G. W. Swepson voluntarily offered his personal
guarantee to a brokerage in New York for the margin on $100,000 of special
tax bonds for ten days; but claimed that, as the bonds had not been sold
till after the expiration of ten days, Swepson's liability had ended and
the loss had been charged to the judge. As this is the only instance in
the history of the State in which our Supreme court was even suspected of
having been corruptly influenced, it is pleasant to be able to record the
fact that the men who paid out the money and the men who received it have
left their testimony on record completely exonerating the members of the
court. Yet------!

T. H. Porter, in a letter of May 31, 1870, states that Badger, Fowle, Col.
E. G. Haywood, and Judge S. J. Person, attorneys, agreed to undertake the
ease for $15,000, and if they won, they were to receive an addition in
State bonds. Judge Daniel G. Fowle testified before the Shipp Fraud
Commission (p.463) that he and his associates had received the cash and
bonds agreed upon, the suit having been won.

It appears that the only roads which Mr. Porter represented in this suit
were the two divisions of the Western North Carolina, the Wilmington,
Charlotte and Rutherford, and the Western railroad companies.(2) Twenty-
five of the bonds received by the attorneys were those of the Wilmington,
Charlotte and Rutherford railroad and fifty of the Western Division of the
Western North Carolina railroad-the Western railroad seemingly not having
contributed any. (This was not the Western North Carolina Railroad,
however.) As Swepson's share was $60,000 in bonds and $21,250 in cash, and
as the attorneys got $75,000 in bonds and $15,000 in money, nearly $100,
000 in bonds, and $6,250 in cash remain unaccounted for. It may be that
Soutter & Co., the New York brokers represented by Mr. Porter, got this
difference.

But, as indicative of the methods then in vogue, John T. Deweese,
represented by Swepson as Littlefield's partner, had difficulty in
settling with the Atlantic, Tennessee & Ohio railroad for services in
getting the legislature to authorize that road to issue its bonds
(ratified February 3, 1869) in exchange for a like amount of State bonds,
and gave Mr. R. C. Kahoe $4,000 of these bonds to act as nominal plaintiff
in an action to restrain the State treasurer, D. A. Jenkins, from issuing
$2,000,000 of these bonds. John T. Deweese, the real party in interest not
having been a tax payer, sued out the injunction in June, 1869; and R. Y.
McAden, Swepson's nephew, settled this suit by handing over more than $100,
000 of these bonds. Of these bonds, Judge Watts got $5,000, "in accordance
with the contract between Deweese and himself, as stated in the report of
the Bragg committee." Fowle and Badger, lawyers associated with E. G.
Haywood, Esq., received $16,000 of these bonds for their services in this
case, but returned them to the railroad company upon becoming satisfied
that it was really a blackmailing scheme. As, by the time the bonds were
issued, they had fallen in price to less than 30 cents on the dollar, the
Atlantic, Tennessee & Ohio railroad returned to the State treasurer all
except such as had been used in compromising the injunction suit.

According to the testimony of Col. N. W. Woodfin before the Shipp Fraud
Commission (p.291) Swepson and Littlefield intended to build the Western
Division, but to do it upon mortgage bonds, and otherwise so leave it in
debt as to enable themselves to buy it in when sold for the debt. In the
meantime, the money for which the special tax bonds might be sold was to
be used by them "in speculation and otherwise, in order to strengthen
themselves to buy it."

But, long before this time, people of the mountain section were clamoring
that work should begin on the railroad, while Swepson was trying to sell
as many of the bonds of the Western Division as possible before the price
declined in consequence of the sudden flooding of the market with the
special tax bonds to which the other nine railroads were also entitled. On
various pretexts he postponed the signing of actual contracts for actual
work until he could obtain better prices for his bonds, and caused the
State treasurer, D. A. Jenkins, to issue some of the bonds for the Western
Division prior to all others, and to decline to furnish bonds to the other
railroads entitled to them on the ground that the plate from which they
were to be printed had been broken. A question had arisen in New York as
to Swepson's right to sell the bonds of the Western Division, and at a
called meeting of the directors, held in Asheville, July 2, 1869, the
president of the company was "authorized to sell any securities of the
company, or to pledge them for loans when in his judgment the interests of
the company required it; and in case such securities be sold to invest the
proceeds in such way as he may deem best." A certified copy of the above
resolution was sent to him in New York.

SWEPSON AND DIRECTORS. At this time no one in Carolina stood higher in
public respect than George W. Swepson, while the directors were of the
best people in this section. They did not, and had no reason to, suspect
him of duplicity. They had had no experience either in the building of
railroads or the management of corporations. He told them that unless he
could sell the bonds he could not build the railroad, and that he could
not sell them unless they gave him full authority not only to sell but to
apply the proceeds as he saw fit. They gave it unsuspectingly and in full
confidence in him. No breath of suspicion ever fell upon any of them in
consequence, or that they shared any of Swepson's ill-gotten gains. They
had done in good faith what they believed right in order to secure the
speedy building of the railroad.

On the 13th of October, 1869, at a meeting of the stockholders at
Asheville, M. S. Littlefield was elected president in place of G. W.
Swepson, who refused to serve any longer on the ground that "his
management had been a good deal censured and he was suspected of improper
conduct by the Western people. . . . " Gen. Clingman, Col. Davidson and
Col. Woodfin opposed the election of Littlefield to office.

So outspoken had become the criticism of the management of this railroad
and the sale of all the special tax bonds that the legislature, by an act
which was ratified March 24, 1870, appointed J. L. Henry, N. W. Woodfin,
W. P. Welch, W. G. Candler and W. W. Rollins commissioners to "examine
fully into the affairs of the Western Division and to make a full and
final settlement of all accounts and liabilities of Geo. W. Swepson, and
to collect all assets" and apply the same to "the construction of the
railroad." It had full power and was authorized to sit in New York or
elsewhere.

But by the time this commission was appointed both Swepson and Littlefield
had left the State, the latter never to return. The commissioners,
however, immediately took up their work, going to Washington and New York,
and effected a settlement with Swepson before the act appointing them was
repealed, which was done at the session of 1873-74. (Ch. 119)

The grand jury of Buncombe county returned a true bill against Swepson and
Littlefield (Minute Docket E., No.32) for conspiracy to defraud the State;
and by a joint resolution of January 25, 1871, the governor was requested
to offer a reward of $5,000 for the delivery of Milton S. Littlefield to
the sheriff of Buncombe county. But Littlefield was in Florida, Holland or
England and the governor of Florida refused to grant an order for his
extradition from that State.

The settlement which the commission had effected with Swepson was dated
the l6th day of April, 1870, at Washington, D. C., and was probably the
best possible in the circumstances, as Swepson made it appear that he had
already so encumbered all his tangible property that if a suit were
brought "it was almost certain that nothing would be realized." Swepson
was frightened and penitent, and Littlefield was not present to inspire
him with courage. Now, as the directors had authorized Swepson to sell and
pledge these securities and invest their proceeds as he saw fit, and as
they had not advertised that the contracts would go to the lowest bidders,
and as, in the contracts themsdves, no time limit was made the "essence of
the contract," it was plain that Swepson and Littlefield were not alone to
blame for the condition into which the affairs of the Western Division had
fallen. In his testimony before the Shipp Fraud Commission Judge J. H.
Merrimon said (p.277): "It appeared to me, from what I saw at the meetings
of the board of directors, which I attended, that they were a useless body
of men; did nothing, and if they had any power or authority to do
anything, they seemed never to exercise it, except when they were told by
Swepson."

By this compromise Swepson paid $50,000 cash and gave his drafts on
Littlefield as president of the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile
railroad and endorsed by M. S. Littlefield and G. W. Swepson as president
of the Florida Central rail road, aggregating $264,000, payable four and
twelve months after date, $164,000 of which was secured by a mortgage on
certain lands of Swepson's in North Carolina, the said lands to be
discharged upon payment on each tract as follows:

Tract                                     Amount
Eagle hotel in Asheville upon payment of $ 5,000
Gid Morris place of 1,600 acres upon payment of 12,000
David Hennessee lands in Cherokee upon payment of 7,500
Charles Moore place of 600 acres upon payment of 6,500
The Sharp place of about 300 acres upon payment of 3,000
The Woodfin place in Macon county upon pament of 2,000
The Jarrett place on Nantahala river upon payment of 5,000
The Harshaw lands on Valley river upon payment of 5,500
The Fain lands in Cherokee county upon payment of 5,000
Total $51,500

In addition to the above, upon which no awount was fixed for their
redemption, the mortgage was to cover the marble and lime lands in Catawba
county, owned in co-psrtnership with Dr. A. M. Powell, "about 90,000 acres
in Macon, Cherokee and Clay counties, known as the Olmstead lands, and a
lot of about 50,000 acres held by Joseph Keener in trust for Geo. W.
Swepson."

It was further agreed that the draft for $164,000 might be paid in
railroad iron delivered at Portsmouth, Virginia; and that if an umpire, to
be appointed by N. W. Woodfin and M. W. Ransom, in casc they could not
agree, should decide that Swepson had not been authorized by his board of
directors to invest the proceeds of the sales of these bonds in these
Florida railroads, then Swepson was to guarantee that $880,000 of the
amount of $1,287,436.03 transferred in Florida railroad securities should
be paid or made fully secure and that, otherwise, there should be no such
obligation on Swepson's part.

In addition to the above the agreement provided that an interest in the
above named railroad, amounting to $1,287,466.03, should be transferred
and conveyed to the Western Division of the Western North Carolina
Railroad Company.

It developed soon afterwards that, although Swepson claimed to have turned
over these securities in the Florida railroads to Littlefield, yet, when
the latter became president of the Western Division, in October, 1869, he
then stated that they were the property of the Western Division, having
been pur- chased with the proceeds of the sale of the special tax bonds of
said railroad, but had been pledged with Edward Houston, of Georgia to
secure the payment of a large indebtedness of Littlefield to said Houston,
and were about to be sold. Thereupon the Western Division obtained an
injunction in the Supreme court of the State of New York in October, 1870,
restraining Littlefield and Houston from making the sale. But, before the
order could be served, Houston "fled with the said stock and bonds from
New York to New Jersey, and from there to Georgia, in order to avoid the
law and keep fraudulent possession" of the securities, which rightfully
belonged to the Western Division. This stock consisted "of about 4,370
shares (being nearly the entire capital stock)" of the Florida Central
Railroad Company, "which company had then no mortgage debt upon its line
of railroad, which was sixty miles long, completed and in good running
order." The bonds of the Pensacola and Georgia railroad and of the
Tallahassee railroad amounted to $1,000,000, and cost Swepson $720,000 of
the proceeds of the special tax bonds of the Western Division, including
"some stock in said company and paying expenses incident to such
purchases." These railroads had been sold in March, 1869, under
foreclosure, and brought in by the trustees of the Internal Improvement
Fund of the State of Florida for $1,400,000, "the amount of the whole
mortgage indebtedness of both of the railroads." Thus, the Western
Division had secured legal title to a majority of the stock of an
unencumbered railroad 60 miles in length and owned ten-fourteenths of two
other Florida railroads absolutely unencumbered. If, therefore, the
settlement effected at Washington had stood intact, there is little doubt
but that the courts would have confirmed the interest of the Western
Division in these three Florida railroads, as its money had been invested
in them.

But Col. Woodfin was soon called to London, England, where a supplemental
settlement was made on the 10th of November, 1870, with Littlefield,
representing the Florida railroads, by which he agreed to take for the
interest of the Western Division in those Florida railroads 800 eight per
cent bonds of the State of Florida, of $1,000 each, and enough rails,
etc., to lay 53 miles of railroad down the French Broad river to Paint
Rock, includiug sidings, etc. This iron was to be delivered duty free at
Norfolk, Va., in three lots, aggregating 1,800 tons, and the rest at New
York, the last shipment to be completed by September 1, 1871. An
additional shipment was to be made of 1,000 tons to New York, with the
necessary chairs and spikes to lay the same, by September 1, 1871, "the
shipping of which the said S. W. Hopkins & Co. are to guarantee." But, to
get this settlement, Mr. Woodfin had to agree in writing that he would pay
a claim of $20,000 held by Henry Clews & Co., of New York, against Geo. W.
Swepson, and to leave the 800 Florida bonds with Hopkins & Co. for sale at
such price as Mr. Woodfin should direct. Mr. Woodfin also receipted for
two hundred sterling, paid him at that time. With the lights this was a
most excellent settlement. He did not complications existing in Florida.

This iron was shipped according to agreement but was diverted by Hopkins &
Co., to Detroit, Mich. for the purpose of completing the Rock Fish
Railroad, a branch of the Michigan Central. Major Rollins discovered this
before the iron was actually laid down, and attached it. Mr. Woodfin
arrived soon afterwards from New York with a warrant for the arrest and a
requisition for the return to New York of S. W. Hopkins, the contractor,
with whom Major Rollins had thought he was about to effect a satisfactory
settlement. The officer from New York would not wait till this settlement
could be effected and hurried his prisoner, Hopkins, back to New York
City. By the time the case was to be heard on the question of ownership of
the iron the clerk who had identified it for Major Rollins had disappeared
and the iron and $10,000 in cash which had been deposited to indemnify the
real owner of the iron was lost to the State. The clerk had been "seen."

But that was not to be the end of the bunco game by any means; for in May
of the very year of which in April he had signed the Washington agreement,
Geo. W. Swepson, while president of the Florida Central railroad had,
without any authority of the board of directors of that road, issued $1,
000,000 of bonds, which he signed as president in Washington, D. C., and
caused one H. H. Thompson, who was not the treasurer of that road, to sign
as such treasurer, F. H. Flagg being then the lawful treasurer. But
Swepson and Littlefield gave Houston, to whom Littlefield was indebted,
Littlefleld's note for $163,000 secured by 4,370 shares of stock and 103
Pensacola and Georgia railroad bonds, and the $1,000,000 of Florida
Central railroad bonds, which were to be fraudulently issued by them.
Thus, the value of the interest in the Florida railroads had been
surreptitiously reduced very materially if not altogether destroyed; for
in January, 1871, Littlefield paid his $163,000 note and obtained from
Houston the surrender of the collateral which had been given to secure its
payment. Then, one Thomas E. Codrington appeared on the scene and got
possession of the fraudulent $1,000,000 of Florida Central bonds, which,
under acts of the Florida legislature of June 24, 1869, and January 28,
1870, he surrendered to the State of Florida, and obtained in their stead
a like number of Florida State bonds. But, strange to relate, Codrington
got, instead of Florida State bonds, $1,000,000 of bonds of the
Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad Company, which had been
authorized by act of the Florida legislature of June 24, 1869, but of
which only $3,000,000 of an authorized issue of $4,000,000 had been issued
by the governor of Florida. Thus, apparently, had been cured the
illegality of the same amount of bonds which Swepson had issued in
Washington for the benefit of the Florida Central Railroad Company, to
which the signature of H. H. Thompson, the fictitious treasurer, had been
attached.

For this transaction, in January, 1872, Governor Harrison Reed of Florida
was impeached and removed, and after the carpet-bag regime was entirely
overthrown in 1876, and Hon. Thomas Settle of North Carolina had been
appointed judge of the district court of the northern district of Florida,
a hope was entertained that a court of equity would place the Western
Division of the Western North Carolina Railroad in at least as good a
position as it had occupied when its money had been originally invested in
the three Florida railroads, and would not allow it to suffer by the
illegal and fraudulent acts of those who had ceased to be its agents when
those acts had been committed.

Now, Major Rollins had been elected president of the Western Division of
the Western North Carolina railroad upon the disappearance of M. S.
Littlefield and, subsequently, to the presidency of the Eastern Division,
and, followed the railroad's interest into Florida, and the control of the
Florida railroads. Accordingly, in February, 1877, he instituted a suit in
equity in the circuit court of the United States for the Northern district
of Florida, in which the Western Division of the Western North Carolina
railroad sought to have the bonds of the Florida Central railroads, which
had been exchanged for Florida State bonds, declared unlawful; but Judge
Joseph P. Bradley, one of the justices of the Supreme Court of the United
States, in an opinion filed May 31, 1879, dismissed the bill with costs,
on the ground that the Western Division of the Western North Carolina
railroad, by agreements made at Washington and in London, had "acquiesced
in the issue of the bonds and only claimed to share in the proceeds
thereof." The Supreme Court of the United States afterwards affirmed this
decision in a case entitled Florida Central Railroad Company v. Schutte
and others, upon the ground that, in the language of Chief Justice Waite:
"There can be no doubt that the governor of Florida was active in
promoting the sale, as was also the chairman of the commission appointed
by the General Assembly of North Carolina. The bonds were taken at once to
London and from there put on the market in Holland where most or all of
these sales appear to have been made. The bonds were undoubtedly steeped
in fraud at their inception; but they were nevertheless State bonds on the
market in a foreign country, etc." The court held in effect that as the
Western Division had adopted the property purchased by an embezzler with
its money, its rights were subordinate to those of innocent purchasers of
the same class of securities, and were charged with all the liens Swepson
had put upon them.(3)

North Carolina afterwards repudiated all of these special tax bonds along
with others which had been issued by the carpet-bag government of 1868-70.

(1. In Galloway v. Jenkins (63 N. C., p. 147) the Supreme Court had held
only a short time before that the State could not contract a debt to build
a new railroad except by an affirmative vote of the people, becauss to do
so before the bonds of the State had reached par would violate Art. 5,
Sec. 5, of the State Constitution; although it is true that in this case
Judges Reade and Settle had dissented.)

(2. Hon. Samuel W. Watts was the Superior court Judge who had issued the
injunction in June, 1865. Sbipp's Fraud Com. Rep. p.447.)

(3. 103 U.S. Rep., 127 (13 Otto--ll8-l45).)



CHAPTER XX.
RAILROADS

THE FIRST RAILROAD PROJECT.(1) "When, about the year 1836, a railroad from
Cincinnati to Charleston, which should pass through Asheville, was
projected, Robert Y. Hayne, the great South Carolinian who had vanquished
Daniel Webster in debate, was made its president. At a meeting of this
company, held in Asheville in 1839, Mr. Hayne, who had continued to be its
president, became dangerously ill, and died here September 24, 1839, in
the old Eagle Hotel building."

The railroads which had been built prior to 1845 "were all in the eastern
portion of the State. The need of a road toward the mountains was
strikingly shown by the failure of the crops in the western counties.(2)
Owing to this failure, even the necessaries of life became dear in that
section. Corn rose from fifty cents to a dollar and a half a bushel; and
yet, at the same time, corn in the eastern counties was rotting in the
fields for lack of a market, and fish were being us to enrich the ground.
The condition of the [wagon] roads in 1848 was, however, such as to
discourage further expense."

A CROP FAILURE STARTED RAILROAD INTEREST. This general failure of crops in
the mountain regions called attention to the want of communication between
the two sections of the State; and in 1850-51 $12,000 was appropriated by
the legislature to survey a route for a raikoad from Salisbury to the
Tennessee line where the French Broad river passes into Tennessee.

THE WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD. Although it is generally supposed
that the Western North Carolina railroad had its genesis in 1855 the North
Carolina and Western railroad, to run from Salisbury to the Tennessee line
was chartered as early as 1852 (Ch. 136). Its authorized capital stock was
$3,000,000. Nothing of comsequence, however, was accomplished under this
charter.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY. "In 1854 the State of North Carolina was completeing
the construction of her great work, the North Carolina railroad, and
emboldened by this success and having in view a connection of her then
existing system of railroads with the proposed Blue Ridge railroad, and so
with the Great West, there was passed an act entitled: 'An Act to
incorporate the Western North Carolina Railroad Company,' ratified
February 15, 1855 (Laws of North Carolina 1854-55, ch. 228, p.257), which,
after reciting the purpose of constructing a railroad to effect a
communication between the North Carolina railroad and the Valley of the
Mississippi, provided for the organization of a corporation under the
style of Western North Carolina Railroad Company, with power 'to construct
a railroad, with one or more tracks, from the town of Salisbury on the
North Carolina railroad, passing by or as near as practicable to
Statesville, in the county of Iredell, to some point on the French Broad
river, beyond the Blue Ridge, and if the legislature shall hereafter
determine, to such point as it shall designate, at a future session.' Four
years later, when the line had been located from Salisbury to the French
Broad river at Asheville, the general assembly supplemented this original
charter and definitely fixed the route of the proposed line in an act
entitled: An Act to amend an Act entitled: "An Act to incorporate the
Western North Carolina Railroad Company" passed at the session of 1854-55,
and also an act amendatory thereof passed at the session of 1856-57
(Ratified February 15, 1859. Private Laws of North Carolina 1858-59, ch.
170, p. 217).(3) This directed that the survey be continued from the point
near Asheville to which the survey has already been made, extending west
through the valley of the Pigeon and Tuckaseegee rivers, to a point on the
line of the Blue Ridge railroad on the Tennessee river, or to the
Tennessee line at or near Ducktown, in the county of Cherokee,' and
thereby located a line which would connect the North Carolina railroad
with the Blue Ridge railroad, an extension which has since been realized,
without the Blue Ridge railroad connection, in the existing Murphy branch.

"As the legislature was intent, however, on effecting some western
connection for the North Carolina system of railroads, the Western North
Carolina was not limited to an alliance with the Blue Ridge railroad, but
it was provided that the extension from Asheville might be down the French
Broad river,, through Madison county, to the line of the State of
Tennessee at or near Paint Rock, which might, 'connect with any company
that has been formed or may be formed to complete the railroad connection
with the East Tennessee and Virginia railroad.'"(4)

Surveys were accordingly made for both of these proposed lines, and these
surveys were duly approved by the legislature at its next session in an
act ratified February 18, 1861. (Private Laws of North Carolina 1860-61,
ch. 138, p.154).

"The alternative, or Paint Rock line so authorized, being that of
Louisville, Cincinnati, and Charleston, which had been pronounced in the
reports of the engineer read at the Knoxville convention in 1836 to be
extraordinarily feasible for a railroad, would no doubt have been
originally adopted by the Western North Carolina but for the fact that in
1859 the Blue Ridge railroad was still considered certain of construction,
while the Cincinnati, Cumberland Gap and Charleston Railroad Company,
which held the Tennessee franchise to carry on the old Louisville,
Cincinnati and Charleston line from Paint Rock to a connection with the
East Tennessee and Virginia railroad at Morristown, was finacially weak.

"As the securing of a through trunk line was the principal object for
which the construction of the Western North Carolina was undertaken, the
proposed Blue Ridge connection accordingly dictated the adoption of the
line from Asheville toward Murphy as the main line of the Western North
Carolina and it was so considered as late as 1868 when the Constitutional
convention, then in session, passed an ordinance entitled: 'An ordinance
for the completion of the Western North Carolina Railroad,' ratified March
14, 1868 (Ordinances of 1868, ch. 50, p.100), which provided that no part
of the subscription of the state to the Western North Carolina should be
used in the construction of branch lines, except the line to Paint Rock
until 'the main trunk line of a said railroad shall have been completed to
Copper Mine, at or near Ducktown' and furthermore that the General
Assembly 'is hereby authorized and directed to make such further
appropriation or subscription to the capital stock of said railroad
company as will insure the completion of said road at the earliest
practicable day.'

"The Paint Rock line, thus relegated to the status of a branch, was not,
however, abandoned but it was considered that the Tennessee enterprise of
the Cincinnati, Cumberland Gap and Charleston was primarily interested
therein, as is evidenced by the act entitled: 'An Act to amend the Charter
of the Western North Carolina Railroad' ratified March 4, 1867, (Public
Laws of N. C. 1866-67, ch. 94, p.152), which authorized the Western North
Carolina to construct its line from Asheville to Paint Rock upon the
'Tennessee Gauge,' and to so maintain it until the entire line was
completed, and the gauge of the North Carolina railroad could be
established thereon uniformly. 'It was the realization of the Paint Rock
line in 1881, however, that opened the only railroad which has ever been
built through the southern ranges of the Appalachian Mountains."(4)

ROUTE AND CONNECTIONS. It will be seen from the above how the route was
changed from that originally contemplated.(5) It was never purposed to
build this railroad by way of Franklin; as that town was on the proposed
Blue Ridge line from Walballa, S. C., and it was the intention to connect
with that line; but this connection was contemplated at some point west of
Franklin, Ducktown, Tennessee, having been considered at one time as the
point of junction, due to ignorance of the topography of the western part
of the State, as the connection must necessarily have been somewhere on
the Little Tennessee, that stream rising in Raburn gap, Ga.

RAPID PROGRESS. The Western North Carolina railroad was chartered by an
act which was ratified February 15, 1855, and work was begun and the
railroad completed and put into operation to within a few miles east of
Morganton by the summer of 1861. A contract had been given to Crockford,
Malone & Co., in September, 1860, when Dr. A. M. Powell was president of
the railroad company, for the completion of the road from a point near Old
Fort to the western portal of the Swannanoa tunnel, for a specified sum,
plus 20 per cent for contingencies. These contractors stopped work in the
spring of 1861 on account of the war, having done about $27,000 worth of
work. Soon after the close of the Civil War, while Mr. ____ Caldwell was
president and Capt. Samuel Kirkland was chief engineer, the road was
completed to Morganton by paying 50 per cent increase on estimates made
previous to the war, the increase being due to depreciation of currency.
Colonel W. A. Eliason was elected chief engineer in 1868 and continued as
such till April, 1871. Previous to 1868 Col. Eliason had been assistant
engineer. The line had been changed in the winter of 1860-61 for a
considerable distance on sections 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 and this reduced the
estimates by $171,293.

LOCATION ON THE BLUE RIDGE CIIANGED. The route up the eastern slope of the
Blue Ridge was changed after the war to one with longer, safer and lighter
grades than those of the original survey.(6)

ENGINEERS AND MOUNTAIN WORK. While Col. J. W. Wilson was chief engineer
Col. S. W. McD. Tate became president, and in October, 1866, the board of
directors ordered the resumption of work west of Morganton, and the
precedent of paying 50 per cent advance was followed. In January, 1868,
the contract for the work from Old Fort to the western portal of the
Swannanoa tunnel was let to Johh Malone & Co., diminished by the work
which had been done by Crockford, Malone & Co., plus 50 per cent to the
original estimates.

A PROPOSITION was afterwards made to Col. Wilson that, if he would turn
over $200,000 of first mortgage bonds of the road, the chief engineer
would make out estimates for $701,000 in addition to what he had received,
which would be a majority of the $1,400,000 bonds authorized by the act of
December 19, 1866. This proposition was made at the Boyden House in
Salisbury in December, 1870, and the object was claimed to be to get
control of the majority of the bonds and thus prevent a forced foreclosure
of the railroad:

"Some time in the fall of 1869 I had conversation with Col. Tate in
relation to the condition of the road.(7) ...In one of those conversations
in Morganton it was suggested that the sale of the road could not be
forced unless a majority of the bonds got into the hands of one person. I
suggested to Col. Tate that probably the contract with John Malone & Co.
could be made useful in preventing the sale; that they claimed
compensation for their work according to the old estimates and contract:
with Crockford and Malone. I thought they were bound by the estimates on
the line as changed by me, but that I would sign the estimates according
to the old notes, with the understanding that 600 of the bonds were to be
delivered to Maj. Wilson, and 200 were to be placed in my hands; for the
whole was to be held so that they would not be put on the market and get
into the hands of the New York speculators, and thereby endanger the sale
of the road. The 800 were to be divided between Maj. Wilson and myself, so
that no one was to have a majority of the bonds. 'Col. Wilson declined
this proposition,' as it was 'much more than was due me, and I regarded
the transaction as corrupt.'"(8)

A CHANGE OF OFFICERS. Dr. J. J. Mott succeeded Col. Tate as president of
this division of the road, Col. Tate becoming financial agent when he
secured the State bonds issued on account of the company. The office of
financial agent was abolished in 1869. Col. Tate accounted for all these
bonds before the Bragg committee, which found his official conduct correct.

JOHN MALONE & CO. The firm of John Malone & Co., was composed of John
Malone, J. W. Wilson and Mr. Goldsborough of Maryland. J. W. Wilson had
been the chief engineer and superintendent of the road from the summer of
1864 until the provisional governor was appointed in 1865. He was
afterwards reappointed by the directors named by Gov. Worth and held the
position until the spring of 1867, when he resigned in order to go into
business. Up to September, 1871, John Malone & Co., had been paid for
their work about $600,000, the estimate of the whole contract having been
$1,959,000, two-thirds of which was to be paid in cash and one-third in
stock, leaving $220,000 still due to the contractors. The Swepson and
Littlefield frauds brought all work to a stop in 1870. (See Chapter XIX)

WESTERN DIVISION ABOLISHED. At its session of 1873-74 the legislature
repealed the act appointing the Woodfin commission and required the
commissioners to turn over all the books and property of the Western
Division to the directors of the Western North Carolina railroad, upon
whom devolved the former duties of the commissioners; and the legislature
of 1876-77 required the president of the railroad to report what property
he had acquired from Swepson and Littlefield in his settlement with them.
This Western Division consisted of the Murphy and Paint Rock lines. The
Eastern Division was the line from Salisbury to Asheville.

EARLY LITIGATION. The Western North Carolina railroad got into trouble
with its creditors, and, in 1874-75, we find a joint resolution to
ascertain what the claims against the road could be bought for, and
another joint resolution to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United
States from the decision of the United States court at Greensboro in the
case of Henry Clews, Hiram Sibley and others V. the Western Division of
the Western North Carolina railroad, and, finally (Ch. 150) an act to
authorize the purchase of the road under the decree for its sale at not
more than $850,000, with authority to issue seven per cent bonds to that
amount, secured by a mortgage of the property; and to complete the road to
Paint Rock and Murphy, the State to have three-fourths of the stock and
the private stockholders the other third.

"By an act ratified March 13, 1875 (laws of North Carolina 1874-75, ch.
150, p.172), the Governor, Curtis H. Brogden, the president of the senate.
R. F. Armfield, and the Speaker of the House, James L. Robinson, were
constituted a commission with power to purchase the Western North Carolina
railroad at the forthcoming sale in the Sibley suit for not exceeding $850,
000, the amount which had been adjudged due on the outstanding first
mortgage bonds issued by the Eastern Division. In order to force through
the negotiations for the purchase of the outstanding claims, this
commission was later authorized to prosecute an appeal in the Sibley suit
to the Supreme Court of the United States,byresolution adopted March 20,
1875. (Laws of North Carolina 1874-75, p.405. See also a resolution
concerning the expenses of this commission, ratified January 11, 1877,
Laws of North Carolina 1876-77, p. 582)

"This finally resulted in the execution of an agreement under date of
April 17, 1875, whereby all the parties in interest, including the East
Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia, the North Carolina Railroad Company and
McAden, assigned all claims to the State commission consisting of Messrs.
Brogden, Armfield and Robinson, in consideration of their agreement to
purchase and reorganize the Western North Carolina, and to issue new first
mortgage bonds for $850,000 to be ratably distributed among the parties in
agreement was thereupon carried out, and reorganization by the State
followed; the new corporation, hereinafter styled Western North Carolina
Railroad Company No.2, taking possession of the property on October 1,
1875,"(9)

ORGANIZATION. By chapter 105 of the laws of 1876-77 the Western North
Carolina railroad was organized with a capital stock of $850,000, three-
fourths of which belonged to the State and one-fourth to the private
stockholders to be appointed according to their several interests. The
State also undertook to furnish 500 convicts to work on the road and the
governor was authorized to buy iron to lay the track from the then
terminus near Old Fort. It was also provided that when the road should
have been completed to Asheville the convicts were to be divided equally,
one-half to work on the Paint Rock line and the other half on the Murphy
division, and that after the line should have been completed to Paint
Rock, all the convicts were to be employed on the line to Murphy.
Apparently, however, the State became uncertain as to the securities of
the Richmond & Danville railroad for its lease of the Western North
Carolina Railroad, for on the 23d of January, 1877, a joint resolution was
adopted to enquire into the sufficiency of those securities. In 1879 the
Western Division was abolished and consolidated with the Eastern Division
under the name of the Western North Carolina Railroad Company.

W. J. BEST & CO. A special session of the legislature was called and by an
act of March 29, 1880, (Ch. 26) the State agreed to sell the Western North
Carolina railroad to Wm. J. Best, Wm. R. Grace, James D. Fish and J.
Nelson Tappan subject to the mortgage of 1875 for $850,000, on which the
purchasers were to pay the interest, etc.

The agreement of April 27, 1880, between Wm. J. Best et al. and the State
of North Carolina, among recited:

"The Act of March 29, 1880, and provides in consideration of the delivery
of a deed by the Commissioners named in said act to the United Trust
Company, to be held in escrow, that the purchasers will:

1. Complete the line to Paint Rock on or before July 1, 1881, and to
Murphy on or before January 1, 1885.

2. Repay to the State all moneys expended on the road after March 29, 1880.

3. Pay to the State $125 per annum rent for each of five hundred able-
bodied convicts.

4. That no bonds will be issued exeept as provided in the act.

5. That they will deliver $520,000 of thefr first mortgage bonds, when
nsued and $30,000 cash, to make up the aggregate of $550,000, invested by
the State in the property, to the State Treasurer.

6. That they will pay the interest on the outstanding $850,000 of W. N. C.
No.2 bonds."(10)

CLYDE, LOGAN AND BUFORD. "Clyde, Logan and Buford, in 1880, loaned W. J.
Best money and he failed to pay same back and forfeited the road, he
assigning all his interest to Messrs. Clyde, Logan and Buford on May 28,
1880."(10) These men controlled both the Richmond and Danville Railroad
Company and the Richmond and West Point Terminal Company.(11)

THE RICHMOND AND DANVILLE. The Richmond and Danville Railroad Company at
one time owned the Richmond and West Point Terminal Company, and
afterwards the Richmond and West Point Terminal Company bought the
Richmond and Danville. Under the assignment from Best the Richmond
Terminal Company came into control of the Western North Carolina and
immediately proceeded with the work, issuing two mortgages for this
purpose.(13)

"The Richmond Terminal Company acquired the Western North Carolina in the
interest of the expanding R. &. D system to extend its line from a
connection at 8alisbury with the North Carolina Railroad, which the R. &
D. was operating in 1880 under lease.

"For the next five years while the construction of the Western North
Carolina was being completed the operation was carried on in the name of
Western North Carolina No.3 as is evidenced by an act entitled:

'An Act empowering the Western North Carolina Railroad- Company to
construct telegraph and telephone lines on its right of way.'

"Ratified March 6, 1885.

"Laws of North Carolina 1885, ch. 294, p.542, which authorized the company
to do a general telegraph business, but in 1886, when the R.& D. was
assuming the operation of most of the Richmond Terminal lines in its own
name, the following lease was executed:

"'Western North Carolina Railroad Co., to Richmond and Danville Railroad
Company, lease dated April 30, 1886 Term Ninety-nine years. Rental Net
earnings above fixed charges. (Abrogated May 5, 1894)'"(12)

RICHMOND TERMINAL. "From this it will be seen that the property was
operated as the Western North Carolina but was held by the Richmond
Terminal Company up to April 30, 1886, from which time to May 5, 1894,
when the Southern Railway purchased the property, it was operated by the
Richmond & Danville under lease."(12)

THE STATE SELLS THE RAILROAD. By an act of 1883 (ch. 241) the State agreed
to sell the road to Clyde, Logan and Buford, assignees of W. J. Best and
associates, provided they should complete it to the mouth of the Nantahala
river by September 1, 1884, and should keep at work beyond that point 75
convicts. They were also required to purchase of the State treasurer $520,
000 of the coupon bonds of the Western North Carolina railroad which they
had deposited with the State treasurer under sections 12 and 24 of the act
of March 29, 1880. The road was finished into Andrews in the summer of
1889 and to Murphy in 1891. Soon thereafter, to wit, on June 15, 1892, the
old Richmond & Danville Railroad went into the hands of receivers, Fred W.
Hidekoper, Reuben Foster, and, later on, Samuel Spencer, and emerged
therefrom as the Southern Railway Company, August 22, 1894, when the order
was made confirming the sale of the road which had been made by Charles
Price, special master, on August 21 at Salisbury, for $500,000.

COMPLETION OF THE RAILROAD. From 1869 and thereafter for several years,
passengers were taken from Old Fort, the terminus of the railroad, to
Asheville in stage coaches operated by the late Ed. T. Clemmons,
contractor. Jack Pence "drove the mountain," as the end of the line
nearest Old Fort was called, handling "the ribbons" over six beautiful
white horses. The part of the trip down the mountains was always made at
night, but there was never an accident. After several years the road was
completed to a station called Henry's, where it remained till 1879, when
it had been finished to Azalia, 130 miles west of Salisbury. The
formidable Blue Ridge had been successfully surmounted at last.

THE ANDREWS GEYSER. A hotel and geyser-like fountain were maintained at
Round Knob from about 1885 to about the close of the last century, when
the hotel was burned. The fountain had ceased some time before that; but
in 1911 George F. Baker of New York, as a testimonial to the services Col.
A. B. Andrews had rendered in the development of Western North Carolina,
restored the fountain at his own expense. It throws a stream of water 250
feet into the air.

ARRIVAL AT VARIOUS POINTS.(14) The railroad was completed to Biltmore on
Sunday, October 3, 1880; to Alexanders, 10 miles below Asheville on the
French Broad, on the 4th day of July, 1881, and to Paint Rock January 25,
1882. The bridge at Marshall was finished June 15,1882. The Murphy branch
was completed to Pigeon river, now Canton, January 28, 1882, reaching
Waynesville later in the same year.

PROGRESS WEST OF WAYNESVILLE. If the original plan to have a tunnel
through the Balsam mountain had been adhered to the terminus of the road
must have remained at Waynesville many years; but the road was built over
the mountain by a difficult and dangerous grade, and the work which had
been done on the tunnel in 1869 and 1870 was abandoned. This Balsam gap is
the highest railroad pass east of the Rocky mountains, being about 3,100
feet above sea level. . . . The road was completed to Dillsboro in 1883
and to Bryson city in 1884. It reached Jarrett's station, or Nantahala, at
the mouth of the Red Marble creek, November 23, 1884. Here it stayed a
long time, due to the fact that a tunnel had been contemplated through the
Red Marble gap of the Valley River Mountain; but after the grading had
been completed nearly to the gap it was discovered that the soil would not
support the roof and sides of a tunnel, and the whole work had to be done
over again and the roadbed placed on a much higher grade. This serious
error cost many thou- sands of dollars and long delay. The road was
finished to Andrews in the summer of 1889, and its entrance into Murphy
was celebrated in 1891, on the same day the cornerstone of the fine new
court house was laid. The original survey required the road to go by old
Valley Town, but it was changed. Several of the convicts who helped to
build this road settled in Murphy when their terms expired and are making
good citizens.

SPARTANBURG AND ASHEVILLE RAILROAD. This road was completed to Saluda,
twelve miles east of Hendersonville in 1879, and to Hendersonville about
1882. It was necessary that Buncombe county should contribute to the
building of this railroad.

BUNCOMBE'S SUBSCRIPTION. On the 5th of August, 1875, there were 1,944
votes for subscription to $100,000 of the stock of the Spartanburg and
Asheville railroad, and only 242 votes against subscription, and the bonds
were issued bearing six per cent interest and due in twenty years. But
they were issued only as the grading was completed and amounted at the end
to only $98,000 in all. These bonds were refunded at par by new bonds
dated July 1, 1895, due in twenty years, under Chapter 172, Public Laws
1893. But at the meeting of the Republican board of county commissioners
on December 27, 1897, they ratified a contract which had been made by the
board and Hon. A. C. Avery, Mark W. Brown and Moore & Moore, attorneys, to
contest the validity of the bonds in a case entitled the County
Commissioners v. W. R. Payne, County Treasurer. This attempted repudiation
was used by the Democrats to defeat the Republicans in November, 1898. But
the Democrats themselves afterwards employed counsel to carry out the
repudiation of these bonds on the ground that the bill had not been read
on three separate days in each house. However, certain holders of these
bonds soon brought an action in the District court of the United States,
which held that the bonds were valid.

RICHMOND PEARSON'S BILL. Having secured the $100,000 subscription from
Buncombe county, the officers of this road seemed satisfied to keep its
terminal at Hendersonville indefinitely. Consequently, in 1885, Hon.
Richmond Pearson, of Buncombe, introduced a bill in the legislature to
declare forfeited the charter of the Spartanburg and Asheville Railroad
Company, but before it could be read a second time, the railroad company
began work and in 1886 completed the road to Asheville. During the time
the road's terminus remained at Hendersonville Buncombe county was paying
interest on the $98,000 of bonds which had been issued.

THE SOUTH AND WESTERN RAILROAD. The South and Western railroad was
completed from Johnson City, Tennessee, to Huntdale, Yancey county, North
Carolina, in 1900. It was afterwards built to Spruce Pine in 1904.

THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY IN THE MANGER. From the decision of the Supreme court
in the case of the Johnson City Southern Railway against the South and
Western Railroad Company(15) it is clear that the Southern Railway Company
in 1907 attempted to defeat the building of this incomparable railroad now
crossing the mountains from Marion, North Carolina, to Johnson City,
Tennessee, by alleging that it (the Southern) was seeking to condemn land
along the North Toe river in Yancey county for the purpose of constructing
a railway from the coal fields to tidewater, when in point of fact it "did
not in good faith intend to construct a railroad over the line in
controversy," but had caused the Johnson City railroad to be "incorporated
for the purpose of hindering, delaying and obstructing the building of a
railroad along the North Toe by the South and Western Railway Company
which was in good faith constructing a railroad from Johnson City.... to
Spruce Pine in North Carolina, and was operating the same."(15)

THE SOUTHERN'S PLAN. The plan of the Southern Railway had been to pretend
that it meant to build a railroad along this river, although it was well
aware that the South and Western had already built such a road along the
stream from Johnson City to Spruce Pine; and, by appealing to' the courts,
to prevent the real road from changing its track from the east to the west
bank of the river in order to obtain a better grade, which it had
commenced to do in November, 1905, while the dummy corporation the
Southern railway was using for this purpose had not been incorporated till
December of the following year. Upon this the court said:

COURTS NOT TO BE USED TO PREVENT PROGRESS. "It is not of so much interest
to the public which of two corporations build the road as it is that, by
using the courts in the way suggested, they prevent either from doing so.
If the course proposed by the 'Southern Railway' be permitted, the State
has granted her franchise, with its sovereign power, to her own hindrance.
If in creating two corporations she has conferred power upon both by
which, through the instrumentality of her own courts, the building of
railroads may be retarded, if not ultimately defeated, and her mountain
fastnesses remain locked in their primitive isolation, the legislature may
well consider whether some restriction should not be put upon corporations
enjoying such power. If the course proposed by the 'Southern Railway' be
permitted, railroad building may be 'tied up' indefinitely by repeatedly
renewed condemnations, proceedings, contested until the end has been
reached, and then withdrawn, only to be repeated in another form."(15)

THE CAROLINA, CLINCHRFIELD AND OHIO The South and Western, also known as
the "Three C's" but now the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio, was completed
to Marion, in 1908. It is the best constructed railroad in the mountains,
the grades and curvatures being far less than those of the Southern from
Old Fort to Morristown.

ALLEGED PEONAGE. During the time the heavy work on the eastern slope of
the Blue Ridge was being done, construction companies were given contracts
for the building of certain sections of the line. Among these contractors
was the Carolina Construction Company. Labor was hard to get, and in order
to secure laborers this Construction Company paid the expenses of certain
men to their camp. They worked half a day and slipped off, were followed,
captured, returned to camp and imprisoned till nightfall, when they were
taken out and severely whipped. The facts appear in Buckner V. South &
Western Railway Co., 159 N. C., going up on appeal from Buncombe county.
This was known as the "peonage case."

THE SNOW BIRD VALLEY RAILROAD. The Kanawha Hardwood Company, with that
progressive and public spirited Virginian, J. Q. Barker, at its head, came
in 1902 and constructed tlie Snow Bird Valley logging railroad for a
distance of fifteen miles from Andrews over the Snow Bird mountains to the
head of Snow Bird creek in 1907-08. The Cherokee Tanning and Extract
Company began business in 1903, and the Andrews Lumber Company, under the
management of Mr. H. R. Campbell, came in the spring of 1911, and have
since completed fifteen miles of logging railroad of standard gauge into
heavily timbered lands in Macon county on Chogah creek. This company has
also built a saw mill near Andrews with a capacity of 80,000 feet a day.

EAST TENNESSEE AND WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD. This road was
completed from Johnson City, Tenn., via Elizabethton to the Cranberry iron
mines in 1882. It is a narrow gauge road. In 1900 or thereabout it was
extended to Pinola or Saginaw, in what is now Avery county. This extension
was paid for in coffee for a long time, funds being short, and was called
the Arbuckle line. Its real name, however, is:

LINVILLE RIVER RAILROAI COMPANY, and was built by E. B. Camp, who owned a
considerable body of timber near Saginaw, the company operating the road
and saw mills being the Pinola Lumber and Trading Company. Both companies
went into the hands of a receiver, however, and were bought in by Isaac T.
Mann of Bramley, W. Va. He got the W. M. Ritter Lumber Company interested
in it and both properties finally went to that company, including a very
good inn, called the Pinola Inn. A majority of its stock was transferred
to the Cranberry Iron and Coal Company in April, 1913 by the W. M. Ritter
Lumber Company.

HENDERSONVILLE AND BREVARD RAILROAD. This road was built in 1894 by the
late Tam C. McNeeley. Thos. S. Boswell was the engineer, and after it went
into the hands of a receiver in 1897 he operated it as superintendent,
when it was bought by J. F. Hays and associates, who afterwards organized

THE THANSYLvANIA RAILROAD COMPANY, and in 1900 extended the road to
Rosman, N. C., a point ten miles southwest of Brevard. From there it was
to have been constructed to Seneca, S. C., which would have given a
shorter route south from Asheville by 35 miles; but the Southern Railway
leased it and that put an end to that scheme. In 1903 this road, as the
Transylvania railroad, was extended to Lake Toxaway, nine miles beyond
Rosman, and it was in this year that the Toxaway Inn was built, the lake
having been dammed in the same year, Thos. S. Boswell having been the
engineer.

"The building of the Transylvania road and its extension resulted in the
construction of the plant of the Toxaway Tanning Company at Rosman, N. C.,
in about 1901, as I recall. This has also resulted in the development of
the Gloucester Lumber Company at that place; this concern is operating 20,
000 acres on the western end of the Pisgah Forest tract of the Vanderbilt
estate and have their mills located at Rosman, and carry on quite a large
operation, with probably 20 miles of railroad. Also, at Rosman is located
the plant of the Shaffer Lumber Company, and they have a line of railroad
running to the south from Rosman and have quite a large operation with
their mills located on their line of road. Also, the building of the
Transylvania resulted in the location of the plant of the Brevard Tanning
at Pisgah Forest, two miles northeast of Brevard which has had a very
successful operation."(16)

THE ELKIN AND ALLEGHANY RAILROAD. The great drawback to Alleghany county
has been the lack of a railroad. The legislature of 1907 authorized the
State to furnish not less than 50 convicts for the purpose of constructing
a railroad from Elkin to Sparta. The State took stock in this road to the
amount of the work done by the convicts, and the work of grading was begun
in the fall of 1907. In the early part of the year 1911 the directors,
John T. Miles, Capt. Roth, H. G. Chatham, R. A. Doughton, A. H. Eller, C.
C. Smoot, Henry Fries and others, succeeded in interesting John A. Mills
in this enterprise, and he helped to procure the financial aid. And now
the railroad has every appearance of being rapidly pushed to completion.
The train is now running to the foot of the mountain, nearly halfway to
Sparta.

THE PIGEON RIVER RAILROAD. This was one of the first enterprises planned
by the Champion Fiber Company; but it decided that a flume from Sunburst
to Canton would be cheaper and answer its purposes as well as a railroad.
This proved impracticable, on account of difficulties in securing rights
of way; and a railroad was commenced a few years ago, of standard gauge,
and it is now completed.

GEORGIA AND NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD. The Georgia and North Carolina
railroad, from Marietta, Georgia, to Murphy (ch. 167, Laws 0œ 1870-71) was
the first railroad to run into Cherokee, and the late Mercer Fain was its
first president and was the most active in its construction. It reached
Murphy in 1888, and at first was a narrow gauge. It was afterwards
absorbed by the Marietta and North Georgia railroad, which extended it
from Blue Ridge, Georgia, to Knoxville, leaving the Murphy end a mere
branch. It was originally intended that this road should go down the
Hiwassee and Tennessee rivers to Chattanooga, but others had already
obtained a charter for a road by that route which they refused to
surrender or assign except upon prohibitive terms. Hence the route via
Blue Ridge was adopted. The dog-in-the-manger policy has thus prevented a
road down the Hiwassee river and has nct produced any benefit to those who
not only would not build themselves but would not allow others to do so.

THE APPALACHIAN RAILROAD. There is also a short railroad which leaves the
Murphy branch about five miles east of Bryson City and runs a short
distance up Ocona Lufty creek.

TALLULAH FALLS AND FRANKLIN RAILROAD. This road was completed from
Cornelia, in Georgia, via Tallulah Falls and Rabun Gap to Franklin, in
1908. It affords an outlet for a large section of this region, and
practically makes the whole of Macon county tributary to Georgia. If the
Southern Railway would complete the link betweea Franklin and Almond, and
down the Little Tennessee river from Bushnel to Maryville, Teun., Franklin
would have two other outlets, one into our own State via Asheville, and
into Tennessee via Bushnel and Murphy.(17) This is more of the dog-in-the-
manger spirit.

THE DAMASCUS LUMBER COMPANY RAILROAD. In 1902 the Hemlock Extract Company,
D. K. Stouffer, manager, was built, and several years afterwards the
Damascus Lumber Company built a narrow gauge railroad from Laurel Bloomery
in Tennessee, on the Laurel Railway Company's line, over the Cut Laurel
gap. It is operated exclusively as a logging road, but the grade
generally, is good enough for a standard road, and there is no reason why
it should not be electrified and operated as it is for freight and
passengers. Its terminus at Hemlock is only 19 miles from Jefferson, the
county seat of Ashe county, the grade down Laurel creek to the North Fork
of the New river is good, and the road should be extended to Jefferson at
least, the principal barrier to mountain roads having been overcome in the
passage of the Cut Laurel gap.

THE TENNESSEE AND NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD was completed to the mouth of
Big creek on the Pigeon river about 1897, and then extended two miles up
to Mount Sterling post office, where there has been a large saw mill plant
since about 1900. The design is to complete this line up the Pigeon to
Canton at least; and ultimately up the Pigeon to Sunburst, and thence into
Transylvania county. Should it get as far as the mouth of Cataloochee
creek it will have tapped the finest body of virgin hardwood timber left
in the mountains.

ASHEVILLE AND CRAGGY MOUNTAIN RAILWAY. On March 29, 1901, the city of
Asheville authorized the Craggy Railway Company to transfer its rights
over Charlotte street to the reorganized Asheville Street Railroad
Company. Mr. R. S. Howland operated this road to Overlook Park, on Sunset
Mountain, several summers; but, by September, 1904, he had demonstrated to
his own satisfaction that it could not be made to pay. In that month it
was torn up and the rails and ties used to build a track from the Golf
Club to Grace and thence to the French Broad river at Craggy Station on
the Southern Railway, and the Weaver Power Company plant and dam, then but
recently erected, and to the factory of the William Whittam Textile
Company, which had been incorporated February 1, 1902. He also built a
trestle across the French Broad river to the opposite bank, where the
Southern Railway established a station called Craggy.

QUARRY. Meantime, however, not losing sight of the objective point of the
Craggy Railway Company, Mr. Howland graded a roadbed and laid a track for
a steam railroad from the new Music Hall at Overlook Park, to Locust Gap,
a distance of about two miles, and opened a new quarry about a quarter of
a mile from the Music Hall, with a track extending down to it. He also
leased a part of the old James M. Smith property, in rear of the present
Langren Hotel, where he established bins, and from which he sold all sorts
of stone, bringing it down the mountain by a steam dummy engine, and
hauling it through the streets of Asheville with a large electric motor
engine. The ties and rails on the track to Locust Gap and to the new
quarry were also taken up and placed on the railroad leading to Grace and
Craggy Station. He also graded a traction road from near Locust Gap
through the lands of J. W. Shartle, C. A. Webb and others to Craven Gap at
the head of Beaver Dam creek, and thence to within half a mile of Bull Gap
at the head of Ox creek on the North and Bull creek on the south. This
road is to form a part of the projected automobile road from Asheville via
Mitchell's Peak, and thence along the crest of the Blue Ridge to Blowing
Rock. During this time Mr. Howland experimented with steam traction
engines; but they were not satisfactory for the mountain roads.

ASHEVILLE LOOP LINE RAILWAY. Mr. Howland operated the railroad down to
Craggy Station and to the Elk Mountain Cotton Mill till April, 1906, when
he sold that portion of the railroad between New Bridge on the Burnsville
road and Craggy Station to the Southern Railway, but continued to run cars
from the Golf Club to New Bridge. The sale of the lower portion of this
railroad also carried with it the corporate rights, etc., of the Asheville
and Craggy Mountain Railroad Company, and it then became necessary to
organize the Asheville Loop Line Railway to operate what was left of the
Craggy Mountain Railway. This company, during the summer of 1906, leased
from the Southern Railway that portion of the railway between New Bridge
and Craggy Station and operated the entire line from the Golf Club to the
river. The water impounded by the Weaver Power Company dam was called Lake
Tahkeeostee, and proved quite an attraction to summer visitors who were in
Asheville in great numbers during the season. The railroad paid a slight
profit.

ASHEVILLE RAPID TRANSIT RAILROAD. During the fall of 1906 Messrs. Culver
and Whittlesey, attorneys, and Mr. R. H. Tingley, civil engineer, of New
York City, got control of the Loop Line railroad and determined to rebuild
the track to the Music Hall on Sunset mountain. To do this they formed a
new corporation called the Asheville Rapid Transit Company, December 18,
1906, and in March of 1907 obtained a franchise to build an electric
railway from the corner of Water street and Patton avenue across North
Main street, and thence along Merrimon avenue to a point near the Manor,
and thence over private property to the Golf Club. In order to secure this
concession from the city they deposited $1,000, to be forfeited in case
they did not commence to build the railway into town by the following
Septemher and complete it within a few months thereafter.

MERRIMON AVENUE LINE. These gentlemen secured enough money to reconstruct
the track up the mountain to the Music Hall, which was in full operation
by July 4, 1907, on which day two thousand passengers were transported
over the new road. They continued to operate the road during the summer
and opened a restaurant and moving picture show at Overlook Park. But the
money they had expected to borrow for the completion of the railway into
the city via Merrimon avenue could not be obtained, and they abandoned the
enterprise, turning the property back to Mr. R. S. Howland in the spring
of 1908. As there were several local debts due by the company the board of
aldermen very considerable returned the $1,000 which had been deposited as
a forfeit, upon the abandonment and release by the company of all rights
on the streets, on condition be so applied. In June, 1908, Mr. R. S.
Howland took charge of the company again; but the company not having paid
the Asheville Electric Company for the power which had been furnished for
some time previous the latter company refused to supply electric current
for the operation of cars to Sunset mountain. An arrangement, however, was
soon afterwards made for power to operate the cars from the Golf Club to
New Bridge and this continued to be done till August 27, when the Rapid
Transit Company was placed in the hands of a receiver. It was sold in
December, 1908, to R. S. Howland and associates for $25,000. By an
arrangement between Messrs. LaBarbe, Moale & Chiles and R. S. Howland the
latter was to have the roadbed from the Golf Club to New Bridge and
certain other property, and the former the track up the mountain and ten
acres around Music Hall. This led to some litigation between these
parties, which, however, was adjusted in 1911.

EAST TENNESSEE AND NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD. During 1909 R. S. Howland
built a trolley railroad from New Bridge to Weaverville, thus giving a
continuous line from Grace to Weaverville. By a subsequent agreement with
the Asheville Electric Company and the Asheville and East Tennessee
Railroad Company, as this Weaverville railway company is called; under its
charter, the latter has the right to operate its cars over the track of
the former from Grace to Pack Square. This line passes over Merrimon
avenue under a franchise granted the Asheville Electric Company by the
city soon after its rights over that avenue had been abandoned by the
Rapid Transit Company. Both the Merrimon Avenue line in the city and the
railway from Grace to Weaverville have proven great conveniences to the
public.

SUNSET MOUNTAIN RAILWAY COMPANY. Under this name LaBarbe, Moale and Chiles
operated the road up Sunset mountain to Music Hall during the summer of
1910, but soon sold it to the E. W. Grove Park Company, who also bought
about 300 acres on Sunset mountain from the Howlands. The track has been
removed and the roadbed converted into an automobile road.

THE HIWASSEE VALLEY RAILROAD. In 1913 Clay and Cherokee counties each
voted $75,000 for the construction of a railroad from Andrews via Marble
down the Hiwassee river to Hayesville, crossing Peach Tree and Hiwassee at
the Clay county line. It will be 35 miles long, standard gauge, etc., and
will be operated by electricity from a power plant to be erected on
Hiwassee river. A question has arisen as to the legality of the vote, and
the company is now enjoined from proceeding further in securing aid from
either county. J. Q. Barker is president, and Samuel Cover, treasurer, and
D. S. Russell, secretary.

BETTER THAN RAISING CORN AND COTTON. If Ashe, Clay, Graham, and Watauga
counties, four of the richest counties in the mountains naturally, had
railroads the enhanced value of their property would give the State a
larger and more constant revenue from taxation than she now derives from
the raising of uncertain crops of cotton and corn on the State farms by
working her convicts in that malarious section of the State. If these
convicts were taken to the healthful and invigorating climate of the
mountains and put to work grading railroads, for their support in
provisions alone, it would not be long before every county west of the
Blue Ridge would be adequately served with an outlet for their crops,
lumber and minerals, while new health and pleasure resorts would be opened
up for summer tourists and health seekers.

Ashe is less known than any mountain county, but it is the finest of them
all, agriculturally and in minerals and water power. Yet in the decade
between 1900 and 1910 its population decreased from 19,581 to 19,074.
Clay's population fell from 4,532 in 1900 to 3,909. Yet the lands of Clay
are rich and productive and its jail is empty nine-tenths of the time.
Watauga, which in many respects is unsurpassed, gained only a little over
one hundred inhabitants in the same period. These three fine counties are
really retrograding for want of railroads. If the increase in population
and wealth of Buncombe in 1880, before railroads reached its borders,
compared with its population and wealth in 1913, is an index of what
railroads accomplish for communities, it will be evident that the convicts
could be more advantageously employed in the mountains building wagon- and
railroads than in raising precarious crops of cotton and corn near Weldon.

The territory that in 1911 was erected into the county of Avery is more
moutitainous and was formerly more inaccessible than any other part of the
mountains. Yet having a railroad, it gained nearly 2,000 in population in
the last ten years.

OTHER RAILROADS. In November, 1912, the county of Watauga by a large
majority voted $100,000 toward the construction of a railroad through
Cook's Gap, Boone and down the Watauga river, and the State has since
provided thirty convicts for work thereon. Work has already begun. The
Virginia - Carolina Railway obtained from the Legislature of North
Carolina in 1911, authority to construct a railroad from its line in
Grayson and Washington counties, Virginia, into the counties of Ashe and
Watauga, and in June, 1913, let the entire line to the Callahan
Construction Company, from Konarok, Va., via Jefferson to Todd, or Elk
Cross Roads; all grading to be completed by July, 1914. That the link
between Canton and the mouth of Big creek, near Mount Sterling post
office, will be built shortly seems probable, as the line has only to
follow the Pigeon river to complete this link, thus opening up a large
boundary of timber and acid wood and bark in the Cataloochee valley. There
is also hope that a railroad will be built from Saginaw (Pinola) to
Mortimer or Collettsville. A lumber road from Black Mountain station to
Mitchell's peak is being constructed rapidly.

THE BLATHERSKITE RAILROAD. This road has been building (in the newspapers)
for ten years or more, but never hauls any freight or passengers. It is
quiescent until there is talk of a bona fide railroad, and then it
develops a state of activity and construction (still in the newspapers)
wherever it is proposed to locate such new railway.

(1. From "Asheville's Centenary")

(2. Hill's. p. 259)

(3. Col. Wm. H. Thomas was more active in securing this amendment than
anyone else)

(4. Harrison's "Legal History of the Lines of the Southern Railway")

(5. Under the act incorporating the Western North Carolina R. R.,
commissioners were appointed to take subscriptions to the capital stock in
Salisbury, Linconton, Newton, Statesville, Hendersonville, Lenoir, Boone,
Taylorsville, Morganton, Marion, Rutherfordton, Shelby, Mocksville, and
Asheville. The act provided for the construction of a railroad to effect a
communication between the North Carolina R. R. and the Valley of the
Mississippi, no route being specified.)

(6. Shipp Fraud Gem. Rep., pp.250 and 307)

(7. Wm. A. Ellason Testimony, Shipp Fraud Com., p.357)

(8. J. W Wilson before Shipp Fraud Commission, p. 365)

(9. Harrison's "Legal History of the Lines of the Southern Railway.")

(10. Fairfax Harrison's "Legal History of the Lines of the Southern
Railway.")

(11. Letter from Col. A. B. Andnews to J. P. A., July, 1912)

(12. Fairfax Harrison's "Legal Hiatory of the Lines of the Southern
Railway.")

(13. Letter from Col. A. B. Andrews to J. P. A., July, 1912)

(14. These dates are from letters from Col. A. B. Andrews to J. P.A.,
dated July 19 and 21, 1913.)

(15. 148 N. C. Reports. p.51)

(16. Letter of J. F. Hays to J. P. A., 1912)

(17. The Southern's line has been extended from Bushnel to Eagle creek, on
the Little Tennessee, sixteen miles; but it is used principally for
hauling lumber. The scenery is unsurpassed.)



CHAPTER XXI.
NOTABLE RESORTS AND IMPROVEMENTS

THE BUCK HOTEL. This ancient hostelry was built by the late James M. Smith
and stood where the new Langren hotel now stands. It was the first hotel
west of the Blue Ridge, but when it was built is not stated in
"Asheville's Centenary" (1898), the best authority we have on local
ancient history. He was the son of Col. Daniel Smith of New Jersey, who
died May 17, 1824, aged 67. James M. was born January 7, 1794, near the
present Asheville passenger depot. His mother was Mary, a daughter of
William Davidson, a cousin of Gen. William Davidson, who was killed at
Cowan's Ford.(1) It was Gen. Davidson's brother Samuel who was killed by
the Indians at the head of Swannanoa in 1781-82. James M. Smith married
Polly Patton, a daughter of Col. John Patton, who was a merchant, hotel
keeper, manufacturer, farmer, tanner, large landowner, and very wealthy.
The Buck hotel stood, till about 1907, when it was removed.

THE EAGLE HOTEL.(2) This was built by the late James Patton, father of the
late James W. Patton, and grandfather of the late Thomas W. Patton. He was
born in Ireland February 13, 1756, and came to America in 1783. He was a
weaver, but soon became a merchant. In 1791 he met Andrew Erwin, who
married his sister and became his partner in business. In 1807 they moved
to the Swannanoa at what is known as the Murphy place, where they remained
till 1814, when they moved to Asheville, Mr. Patton opening a store and
the Eagle Hotel-the central or wooden part. In 1831 he bought and improved
the Warm Springs, and died at Asheville September 9, 1846.(3) James W.
Patton was born February 13, 1803, and died in December, 1861. His life
was full of good deeds. His son, Thomas W. Patton, was foremost in all
good works, and in 1894 came to the rescue of Asheville in a crisis of her
affairs as mayor on an independent ticket.

THE HOT SPRINGS. The Warm Springs on the French Broad had been discovered
in 1778 by Henry Reynolds and Thomas Morgan, two men kept out in advance
of the settlement to watch the movements of the Indians. They followed
some stolen horses to the point opposite, and leaving their own horses on
the north bank, waded across the river. On the southern shore, in passing
through a little branch, they were surprised to find the water warm. The
next year, says Ramsey, "the Warm Springs were resorted to by invalids."
Soon after his graduation at Washington College, Tenn., young Z. B. Vance
was a clerk at this hotel.(4)

Grant No.668, dated July 11, 1788, and signed at Fairfield, by Samuel
Johnston, governor, conveyed to Gaser Dagg or Dagy, or Dager, 200 acres of
land on the south side of the French Broad river in Green county,
including the Warm Springs.(5) This land was then supposed to be in Green
county, in what is now Tennessee. William Neilson then acquired an
interest in the Springs for on April 27, 1829, Philip Hale Neilson, who
appears to have inherited an undivided one-half interest to this property,
conveyed it to Green K. Cessna,(6) who with Joseph L. Chunn and wife
conveyed the entire property to James W. and John E. Patton, by deed dated
December 6, 1831, for $20,662.(7) William Mathias appears to have kept the
Hot Springs before John E. Patton took charge in 1832. He owned it till
1862, when J. H. Rumbough bought it. He has owned it since.

OLD WARM SPRINGS.(8) The old Patton hotel at Warm Springs faced the river
and was on the left bank, a bridge crossing the French Broad at that
point.(9) The thirteen large white pillars in front were very imposing
looking, and represented the original States. The Lover's Leap rock was on
the right bank of the river, and little less than half a mile above the
hotel. It was a sheer precipice thirty or forty feet in height. What is
now called Lover's Leap, on the left bank and a mile below, is much
higher, but was not so precipitous in former days, the passage of the
railroad necessitating the blasting away of the lower portion of the
cliff. Old Man Peters is said to have fallen from it years before the
Civil War while coon-hunting, but recovered. The Hale Neilson property was
at Paint Rock, and what is still called the Old Love road leaves the river
about six miles below Hot Springs and joins the present road up Paint
creek twelve miles east of Greenville, Tenn. It appears to be very little
traveled these days, and is probably the one Bishop Asbury first used,
crossing the French Broad at what is still put down on the United States
contour maps as Love's Ferry: Thaddeus Weaver lived at the mouth of Paint
creek, and the old Allen House, at the mouth of Wolfe creek, is still
standing. The old Neilson hotel at Warm Springs was burned between 1821
and 1840. The present hotel faces the railroad, and has its back to the
river.

FLAT ROCK. From that storehouse of information, "Asheville's Centenary"
(1898), we learn that in 1828 the turnpike from Saluda gap via Asheville
was completed to Warm Springs, and that "brought a stream of travel
through western North Carolina." Among these were visitors from
Charleston, S. C., some of whom were attracted by the charming scenery and
surroundings of Flat Rock. Charles B. Baring bought land and built there,
his deed bearing date September 13, 1830.(10) Judge Mitchell King also
bought land, his deed being dated October 28, 1829.(11) There was a small
hotel there kept by Williams Brittain, in which they probably stayed till
they could brnld homes of their own. What is now the Major Barker place
was the Molllneaux home. Following is from the history of Henderson (town
and county) by Mrs. Mattie S. Chandler, written expressly for this work:

The home of Judge Mitchell King (who afterward donated the land upon which
Hendersonville stands) was one of the very first built at Flat Rock, and
numbers of his descendants continue to come there, maintaining handsome
homes of their own. This place later passed into the ownership of Col. C.
G. Memminger, and is now owned by the Smythes.

Count de Choiseul, one of the most famous of these old residents, modeled
his dwelling there after the magnificent old French country homes. He
lived there many years, until after the death of one of his sons in the
War between the States. He then returned to France that his remaining son
might in- herit his titles as well as his immense property there.

The old Urqhardt home, one time residence of Cora Urqhardt, now Mrs. James
Potter Brown, is practically unchanged. It belongs to the Misses Norton of
Louisville, Ky., who spend the summers there.

Charles Baring came to Flat Rock from Charlestdn in 1820, and built in
1828 what is now the summer home of George J. Baldwin (prominent business
man of Savannah). There are a number of the descendants of the Barings who
have, lived for many years in this county, and they tell many interesting
stories of this family. Charles Baring, member of the Banking firm of
Baring Bros., London, came first to Charleston to negotiate a match
between Lord Ashburton and a beautiful English widow then in Charleston, a
Mrs. Heyward, sister of Lady Barclay. It proved to be a case of John Alden
and Priscilla, he "asked her himself." They were married and early in
their married life came to Flat Rock.

Mrs. Baring was brilliant, clever, well known in these early days in
Charleston as a dramatic writer, and amateur actress. She entertained
extensively and brilliantly at Flat Rock, her birthday balls having been
quite famous. On this occasion she is said to have invariably worn a
remarkable costume of purple velvet, with headpiece of purple plumes, and
many diamonds. Judging from a very handsome portrait of her, now in the
possession of a Hendersonville lady of her kin, she must have been very
beautiful. Miss Sue Farmer of Hendersonville, daughter of Henry Tudor
Farmer, and grand-niece of this lady, has in her possession many of Mrs.
Baring's belongings, among which are a quaint old jewel casket with glass
handles, with many compartments and little secret drawers and pockets. In
the Baldwin home, in what was Mrs. Baring's bedroom, there still remains
the curious old wall paper with its designs of the Crusaders.

She it was who built the far-famed St. John-in-the-Wilderness, the
Episcopal church at Flat Rock, said to be the oldest of its denomination
in the State. Both she and he husband are buried under the floor of this
church, and the tablets erected to their memory are in the church.

At the age of seventy, Charles Baring was married a second time to a young
lady, Miss Constance Dent, daughter of Commodore Dent of Charleston. He
then built another home which was known for many years as the Rhett place,
and on which spot now stands the beautiful new Highland Lake Club, with
its numerous cottages and buildings and which on summer evenings presents
such a brilliant scene, where hundreds of wealthy visitors come to spend
the summer.

The well-known old Farmer Hotel was built by Charles Baring, and kept by
his nephew and ward, Henry Farmer for many years. It was perhaps better
known as the Flat Rock Inn and gained quite a reputation for the old
Southern hospitality dispensed there. It was built in 1850, and stands
practically unchanged; through having fallen into disuse in late years, it
has grown rather dilapidated. After Mr. Farmer's death it was sold to a
company of the Charlestonian residents and used as a country club.

Henry Tudor Farmer, father of the one named above, was born in England,
and though he never lived in Flat Rock for any time he is said to have
written some of his later verse there. In "The Nineteenth Century," by Wm.
Gilmore Simms, state historian of Southern History, under date of 1869, a
very detailed account of his works is given, extracts as follows: "He
lived in New York for some time before coming to Charleston. There he made
the acquaintance of all the wits about town. He was intimate with Francis,
the most famous of reminiscents. He has jested at the Cafe with Halleek
and Drake of the firm of the Croakers. He knew Bryant and Sands Hillhouse
and Percival at their beginnings and himself published a volume of poems
both in New York and London. His work is highly complimented for its skill
and dainty imagery, as well as the easy-flowing rhythm."

AS SEEN THROUGH NORTHERN EYES. In the "Carolina Mountains," we read (p.
112): "Long before the train had surmounted the barrier of Blue Ridge, the
beauty and salubrity of the high mountains had called up from the eastern
lowlands people of wealth and refinement to make here and there their
summer homes. The first and most important of these patrician settlements
was at Flat Rock, the people coming from Charleston, the center of
civihzation in the far South, and choosing Flat Rock because of its
accessibility, and because the level nature of the country offered
opportunity for the development of beautiful estates and the pleasure
roads through the primeval forests that in days had not been disturbed.
Into this great, sweet wilderness, now quite safe from Indians, these
children of fortune brought their servants and their laborers, and
selecting the finest sites whence were extensive views of the not too
distant mountains, surrounded by the charming growths of region, in a land
emblazoned and carpeted with flowers, built their homes of refuge from the
burning heat and equally burning mosquitoes of the coastland.... These
people drove in their own carriages, accompanied by a retinue of and
provision wagons.... This procession up the mountains had fewer trappings
on the horses and less gayly attired escort than did those of the olden
time; but we may be sure that the carriages of the gentlefolk of the
eighteenth century were pleasanter conveyances than the mule-litters of
the Middle Ages, and we may also be sure that no lovelier faces out from
the gorgeous retinue on its way across the hills of the past than could be
seen in the carriages where sat ladies of the New World, with their
patrician beauty at their gracious manners. And, although the escort of
the New World travelers did not number one thousand gayly dressed
cavaliers, it consisted of a retinue of those ebony childdren of the sun,
who loved the pleasant journey, and loved their gentle lords and ladies-
for all this happened in those halcyon days 'before the War' when . . .
the real 'quality' cherished their slaves and were greatly loved by them."

DISTINGISHED PIONEERS. This writer continues "The Lodge" was built by one
of the English Barings, Charles, of banking fame, on which place was a
'tumble - down stile,' like the one near Stratford-on-Avon." "Coming
somewhat later as friends of Mr. Baring," were Mr. Molyneux, British
consul sul at Savannah, and Count de Choisenil, French consul at the same
place. "Perhaps the most cherished name of this mountain settlement was
that of the Rev. John G. Drayton for many years rector of St. John-in-the-
Wilderness, and to whom the dignified and noble estate of Ravenswood at
Flat Rock owes its Origin, as well as the wonderful Magnolia Gardens on
the Ashley river, near Charleston-gardens where one wanders away into a
dreamland of flowers unlike any other dreamland in the world. . . . And
always when talking to anyone of the old residents of Flat Rock, forth the
name of Dr. Mitchell C. King, who, for more than half a century, was the
greatly beloved physician of the community, and who, while a student at
the University of Gottingen, formed so warm a friendship with a fellow
student known as Otto von Bismarek, that, for many years after a regular
correspondence was carried on 'between them' these letters being carefully
preserved by the descendants of the doctor." She also mentions the
Memmingers, the Rutledges, the Lowndeses, the Elliotts, the Pinekneys, the
Middletons and many others.

THE MAN WHO BROUGHT US TO THE SPRINGS.(12) Colonel V. Ripley, father of
Mrs. Lila Ripley Barnwell, was one of the early settlers in
Hendersonville. He was of English descent, his immediate branch of the
family having come to New England in 1636. Colonel Ripley was a native of
Virginia, from which state he came to North Carolina when quite a young
man. He was a man of wide experience and fine business ability. In 1835
the business of mail contracts, extending from Florida when the state was
a territory to the upper part of South Carolina, was almost entirely in
his hands. This business was continued until June, 1855.

HIS WIFE AN AUTHORESS.(12) Mr. Ripley's first wife was the daughter of
James M. Smith of Buncombe, who was the first white child to be born west
of the Blue Ridge in Buncombe county, he having been born on
Swannanoa.(13) During the War between the States, Col. Ripley was married
to Mrs. Mary A. Ewart of Columbia, S. C., a lady of great culture,
refinement and strong intellectuality. In her early years, Mrs. Ripley was
an author of considerable distinction, and was a regnlar contributor to
many of the leading magazines and periodicals of her day. Perhaps her most
valuable production was "Ellen Campbell of Kings Mountain," a prize story
which was contested for by many of the well known writers of the South.
The description of the battle of Kings Mountain in this story is one of
the most graphic ever given of that famous engagement. It increased
enormously the circulation of the paper in which it was published. She was
the author of "Edith Egerton," "Avalona" and several other novelettes, as
also of many beautiful poems.(14) Mrs. Lila Ripley Barnwell, her daughter,
has been inseparably identified with the later development of
Hendersonville; she is well known in western North Carolina as a writer,
and a broadly public-spirited woman, as well as a friend to all who need a
friend-and this much.

CASHIERS VALLEY.(15) About 1818 a man named Millsaps settled in the upper
end of Cashiers Valley. Soon after that date James MeKinney came to the
valley and bought the lands then owned by Millsaps. A short time after,
John Zachary and sons, Jefferson, Mordecai, Alfred, Jonathan, Alexander,
came to the valley and settled in the lower thereof. All the Zacharys seem
to have been artizans. Alexander was a brick mason and also a brickmaker.
He evidently burned the first bricks in the south end of Jackson county.
Alfred was a hatter and made both fur and wool hats. It was customary in
those days to take coon - skins or lambs-wool to his "shop" to be made up
on shares. A good home-made wool or fur hat cost seventy-five cents.
Mordecai Zachary was a carpenter and built a fine house for those days.
The Zacharys built the first saw-mill in valley.

Cashiers Valley is a mountain plateau of the Blue Ridge 3,400 feet in
altitude, from four to five miles long, and a mile and a half wide.
Attracted by its climate, freedom from dampness, its utter isolation from
the populated haunts of man, the rugged character of its scenery and deer
and bear infested wildwoods, years since, wealthy planters of South
Carolina drifted in there with each recurring summer. Now a few homes of
these people are scattered along the highland roads. One residence, the
pleasant summer home of Gen. Wade Hampton, governor of South Carolina in
1876, the earliest settler from the Palmetto State, is situated, as
itappears from the road, in the gap between Chimney Top and Brown
mountain, through which, twenty miles away can be seen a range of purple
mountains. A grove of pines surrounds the house. Governor Hampton formerly
spent the summers here, engaged, among other pastimes, in fishing for
trout along the head streams of the Chatooga, which have been stocked with
this fish by the Hampton family, and in hunting deer. Chief Justice A. J.
Willard of Columbia, S. C., afterwards had a residence nearby.

WHITESIDE COVE.(15) The first settler in Whiteside Cove was Barak Norton.
He came from South Carolina and settled in the Cove about 1820. Barak
Norton and others took up State grant No. 307 on the 24th day of December,
1838. Barak Norton in his own name took up State grant No. 322 on the 27th
of December of the same year. His oldest daughter, Mira Norton, took up
grant No.320 on same date of same year. He lived to the advanced age of 99
or 100 and died at James Wright's, about three miles north of Highlands,
near Short Off, in 1868 or 1870. His wife, Mary Norton, nee Nicholson,
also lived to an advanced age of nearly 100 years. Barak Norton and his
wife Mary were strong adherents to the Universalist belief and died strong
in the faith.

HORSE COVE.(15) Soon after the settlement of Whiteside Cove and Cashiers
Valley, Horse Cove was settled by George and William Barnes, Mark Burrill
and Evan Talley. The Barnes families seem to have been the first to settle
there. Gold was discovered about 1840.

DULA SPRINGS. These springs were opened to the public about 1900, and are
the property of the Chambers family. There are several houses which afford
accommodations for from thirty to fifty people on most reasonable terms.
They are about two miles north of Weaverville, which is reached by an
electric line from Asheville.

HIGHLANDS, MACON COUNTY.(15) Early in 1875 S. T. Kelsey and C. C.
Hutchinson, of Kansas, bought 800 acres of J. W. Dobson, to which land
Kelsey moved his family in 1875. T. Baxter White of Marblehead, Mass.,
followed in April. In May Hutchinson and family came, and White became
postmaster, and for two years carried the mail in his coat pocket to Horse
Cove and back. About 1877 Dr. George Kibbee came from Oregon, and, having
been successful in treating yellow fever in Knoxville by using rubber beds
and cold water baths, he went to New Orleans in 1879 when yellow fever was
epidemic there. He contracted the disease there and died. Joseph Halleck
of Minnesota, a brother of Gen. W. H. Halleck of the Civil War, kept the
first hotel. In 1888-89 the Davis house was opened and was popular till
1909, when Miss Davis, who had kept it admirably, died. John Norton built
a store in 1879, and Charles O. Smith of Indiana bought the Folly Norton
farm and lived there till his death. Captain S. P. Ravenel of Charleston,
S. C., came in 1879 and built a beautiful residence on the crest of the
Blue Ridge, commanding a fine view, hauling all the lumber except that for
the frame, from Walhalla, S. C. By the aid of his family a Presbyterian
church was built and dedicated by the Rev. Dr. Miller of Charlotte, N. C.,
in September, 1885. It need not be said that this little community has had
excellent schools from the first. A debating society every Friday night
used to keep things lively and brought the community together. Mr. Kelsey
was a practical disciple of good roads, going out and building them
himself. Highlands is a fine town.

LINVILLE CITY. This beautiful little town was built and is owned largely
by the Linville Improvement Company, which in 1890 was composed
principally of S. T. Kelsey, S. P. Ravenel and Donald MacRae. They built
the Yonahlossee turnpike from this town to Blowing Rock, about twenty
miles distant, at a cost of about $18,000, less than $1,000 per mile. It
is the most beautiful and best constructed mountain road in the State.
But, at the time it was completed and the Linville River Railroad had
reached Pinola and Montezuma, less than two miles distant, there were such
serious dissensions among the directors of the company that a lawsuit
resulted. Until it had been settled it was impossible to give clear title
to any of the lots which had been largely advertised for sale. When the
trouble was finally adjusted the golden moment had passed.(16) But Blowing
Rock had benefited by the construction of the turnpike. There is a nice
little inn and a fine lake filled with trout at Linville City. It is
within the shadow of the Grandfather mountain and about 4,000 feet above
sea level.

BLOWING ROCK. In 1875 William Morris lived at Blowing Rock and took a few
summer boarders. The fame of his culinary art, or that of his wife, spread
and brought his place to the attention of the late Senator M. W. Ransom.
He bought and built a summer home there. Others followed. The Green Park
Hotel, the Watauga Hotel and other fine hostelries were built, and when
the Yonahlossee turnpike was completed Blowing Rock was quite popular.
There is no finer scenery anywhere, the water is pure and hotels and
private boarding houses numerous. The following have fine homes at this
charming place: Col. W. W. Stringfellow; Miss Esther Ransom, of Weldon;
Mr. E. H. Hughes of Charleston, S. C.; Prof. W. J. Martin, of Davidson
College; Rev. C. G. Vardell, of Red Springs; Mr. Moses H. Cone, Mr. A. W.
Washburn, of Charlotte; Mr. Elliott Dangerfield, of New York; Rev. J. S.
Vance, of Nashville, Tenn.; Mr. D. A. Tompkins, of Charlotte; Mr. E. H.
Williamson, of Fayetteville; Judge G. W. Gage, of Chester, S.C.; Mrs. W.
G. Randall, of Greensboro, N. C.; Rev. D. E. Snapp, of Baltimore, Md.; Mr.
J. Lamb Perry, of Charleston, S. C.; Mrs. W. G. Randall, and many others.

ROARING GAP HOTEL. Within the last few years Roaring Gap, on the crest of
the Blue Ridge and at the head of Roaring river, has become a popular
summer resort, with a large and well-arranged hotel, commanding fine
views. There are also a number of nice cottages. It is nearly 3,500 feet
above sea level.

THOMPSON'S BROMINE ARSENIC SPRINGS. Nine miles from Jefferson is a mineral
spring, hotel and outbuildings, situated 3,000 feet above sea level, that
is almost a specific for eczema, all forms of skin troubles and all kidney
and bladder affections. It can be reached from Troutdale, Va., (leaving
Norfolk & Western train at Marion, Va., for Troutdale) or from Wilkesboro,
N. C., on Southern Railway, from which it is distant forty miles. It opens
May 15. H. M. Wiley is the proprietor and the postoffice is Crumpler, Ashe
county, N.C.

MOSES H. CONE. He was born at Jonesborough, Tenn., June 27, 1857, and died
at Baltimore, Md., December 8, 1908. In September, 1897, he began the
acquisition of the 3,500 acres of land which make up what is now Flat Top
Manor.(17) He died childless and intestate; but his widow, Mrs. Bertha
Lindau Cone, and his brothers, and sisters, Ceasar Cone and wife,
Jeannette Cone, L. N. Cone, Julius W. Cone, Bernard M. Cone and wife of
Guilford county; Frederick W. Cone, Moses D. Long and his wife, Carrie
Cone Long, of Buncombe; Sydney M. Cone and wife, and C. and E. Cone of
Baltimore, Md., in May, 1911, in recognition of "the deep love and lasting
affection" for the people of Watauga of Moses H. Cone, conveyed to the
Cone Memorial Hospital, a corporation of Guilford county, the whole of the
Flat Top Manor and three smaller tracts which had been acquired by Mrs.
Cone since her husband's death-the entire propety, aggregating 3,517 acres-
to be called the "Moses H. Cone Memorial Park," to be used as "a park and
pleasure ground for the pubic in perpetuity," in order "to make an
everlasting memorial" to the said Moses H. Cone. A life estatein this
property is, however, reserved to Mrs. Cone, and a plat of ground 400 feet
square in which Moses H. Cone is buried.(18) There are scores of poor
people in Watauga county who will never forget the goodness of Moses H.
Cone.

THE LINDSAY PATTERSON FARMS. This gentleman, with his Revolutionary War
ancestry, and his estimable wife, not content with trying to preserve the
history of this section has purchased two fine farms in Watauga, one on
Meat Camp creek, five miles north of Boone, containing 350 acres, and the
other, eight miles further north, containing 2,000 acres, and lying in
Watauga and Ashe counties. This latter is called the Bald Mountain farm,
because the mountain on which it lies is largely bare of forests. Grain,
hay, potatoes, and vegetables are produced in abundance on the Meat Camp
farm; while horses, mules, cattle, ponies, sheep, hogs, turkeys, geese,
ducks and chickens, flourish and grow fat on the other.

ASHEVILLE SULPHUR SPRINGS. On the last day of February 1827, Robert Henry
and his slave Sam discovered this spring five miles west of Asheville, and
about the year 1830 his son-in-law, Col. Reuben Deaver, built a wooden
hotel on the hill above and began taking summer boarders. Such was the
patronage that an addition had to be made to the hotel every year. As many
as five hundred are said to have been there at one time, and the
neighborhood was ransacked for beds, bedding, chairs, and provisions. Most
of the visitors came from South Carolina, among whom were the Pinckneys,
Elmores, Butlers, Pickenses, Prestons, Alstons, Kerrisons, and others. Mr.
John Keitt was the first person buried on Sulphur Springs hill, August 27,
1836.(19) The fact that the Pinckneys were almost constant visitors
accounts for the prevalence of the given name Pink in the neighborhood of
Asheville. The Aistons reserved the corner rooms on the second floor from
May till frost every season. Besides the hotel, an L-shaped building,
there were cabins on the grounds. There were bowling alleys, billiard
tables, shuffle-boards and other games. A large ball-room and a string
band, composed of free negroes from Charleston and Columbia, provided the
music for dancing. One of these negroes was named Randall, who had been
presented with a purse of $5,000 by the white peop1e of South Carolina for
having given information about a contemplated negro insurrection at
Charleston;(20) and another of these musicians was named Lapitude, who
owned a tation near Charleston and forty slaves. He was a man of some
education, and the manner of a Chesterfield.(21) From its opening till
1860 there were more summer visitors at Deaver's Springs than in
Asheville. Col. James M. Ray gives us this picture of Asheville sixty
years ago: "Well, what of Asheville in these long past years? It was about
like Leicester or Marshall-a very small village on the 'turnpike,' midway
between the two Greenvilles. The two 'hotels', Eagle and Buck, even many
years later, not doing near the business of many of the country inns or
stock stands on the Warm Springs road. For anyone to stop at either of
these two hotels longer than for dinner or for the night was not thought
of; though a few summer visitors would sometimes make a short stop in
passing through to Deaver's Springs or to Warm Springs, Wade Hampton and
others with fast teams driving from Asheville to Warm Springs for
dinner."(22) The old hotel was burned in December, 1862, was rebuilt by E.
G. Carrier-of brick this time-in 1887, and known, first as Carrier's
Springs and then as The Belmont. It was again burned in September, 1891,
while under the management of Dr. Carl Von Ruck. From 1889 till 1894 an
electric railway ran from Asheville to the spring, but it was abandoned.

CLOUDLAND HOTEL. In 1878 Gen. J. H. Wilder of Knoxville built a hotel on
the top of the Roan mountain and opened it for guests, having previously
constructed a wagon road from Roan Mountain Station on what is now the
East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad. Later he built a much
larger hotel, which met a public want admirably, as it afforded sufferers
from hay-fever immediate relief. It is built across the State line between
Tennessee and North Carolina, and guests frequently sleep with one part of
their bodies iri one state and the rest in the other. It was very popular
till a few years ago, when it was closed, but will soon be reopened.

EAGLE'S NEST, near Waynesville, has divided this patronage with the
Cloudland since 1900. In the year 1900 Mr. S. C. Satterthwait of
Waynesville built a hotel on top of the highest of the Balsams, calling
the range the Junaluskas. It is five miles from Waynesville and is reached
by a good wagon road. It is 5,050 feet above sea-level, and is one of the
hay-fever resorts in this section, Cloudland hotel on the Roan, 6,000
feet, being the only other. Tents supplement the rooming accommodations
when desired. Accommodations for about 100 guests. The magnificent Plott
Balsam mountain is in full view.

BALSAM INN. Soon after the completion of the railroad to Balsam gap, seven
miles west of Waynesville, Christie Brothers of Athens, Ga., opened a
railroad eating house at that point, and furnished venison, wild turkey
and mountain trout and the best cuisine in the State. They had only rough
and small houses, and did not seek any patronage except from railroad
passengers. But about 1905 a large and commodious hotel was erected there,
with accommodations for many guests. Baths, acetylene lights, music and
other attractions keep the hotel filled during the summer season.

OUR FIRST LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT. Our first settlers sought house sites near
springs, caring little for views or being viewed. Knolls and commanding
eminences were too far from water, as a rule, and required a climb up-hill
to reach. In 1821 the late Dr. J. F. E. Hardy came to Asheville from
Newberry District, S. C., where he had been born in 1802. His first
residence was on the southwest corner of Eagle and South Main streets, at
one time the finest residence in Asheville, where he resided for fifteen
years after his marriage to Miss Jane Patton in 1824. In 1840 he married
Miss Erwin of Morganton, and soon afterwards moved to Swannanoa Hill at
the corner of Biltmore road or South Main street and the Swannanoa river.
This is on a hill, and the roads and approaches, lined with white pines,
cedars and other trees and shrubbery, still make this one of the prettiest
places in this section. But when he first improved it, it was far in
advance of anything theretofore seen in these parts. It commands a fine
view. Here he lived till 1860, when he bought Belleview on the eastern
side of South Main street, another commanding hill with a splendid view.
The winding roadway, bordered by pines and cedars, which led from the road
to the house, is still intact except at the lower end, where the former
road, now street, has been dug down far below its former level, leaving
the entrance to the approach road high in the air. Mrs. Bucannon now owns
this property. Soon after the Civil War Dr. Hardy built the brick house on
the west side of the Hendersonville road beyond Biltmore, which commanded
another fine view. Here he died at the age of eighty. He was one of the
most eminent physicians of his day. He was of commanding presence, with
the manner of a lord. At his home was dispensed much of the hospitality
for which this section was noted, distinguished strangers finding there
entertainment and intelligence at least equal to that of larger places.
His son, Dr. J. Geddings Hardy, succeeded to his practice, and no call
ever went unanswered by him.

BILTMORE. Soon after the opening of the Battery Park Hotel Mr. George W.
Vanderbilt of New York visited Asheville and was at once struck with its
possibilities. He tried at first to secure Fernihurst, owned by Mrs. J. K.
Connally, but failing, turned his attention to the land south of the
Swannanoa and east of the French Broad. Charles McNamee, Esq., a lawyer of
New York, and a kinsman, first took options and deeds in his own name; but
it soon became noised about that he was buying for Mr. Vanderbilt and
prices began to soar. The first deed recorded is from J. G. Martin,
trustee and commissioner, to the Williams property, and is dated
September, 1889, followed by many others till the 16th of June, 1890, when
Henry Allen White conveyed 134 acres directly to Mr. Vanderbilt, after
which there was no attempt to disguise the fact that this gentleman
"having all the world before him where to choose," had chosen Buncombe as
the site of his future home. The influence of this choice on the outside
world was immense. These purchases of small tracts have resulted in the
accumulation of about 12,500 acres in what is called Biltmore House tract,
and about 100,000 acres in Buncombe, Transylvania and Henderson counties
in what is known as Pisgah Forest. The services of Frederick Law Olmstead,
the distinguished landscape architect of New York, were secured, and he
planned the roads, bridges, forests, lakes, waterfalls, etc., on the
Biltmore House tract. Those roads are unsurpassed by even the drives in
Central Park, New being kept in perfect condition at all times. Biltmore
was begun in 1891 and completed in 1896. This house modeled after Chateau
Blois, France; and the Rampe Douce or gentle slope, immediately in front
of the house but beyond the lawn known as the Esplanade, is a close
imitation of a like construction at Vaux le Vicomte, France. The garden to
the right of the front of the house and on a lower level than the
esplanade is called the "walled garden," and the stone images or sphinxes
on the four gate posts at the entrances were brought from Egypt, and are
the busts of women on the bodies of lions couchant. They are said to be of
great age. Fine tapestries, paintings, statuary and other objects of art,
with a large library of rare books, have been gathered into the house.
Fountains, conservatories, dairies, vegetable gardens, model farms, and
other attractions add to the beauty and charm of the place, probably the
finest private residence in America. Birds and wild animals are protected
on this estate, and on the lakes wild ducks are seen in winter when they
cannot be found on the rivers nearby. Pisgah Forest was bought for its
forests, and Hon. Gifford Pinchot was placed in charge as forester.

PISGAH FOREST. Mr. Vanderbilt was the first to see paramount necessity for
forest conservation. Pisgah Forst prospered under the expert guidance of
Mr. Pinchot he was succeeded by Mr, Schenck, who for years conducted a
school of forestry. Biltmore village, at the end of South Main street of
Asheville, is planned after English villages, with the ivied church, the
hedges and the village green." But it is not probable that any English
village is as spick and span as Biltmore is every day, where streets,
lawns, hedges, sidewalks, drains and shrubbery are constantly on dress
parade-an object lesson in municipal government without politics.

The National Park Commission and Mr. Vanderbilt could not agree on a price
for Pisgah Forest in June, 1913, but after Mr. Vanderbilt's death, March
5, 1914, his widow sold the entire tract.

THE BEAUTIFUL SAPPHIRE COUNTRY. The completion of the railroad to Lake
Toxaway in 1900 led to the following developments, and were due largely to
the energy and enterprise of Mr. J. F. Hays: The Toxaway property as a
whole was made up of property purchased from the receivers of the Sapphire
Valley Company, and other smaller properties. The Fairfield Inn, on Lake
Fairfield, was built, together with the dam for the lake, in 1896. The
Franklin Hotel at Brevard, which was a part of this same operation, was
built in the year of 1900. Later the Franklin was sold to a Mr. Robinson
and associates, of Charlotte, N. C., and they are at present owners of
that property. The Toxaway property was sold in 1911 under foreclosure,
and is now held as the property of Mr. E. H. Jennings of Pittsburgh, Pa.
Toxaway Inn, as well as Fairfield Inn, and The Franklin, had their
greatest success in the years 1904-1907.

WAYNESVILLE WHITE SULPHUR SPRING. This spring was discovered by "Uncle"
Jerry, a slave of the late James R. Love, in 1845 or 1846. Col. Love soon
after built a large residence there, which he occupied till his death in
1864. It was burned in August, 1885. Col. W. W. Stringfield, who had
married his daughter Maria, built a brick hotel on the site of this
residence after it had been burned, about 1886.(23) It is now owned by Ben
Johnston Sloan. It is less than one mile from Waynesville.

EPP'S SPRING. This was the property of the late Epp Everett of Bryson
City, and is about five miles from that town on the right bank of the
Tuckaseegee river, at the mouth of Cane Brake branch. It is a chalybeate
spring, and there are one or two cabins there.

OLD VALLEY TOWN TAVERN. This famous hostelry was kept by the late Mrs.
Margaret Walker for a number of years after the Civil War, and was popular
with lawyers and their clients. Although there was no court house there,
the lawyers would hurry through Graham, Cherokee and Clay county courts in
order to get to spend as much time at this hotel as possible.

THE LANGREN HOTEL. This fine structure of reinforced concrete was finished
and thrown open July 4, 1912. It is near the Pack Square, Asheville, and
stands on the much litigated Smith property on the corner of North Main
and College streets, where formerly stood the old Buck hotel. It is a
commercial and tourist hotel, and popular.

KENILWORTH INN. This handsome hotel was opened about 1890. It stood on the
eminence above the junction of South Main street and the Swannanoa river
road, and from it Craggy and the Blacks were visible. It was popular until
its destruction by fire at 3 a. m., April 14th, 1909, J. M. Gazzam of
Philadelphia, chief owner, escaping at the risk of his life and the
expense of great injuries from which he afterwards recovered. It was
insured for $70,000.

OAKLAND HEIGHTS. This hotel was built by the late Alexander Garrett and
his son, Robert U. Garrett, in 1889. It afterwards became a girls' school,
an4 then a hotel, having passed into the hands of the Presbyterian Board
of Home Missions. It then became Victoria Inn, and during 1911 was
purchased by the Catholic Church and is now St. Genevieve's College, a
most excellent school for girls.

THE GRAND CENTRAL HOTEL. This was built by the late S. H. Chedester. It
was afterwards operated as the Hotel Berkeley, but in 1911 was converted
into a department store by Solomon Lipiusky.

MARGO TERRACE. This home-like hotel was built by Miss Gano in 1889. In
1904 it became the property of Pat Branch who in 1912 doubled its capacity
and greatly improved its outward appearance.

VANCE'S MONUMENT. This handsome granite column was erected on the Public
Square at Asheville in 1897, George W. Pack, after whom the Square was
soon named, having contributed $2,000-and the public, $1,300-for its
erection to the memory of Zebulon Baird Vance, Buncombe's most
distinguished and honored citizen and great "War Governor."

GEORGE W. PACK MEMORIAL LIBRARY. This was established in 1879, and had
many homes before the late George W. Pack donated the fine building on
Pack Square in 1899.

BATTERY PARK HOTEL. Having a railroad did not by any means Complete
Asheville's happiness; for it had no hotel accommodations at all
commensurate with the tide of travel which immediately set in. At this
juncture came the late Col. Frank Coxe, who built the present Battery Park
Hotel. It was opened July 12, 1886, with Col. C. H. Southwick manager. It
has remained the principal hotel of Asheville ever since. It has been
twice enlarged and frequently improved. For several years it was managed
by the late E. P. McKissick. It is a credit to this community, and has
become an indispensable asset.

THE TELEGRAPH LINE. The first telegraph line reached Asheville July 28,
1877, with Samuel C. Weldon as operator. Through the efforts of the late
Capt. C. M. McLoud, the line was soon afterwards extended to
Hendersonville. Then Mr. Weldon became the owner and operator thereof till
the railroad company took it off his hands.

OTHER ENTERPRISES. The Asheville Cemetery Company was incorporated August
4, 1885; the Telephone Company October 1, 1885; the Western North Carolina
Fair, January30, 1884; the Gas and Light Company, May 25, 1886. In 1887
Alex. and R. U. Garrett built the Oakland Heights Hotel. The Swannannoa
Hotel was completed in 1879 and opened for business in summer of 1880.

ASHEVILLE STHEET RAILWAY. This most necessary common carrier was built by
Dr. S. Westray Battle, James G. Martin, W. T. Penniman, and E. D.
Davidson, the latter of New York, and began to run in January, 1889. It
failed in 1893 and was sold out in 1894, and bid in by White Brothers of
New York. It finally went into the Asheville Electric Company's
properties, and is now part of the Asheville Power and Light Company.

"THE DRUMMEE'S HOME." This hotel at Murphy, presided over by Mrs. Dickey
for years, has made a name for itself that will endure. It was for years
the most popular house west of Asheville.

WEST ASHEVILLE. In 1885 Mr. Edwin G. Carrier and family moved to Ashe