History of Western North Carolina - Chapters 22-24



CHAPTER XXII.
FLORA AND FAUNA

PRIMEVAL CONDITIONS. Exactly what the forests were like in the days of the
earliest settlers and what were the kinds and habits of its wild denizens
can be known only by the accounts that have come down from our ancestors.
Whether the country was more open than now or whether the wild animals
were tamer than we now find them, are matters that cannot be absolutely
determined by any mathematical process. Some claim that the Indians kept
the undergrowth thinned out by annually setting the fallen leaves afire in
order that they might see the game the better, while others suppose that
there were thickets and saplings beneath the giant forest trees as there
are at this time. Following are some thoughts upon this question:

"It is also doubtless true that 150 or 200 years ago the forests were not
nearly so well grown up as at present, and that would in a measure account
for the presence of such animals as the moose or even elk. Old hunters
have told me that when they could first recollect there was scarcely any
laurel, with only now and then a small bunch, and that the woods were open
and no underbrush at all; that they could see through the forest ever so
far, and that the growth of the hemlock was nothing like it is at present.
Now and then a giant monarch of the forest and all around for a
considerable distance would be small hemlocks. At the writer's own home at
Banners Elk, I had occasion a year or 50 ago to make a practical
demonstration of that fact. There was evidence of one of those giant
hemlocks that had fallen down perhaps a hundred years ago. It was all
decayed but the knots, of which I piled up more than 125. The tree itself
must have been 120 feet high when standing around, the hemlocks grew thick
from two to two and one-half feet in diameter. That the forests have
become more thicketty in the last thirty years is the observation of every
thoughtful man."(1)

A MYSTERIOUS FLORAL SISTERHOOD. In the "Carolina Mountains" (ch. VI) we
are told that in the Himalayas and the mountains of the Far East are found
the flame-colored azalea, the silver--bell tree, the fringe bush, the
wisteria, and ginseng, which are found nowhere else except in our own
Appalachians. What bond, the author asks, tore these tender flowers
asunder, separating them by continents and vast seas? We are also told
that the Rhododendron Vaseyii, which, unlike the other rhododendrons,
sheds its leaves in the fall, was supposed to have become extinct (p.59)
but that it is still found on the north side of the Grandfather mountain.
We learn also that Shortia was named for Prof. Short of Kentucky, and was
rediscovered on the Horse Shoe Pasture river a few miles south of Lake
Toxaway, "literally coloring acres of the earth with its charming flowers"
(p.275).

BOTANY AND BOTANISTS. The abundance, variety and beauty of the wild
flowers, bushes and shrubs attracted the attention of botanists at an
early date. William Bertram of Philadelphia was in the Cherokee country in
1776.(2) Andrew Michaux was sent to this country by the French government
to collect seeds, shrubs and trees for the royal gardens in 1785, and, on
the 30th of August, 1794, reached the summit of the Grandfather, "the
highest in all North America," he declared; "and with my companion and
guide sang the hymn of the Marseillaise."(3) The following year Michaux
explored the mountains of Burke and Yancey, carrying away in the fall 2,
500 specimens of trees, shrubs and plants. In 1794 he visited the
Linville, Black, Yellow, Roan, Grandfather and Table mountains. The late
Col. Davenport of Yadkin Valley was his guide. His "Flora Boreali-
Americana" is yet a classic. Mr. Fraser, a Scotchman, made botanical
collections in these mountains in 1787 and 1789; and, under the patronage
of the Russian government, he explored them again in 1799, accompanied by
his eldest son, when he found the laurel or Rhododendron Catawbiense. They
came again in 1807, and in 1811 the son returned, spending several years,
and annually sending large consignments of plants and seed to Great
Britain. F. A. Michaux, son of Andre, was here in 1802, and published his
"Forest Trees of North America" in 1857. Thomas Nuttall, an Englishman,
examined a portion of our mountains, and wrote "Genera of North American
Plants." He died in 1859. Prof. Asa Gray of the University of Cambridge
and John Carey of New York were in the mountains of Ashe and Yancey in
1841; and in 1843 Prof. Gray, with Mr. Sullivan of Ohio, came into our
mountains from Virginia. S. B. Buckley came by the Hiwassee in 1842, and
in the same year Mr. Rugel, a German collector, was here. In 1844 Mr. Dow,
a young botanist, traversed the entire length of our mountain range. In
1840 Prof. Gray found the Lilium Canadense, but Dr. Sereno Watson
discovered that it possessed traits peculiar to itself alone, "set it
aside as a distinct species and honored it with its discoverer's name." In
1839 Dr. Gray observed in Paris an unnamed specimen brought there by the
elder Michaux from "les hautes montagnes de Carolinie"; but on his return
failed to find it till in 1877 G.M. Hymes, then a boy, accidentally
discovered it on the bank of the Catawba near Marion. Dr. Gray had already
named it Shortia in honor of Dr. C. W. Short. In September, 1886,
Professor Sargent discovered that the Hogback mountain above Lake Toxaway
is the original habitat of the Shortia, just 98 years after Michaux had
first found it and probably near the same spot.

PIONEERS IN FORESTRY. Before the railroad got to Asheville, and
afterwards, shrewd men went through these mountains buying standing timber
and paying for it with a song, if with that. Thousands of the finest black
walnut trees were branded as the property of the purchasers and left to
grow on the land of the seller. Later on the finest poplars and cherries
were also purchased and left to grow, while the railroads were ever
drawing nearer. The walnut trees were first cut and their trunks hauled
for miles to the head of the railroad. Later still the poplars and
cherries followed. Then followed a demand for the stumps of the walnuts,
and these also found a ready market, and brought more than the trees which
had been cut from them, for by this time we had grown in knowledge and
knew somewhat of the value of our timber. We had not known it before the
Civil War, having used black walnut and cherry and poplar rails for the
building of fences.

SCOTTISH LAND AND TIMBER COMPANY. In the eighties this company, managed by
Alexander A. Arthur from Scotland, bought up ten square miles of the
finest timber on Big Pigeon, between Cataloochee and Big creeks, and tried
to float the logs down the Pigeon; but it was soon discovered that it did
not pay at that time. Later on the Bushnells of Ohio, one of whom was
afterward governor of Ohio, came and set up extensive mills at the
junction of Little Tennessee and Tuckaseegee rivers, where they
established booms; but the first flood swept booms and logs away. The
place was called Bushnell and still retains the name. The Ritters,
Whitings and others have followed.

MILLS TO THE TIMBER. During this time many small concerns were taking
small steam engines to the timber and cutting it near where it stood. Even
this did not pay in many cases, and it became a saying that if you had a
grudge against a man, just give him a steam saw-mill and his ruin would
soon follow. The business has since thriven in some cases and proven
disastrous in others.

WEALTH IN FORESTS. It is in her forests, however, especially of late
years, that this section has found its greatest wealth. There are at least
a dozen well recognized species of oak, while most of the hardwoods and
the coniferous and deciduous growths common to this latitude can be found
in great abundance. Already saw mills, pulp mills, acid mills, and other
mills for the utilization of these forests have been established and
thousands of men are employed where only a few found employment before.
The railroads are taxed to supply cars in which to haul the products of
the forest to market. With the adoption of intelligent forestry; methods
promised by the United States Government, which is now acquiring many of
these forested areas, the future seems to hold out the hope that these
forests will continue to be a source of revenue for all time to come.

FOREST FIRES. From the report of J. S. Holmes (State Forester) of 1911, it
appears that the forest fires in the various mountain counties in 1910
have wrought considerable damage; table four of that report giving the
facts in detail. From the same paper can be gathered the steps that have
been taken to prevent these fires, including the State and National
legislation on the subject. In 1909 the legislature of this State passed a
law to declare any wooded land above 2,000 feet elevation a "State
Forest," and the appointment of wardens as the owner of the land may
request; but advantage has not been generally taken of its provisions,
because it requires the owner to pay one-half a cent an acre additional
tax for the benefit of the school fund, while he had also to pay the
wardens for their services.

FROM ADVANCE SHEET OF FOREST SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES, 1912. Estimated
amount of standing timber in thousand feet board ineasure, trees 10 inches
and over in diameter breast high, in western North Carolina, by counties:
[table omitted]

EASTERN FOREST RESERVES. In 1900 Dr. C. P. Ambler, George S. Powell, Hon.
Locke Craig and Hon. Josephus Daniels inaugurated the Appalachian National
Park movement at Asheville, which culminated in March, 1910, in the
passage by Congress of the Weeks act, under which $10,000,000 were
appropriated for the purchase of wild lands in the mountains at the heads
of the navigable rivers of the eastern States. But as only $2,000,000
could be expended in any year, and as the act could not be put into force
between March and June 30, 1910, the expiration of the fiscal year, only
$8,000,000 were available. The operation of this act expires in 1915. At
the expiration of 1913 the following purchases had been made:

As indicative of the rapid advance in the price of timberland in the
mountains, the Murchison boundary in Yancey county may be cited. It was
sold at Sheriff's sale about 1879 to the Murchisons for $2,200, who held
it intact as a timber and game preserve until December, 1909, when they
sold it for $225,000 to Carr and Keys, These held it about a year and sold
it to _____ Brown for $300,000. The late R. B. Johnston, who owned 5,000
acres on Cat Tail creek, adjoining the Murchison tract, vainly offered it
to Big Tom Wilson for $750 in 1879 as a goat farm. In January, 1911,
Johnston's heirs sold the timber on this tract to the Carolina Spruce
Company for $110,000. In October, 1912, G. W. Vanderbilt sold to Lewis
Carr of Virginia, the timber, wood and bark, standing and down, on 69,326
acres of mountain land in Transylvania, Henderson and Buncombe counties
for $12 per acre, payable in installments in twenty years. He had bought
this land twenty years before for less than $3 per acre. (Deed Book,
Buncombe, No.161, p.518)

ELK AND BUFFALO. The native fauna, alas has largely dis appeared. But when
Daniel Boone and his contemporaries first crossed the Blue Ridge they
found black bear and red deer in the greatest numbers; while, in the
neighborhood of Banner Elk have, even in recent years, been discovered the
bones of elk and caribou. Elk mountain and Bull Gap in Buncombe county
take their names from the elk. There is reason to believe that buffalo
used to pasture along the lonely streams of this elevated plateau, while
smaller game, such as the opossum, the raccoon, mink and otter, have not
entirely disappeared to this day. The beaver, however, has long been
extinct, leaving its name to innumerable streams. (See ante pp.42, 65,
251, 252 and 253)

DOGS FOR FOOD? In that storehouse of information concerning this section
of country, the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American
Ethnology,(4) page 26 it appears that when DeSoto arrived at Guaxule,
which the author, James Moody, identifies as "the great Nacooches mount,
in White county, Ga., a few miles northwest of the present Clarksville,"
and near Franklin, N. C., the Cherokees "gave the Spaniards 300 dogs for
food, although, according to the Elvas narrative, the Indians themselves
did not eat them." In a foot note it is stated that "Elvas, Biedma, and
Ranjel all make special reference to the dogs given them at this place;
they seem to have been of the same small breed ('perrillos') which Ranjel
says the Indians used for food." Mention is also made of the "delicious
service berry of the southern mountains."(6)

FIRST BUFFALOES. From the same work, page 26, it is learned that when
DeSoto was resting at Chiha, near the present Columbus, Ga., he met with
"a chief who confirmed what the Spaniards had heard before concerning
mines in the province of Chisca," saying that there was a melting of
copper and of another metal of about the same color, but softer, and
therefore not so much used," and that DeSoto sent two soldiers on foot
with the Indian guides to find Chisca, I which was "northward from Chiaha,
somewhere in upper Georgia or the adjacent part of Alabama or Tennessee."
When these soldiers returned to DeSoto they reported that they had been
taken "through a country so poor in corn, so rough, and over so high
mountains that it would be impossible for the army to follow"; but they
had "brought back with them a dressed buffalo skin which the Indians there
had given them, the first ever obtained by white men, and described in the
quaint old chronicle as "an ox hide as thin as a calf's skin, and the hair
like a soft wool between the coarse and fine wool of sheep." This must
have been in the mountains of North Carolina.

FRUIT CULTURE. As to the adaptability of the soil and climate of the
mountains to fruit culture, the State Agricultural Department has this to
say in a pamphlet entitled "Orchard Lands," and dated at Raleigh, N. C.,
October 7, 1910:

"The Appalachian mountain region attains in North Carolina its maximum
development, for here it reaches the greatest height east of the Rockies.
This gives it a cool climate, like that of the northern states and Canada.
In addition to its altitude, it has, on accotnt of its southern latitude,
a longer growing season and a more abundant and brighter sunlight. This
makes it ideal for the commercial production of hardy fruits. The apples
grown in this region are of very high color and of fine quality. The
rainfall is heavy in summer, giving a rapid growth and making fruit of
large size. Tbe full weather is dry, cool, and bright, thus giving the
most favorable conditions for fruit harvesting and marketing. The soils of
the mountains are rich and fertile and produce a good growth both of tree
and fruit. Healthy old trees are growing in many parts which have been
bearing heavily for upwards of a century. In the deep, rich, ulluvial soil
of mountain coves the ramous Albemarle Pippin finds the soil that brings
it to its greatest perfection. On the mountainsides, in many places, are
found the thermal zones that are so rarely visited by frost that total
failures of fruit are practically unknown. It is destined to be the most
noted apple growing section in the whole country. Apples from the mountain
country have twice carried off the first prize at the Madison Square
Garden in New York City in competition with the whole United States.
Peaches attain a color and quality there which they do not reach in the
lower country. They grow as handsome as the California peaches, and as to
quality the California product is hardly to be named in comparison with
them."

LIVE STOCK. Of the raising of live stock, the same excellent authority, in
a pamphlet entitled "North Carolina: A Land of Opportunity In Fruit
Growing, Farming and Trucking," has this to say, in a chapter called
"Climates" (p.36):

"It is a region of fertile valleys and elevated plateaus, with a climate
very similar to that of the northern middle states. The summers are cool
and pleasant and the whole region is an attractive one to the summer
visitor and is becoming a great summer resort. The winters are cold, but
shorter than those of the middle states north. In most mountain regions
the mountainsides are rocky and sterile, but in the mountains of North
Carolina, as a rule, the mountain slopes are covered with fertile soil and
in some parts of the mountain country the treeless 'balds' have thefr
slopes to their lofty tops covered with fertile soil and rich greases, on
which great herds of cattle are grazed in summer. The valleys in the
southern section of the mountain country are less elevated and the climate
is mild and pleasant, while the snowfall is very light. The clear streams
of water that flow everywhere and the natural growth of fine grasses mark
this region for cattle and the dairy, while on the uplands fruit of all
kinds flourishes as it seldom does elsewhere."

GRAINS RICH IN PROTEIDS. Agriculturally the soil of this section is
hospitable to the growth of all the fruits, vegetables and cereals of the
temperate zone.(7) Some of the lands are too high and cold for maize or
Indian corn, but rye and buckwheat can be grown there in great abundance.
The soil is generally too thin to produce a large yield of corn or wheat
to the acre, but the corn grown, being small and hard and maturing
quickly, is richer in the proteids and all nutritive qualities than the
larger and softer kernels which grow in such abundance from the black soil
of the prairie states in the corn belt proper. It more than makes up in
quality what it lacks in abundance. Corn grown on Tuskeegee creek in Swain
county, in 1893, by John M. Sawyer, took the prize at the Columbian
Exposition for being richer in the proteids than any other corn grown in
the United States. Col. W. L. Bryan of Boone was awarded a diploma and
bronze medal by the same exposition for buckwheat grown in Watauga county
in 1893.

THE HOME OF THE APPLE. But, while most fruits and melons thrive in this
soil, it is the apple which does best and brings most credit and notoriety
to this section. Apples from this country took the prize at the
Philadelphia Centennial in 1876 over all apples grown in America, while
prizes have been awarded to this fruit at the Chicago and St. Louis
fairs.(8) It is a crop that rarely fails. There is a black soil in
different localities of this section peculiarly adapted to the growth of
apples, but they do well in any soil and require very little attention.
The United States Geological Survey publishes maps showing the different
variety of soils in the mountain region of North Carolina.

GRASSES AND STOCK. In the counties of Ashe, Alleghany, and Watauga grasses
flourish so abundantly that little corn is planted, as it pays better to
raise stock on the rich grass and hay and to buy such corn as is needed
for work stock and human consumption than to plough up the grass and raise
this cereal. In all the mountain region in these counties the land is not
so steep but that it can be broken up and planted in grass, the result
being that, with the exception of a fringe of trees upon the crest of the
ridges, almost the entire country is given up to grass. Very little timber
is left hereabout. On all the mountains, after the timber has been removed
and the surface ground exposed to sunlight, grasses grow abundantly.

STOCK "RANGING." In other counties, where grass does not thrive so well,
owing to the shade of the thick timber, and where the land is too steep to
plough, cattle, mules, horses and hogs are "ranged" in the mountains from
May until November and are then driven in, fat and sleek.

BEAR, DEER AND TURKEY. While, as has been said, most of the big game has
been killed, there are still a few black bear left in the more remote and
inaccessible mountains, in the pursuit of which much sport can be had.
There are also a few red deer scattered here and there, and a few tame
herds maintained in private parks. Gray squirrels, pheasants, quail, wild
turkey, the red and gray fox and an occasional wolf can still be found in
the more remote sections.

MOUNTAIN AND RAINBOW TROUT. The introduction of the California or Rainbow
trout into the clear and cold mountain creeks and rivers, and black basts
in the larger streams, has proven a great success; and, while the mountain
or speckled trout proper are being consumed by their rainbow brothers, the
latter still afford great sport for the anglers who visit these mountains
every spring and summer in increasing numbers. But for the reprehensible
and unlawful practice of dynamiting the bass streams by irresponsible
people, this gamest of all game fish would soon multiply so rapidly as to
afford sport for all who might care to take them. There are no finer
streams anywhere for bass than the Cheowah, Tennessee, Tuckaseegee, lower
Nantahala, upper French Broad, Hiwassee, Nollechucky or Toe, Watauga and
New rivers.

WHERE AND WHEN IT WAS TOO COLD TO RAISE CORN. From Col. W. L. Bryan's
"Primitive History of the Mountain Region," we learn that when Ashe and
Watauga were first settled "the seasons would not mature corn and the
pioneer settlers had to get their corn from the valley of the Yadkin
river, carrying the same on their backs, for few had horses at that
time.... There being no roads save the trails which had been made by the
Indians and the great pioneer, Boone, those who had horses would place two
and a half bushels of corn in a strong homespun and woven tow sack, throw
it on their horse's back and fasten it by the use of a surcingle, turn the
horse in the path and walk behind."

PEA VINE. From the same authority we learn that "in the earlier days of
our country there was a growth called pea-vine, which was a very rich food
for stock, and had an almost limitless range throughout the entire almost
boundless forest."

SOME FAMOUS HUNTERS OF THE OLDEN DAY. "Near the headwaters of the Watauga
is the Linville gap separating the Grandfather from Hangihg Rock mountain
and the waters of the Main fork of Watauga from the head prong of the
Linville river. Near this gap used to live James Aldrich, a noted hunter,
when bear, deer, elk, wolves and panther abounded. Harrison Aldrich,
James' son, also lived there, and was a great hunter, having killed over
one hundred bear." An encounter between Aldrich and a bear in a cave,
while George Dugger, "another pioneer hunter and one of the very best of
men," waited on the outside, is related by Col. Bryan; and another in
which Aldrich shot a sleeping bear in a cave, striking him in the burr of
the ear and killing "him so dead be never waked up." Of like courage and
skill was Big Tom Wilson of Yancey, and Welborn Waters of Whitetop. Near
the branch where James Winkler now lives, near Boone, and when Jordan
Councill, Jr., was living there, a dog treed an unknown animal. Thinking
it was a coon Jordan Councill went up the tree and followed the unknown
"varmint" out on a limb. When it dragged its tail in Mr. Councill's face
he knew it was a panther. He hastened down, got a torch, "shined" the eyes
of the great cat and shot it.

FIRE-HUNTING. According to Col. Bryan, this sport was conducted by hunters
during a certain season when the stones in creeks and rivers are covered
with a peculiar moss of which deer and elk are very fond. The hunter would
take a canoe or other small boat, place a torch in the front end and
himself remain in the stern. The boat was poled or paddled by another. The
boat would be silently floated up to deer standing belly-deep in the water
and plunging their muzzles into the river to get the moss upon the rocks.
Blinded by the light the deer would stand still till their eyes reflecting
the light of the torch afforded a perfect target. Then the leaden missile
would speed upon its fatal way. Cows also like this moss, and sometimes
hunters would kill their own stock.

RAVENS. The ravens which fed Elijah the Tishbite by the brook Cherith (1
Kings, xvii, 6) did not thereby secure veneration for their descendants of
our mountains after their settlement by the whites; for, when spring
opened, they came down from the cliffs and crags and preyed upon the young
pigs and lambs of the settlers, first plucking out their eyes and then
clipping off their ears and finally killing and eating them. At the report
of a gun in the remote mountains seventy-five years ago all the ravens
within hearing flocked to the hunter, in the hope of preying upon whatever
he might have killed or wounded. Fresh raw meat was, when hidden in tree-
tops, kept from their beaks only by the wad of tow which had been used to
clean the foul barrels of the guns.

WOLVES. On the 6th of June, 1794, Gideon Lewis entered 68 acres under tbe
Three Tops mountain, at what is now Creston (Deed Book A, Ashe county,
p.38) Gideon and his family were great hunters; but his sons, Gideon
Nathan, were for years the great wolf hunters of Ashe county. They would
follow the gaunt female to her den, and while waited outside, the other
brother crawled in and secured the pups, from six to ten in each litter,
but allowing the mother to escape. The young were then skalped, the skaip
of a young wolf being paid for the same as that of the mature animal. For
each skaip the county paid $2.50. When asked why he never kiHed grown
wolves, Gideon Lewis answered: "Would you expect a man to kill his milch-
cow?" Wolves had greatly increased during the Civil War, and soon after
its close the late Thomas Sutherland of Ashe county, with other cattle
herders, hired the late Welborn Waters to kill all the wolves from the
White Top to the Roan mountain. He would conceal himself in the wildest
parts of the mountains and howl in imitation of a wolf. When the wolves
which had heard him came, he shot them from his place of concealment. This
soon exterminated the breed along the Tennessee line.

GINSENG. David Miller, Col. Bryan's grandfather, dug "a root of ginseng
that weighed one pound, avoirdupois, and would frequently dig two bushels
and a half of this root in a day. The price then was only ten cents per
pound."

This is usually called "sang" by our people. Its value, use and how to
prepare it for the market of China were first taught us by Andre Michaux
on his first visit to the Blue Ridge in August, 1794.(9) It is called
Gentian by some.(10)

COLONEL BYRD'S RHAPSODY. In his "Writings" Col. Byrd of Westover (pp.211-
212) thus sings the praises of this indigenous herb. When near the Dan
river on his famous survey of the dividing line between Virginia and North
Carolina, he chewed a root of ginseng, which "kept up my and made me trip
away as nimbly in my half Jack-Boots as younger men could in their shoes.
This plant is now in high esteem in China where it sells for its Weight in
Silver. (The capitals are all Col Byrd's). Indeed it does not grow there,
but in the Mountains of Tartary, to which place the Emporor of China Sends
10,000 Men every Year on purpose to gather it.... Indeed, it is a
vegetable of so many vertues (sic), that Providence has planted it very
thin in every Country that has the hapiness to Produce it. . . . This
noble Plant grows likewise at the Cape of Good Hope, where it is called
Kanna, and is in wonderful Esteem among the Hottentots. It grows also on
the northern Continent of America, near the Mountains, but as sparingly as
Truth and Public Spirit. . . . Its vertues are, that it gives an uncommon
warmth to the Blood, and frisks the spirits, beyond any other Cordial. It
cheers the heart even of a Man that has a bad Wife, and makes him look
down with great Composure on the crosses of the world. It promotes
insensible Perspiration, dissolves all Phlegmatic and Viscous Humors that
are apt to obstruct the Narrow Channels of the Nerves. It helps the Memory
and would quicken even Helvetian [Shades of Julius Caesar!] dullness. 'Tis
friendly to the Lungs, much more than Scolding itself. It comforts the
Stomach, and Strengthens the Bowels, preventing all Colicks and Fluxes. In
one word, it will make a man live a great while, and very well while he
does live. And what is more, it will make Old Age amiable, by rendering it
lively, cheerful and good-humored."

The Associated Press dispatches on August 6, 1913, said that 150,000
pounds of ginseng was shipped to China from the United States for the past
year, valued at $1,500,000-or ten dollars a pound, whereas it used to be
sold for 12 1/2 cents in the mountains. Also that 155,000 pounds of the
same herb had been exported the year before, valued at $7 per pound. It
was also stated that before the wild forest supply diminished largely it
brought only 40 cents per pound; and that its culti vation began in 1898.

FINE FOR DOGS BUT FINER FOR SHEEP IF- In a country so ideally situated for
sheep-raising as these mountains, it is difficult to explain why that
industry has not been more successful than it has been, unless the
destructiveness of dogs is the reason. These faithful canine friends were
indispensable to the pioneer, but their possession is now no longer
necessary, and the farmers are getting rid of all that are not required
for dairy purposes. This elimmates many hounds and worthless mongrels and
substitutes for them the intelligent Scotch collie and shepherd. All
efforts to tax useless dogs out of existence have thus far failed to
eliminate the superfluity of our canine friends.

WILD PIGEONS. These birds used to come in flocks which literally darkened
the heavens. At night their roosts were visited by men and boys bearing
torches who wantonly killed thousands of these light-blinded birds. They
come no longer. Pigeon river in Haywood county and Pigeon Roost creek in
Mitchell have been named for these migrants.

THERMAL BELTS. In the pamphlet of the N. C. Agricultural Department,
called "North Carolina A Land of Opportunity in Fruit Growing, Farming and
Trucking " (Raleigh), is a most admirable article on thermal belts written
by the late Silas McDowell, of Macon county, in 1858, for the U. S. Patent
Office Report, from observations made near Franklin; and in the same paper
are excerpts from a report made by the late Professor John LeConte on the
thermal belts or "frostless zones of the flanks of the mountain spurs
adjacent to the valleys of the Blue Ridge." His observations were made at
Flat Rock, Henderson county, fifty miles east of Franklin. "These facts
point out this region as the best place to be found for the cultivation of
celery, cauliflower, tomatoes and other vegetables for canning;
raspberries and strawberries, for shipment and preserving; for peaches,
pears, fine apples, cherries, quinces and currants; also for the finer
table and wine grapes."

MILK SICK. In former years, before the country had been cleared of its
forests, far more than at the present time, though the malady still exists
in certain localities, there was prevalent a disease popularly known as
"milk sick," socalled because it was supposed to be caused by the drinking
of the milk of cows which had been pastured on "milk sick" land. The cows
themselves do not at first disclose the fact that they were suffering any
ill effects from having pastured there, as, if they did, it would be easy
for people to avoid the disease by refraining from the use of milk of such
cattle. On the contrary, such cows seem to be normal. This sickness is
usually fatalto the victim unless properly treated. There were, and still
are, for that matter, men and women peculiarly skilled and successful in
the treatment of this obscure disease, who were called "milk sick"
doctors. Sometimes they were not doctors or physicians at all, and did not
pretend to practice medicine generally, seeming to know how to treat
nothing except "milk sick." Whiskey or brandy with honey is the usual
remedy; but in the doses and proportionate parts of each ingredient and
when to administer it consisted the skill of the physician. When the
"patch" of land supposed to contain milk sick had been located it was
fenced off and all cattle kept from grazing there.

SYMPTOMS. In his "Medicine in Buncombe County Down to 1885 Historical and
Biographical Sketches," 1906, Dr. Galliard S. Tennent, M. D., says:

"The symptoms, those of severe gastro~ententis with some variations, were
said to follow the ingestion of milk or butter from an infected cow. The
origin was variously ascribed to some plant or fungus growth, or to some
mineral poison occurring in certain spots."

DISEASE CANNOT BE ACCOUNTED FOR. Here is what the United States Department
of Agriculture says on the subject.(11)

"In reply I beg to advise you that many efforts have been made to
elucidate the question regarding the nature and cause of milk sickness,
but although many theories have been discussed none of them have so far
been generally accepted. Some investigators hold that the disease is of
micro-organismal origin, some that it is due to an autointoxication, while
others think it is caused by vegetable or mineral poisons. All seem,
however, to agree that the disease is limited to low swampy uncultivated
land, and that the area of the places where it occurs is often restricted
to one of a few acres. Furthermore, that when such land or pastures have
been cultivated and drained the disease disappears completely.

"The discovery of a new focus of this disease in the Pecos Valley of New
Mexico in November, 1907, gave Jordan and Harris the opportunity of
studying this peculiar affection by modern bacteriological methods. As a
result they have succeeded in isolating in pure cultures from the blood
and organs of animals dead of this disease a spore-forming bacillus which
they name Bacillus laclimorbi. With this bacillus they have reproduced in
experiment animals the symptoms and lesions Peculiar to milk sickness or
trembles, and from these animals the same organism has been recovered in
purity. It therefore appears to have been demonstrated that the bacillus
in question is the actual cause of the disease. As Jordan and Harris have
afready indicated, more comprehensive studies, based on a larger supply of
material, are desirable in order that the many obscure and mystifying
features connected with the etiology of this rapidly disappearing disease
may be elucidated.

"The proper means of preventing losses from this disease is by excluding
access to such pastures where the disease is known to occur. This has been
done with good results in many places by the use of barb wfre fences.

"The affected animals should be kept as quiet as possihie and a dose of
one pound of Epsom salts dissolved in water administered as a drench. If
the symptoms become alarming a competent veterinarian should be employed."

HONEY DEW OR PLANT LICE. There is a sugary formation often observable on
the leaves of certain trees and saplings-usually of chestnut, oak and
hickory-which looks like a coating of honey which has dried upon the upper
surface of such leaves. It has a sweetish taste, which has given it the
name of honey-dew. Many persons really believe it is a sweet dew which
settles on the upper surface of the leaves; but when the question as to
the cause of this deposit was asked, the United States Department of
Agriculture thus explained it:(12)

"The honeydew, in question, is secreted by plant lice, scale insects, or
leaf-hoppers, and more especially by plant lice, which appear early in the
season and become frequently very numerous and gradually disappear as the
summer advances. The honeydew is exuded by them from the anal end of the
body and accumulates on the leaves below them."

(1. T. L. Lowe's "Hlstory of Watauga County.")

(2. The facts stated herein are trom "Southern Wild Flowers," by Aijes
Loundesberry, and P. M. Hale's "Woods and Timbers of North Carolina.")

(3. Michaux's journal and facts about his life are set out in Dugger's
book, pp. 251-259, and were taken from a memoir prepared by Mr. Charles S.
Sargent for the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia.)

(4. J. W. Powell, director, 1897-'98)
(5. Ibid., p.27)

(6. These berries grow wild, and it is surprising that no effort has been
made to cultivate, them)

(7. See "North Carolina, A Land of Opportunity in Fruit Growing, Farming
and Trucking," issued by the Department of Agriculture, Raleigh, N. C.)

(8. See Bulletin of "orth Carolina Fruit Land for Sale," issued by
Department of Agriculture, Raleigh, 1919)

(9. Balsam Groves, 248)

(10. McClure, 233)

(11. Letter of A. D. Melvin to Hon. J. C. Pritchard, February 7, 1912,
Nancy Hanks, Abraham Lincoln's mother, died of milk-sick.)

(12. L. O. Boward to Hon. J. C. Pritchard, February 9, 1912)



CHAPTER XXIII.
PHYSICAL PECULIARITIES

AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK. To give a full and detailed account or description of
all the peculiar physical features of this Land of the Sky would be
impossible in the allotted space. Doubtless there are many that are
unknown to the writer. The facts given, however, may be relied on as an
under- rather than as an over-statement.

WAS IT EVER "LAKE TAHKEEOSTEE?" "Whether or not the valley of the French
Broad near Asheville was ever, as has been supposed, the head of a
mountain lake, whose lower or deepest part was above Mountain Island and
Hot Springs, is an unsettled question for the geologists.(1) Certain it is
that the French Broad has cut its way through the mountains at Mountain
Island, as is apparent to the most casual observer of the mountains at
that place, not only in the obvious signs that still remain to indicate
the exact spot where it cut through, but also in the unquestionable beds
of that river in the days gone by now on the tops of the mountain ridges
which lie along its western banks, probably 200 feet higher than its
present bed, and only a short distance above the Mountain Island. These
old beds cross the channel of the present stream below the Palisades at
Stackhouse's and above the Mountain Island. They contain many stones worn
smooth and rounded by the abrasions to which their position in the river
subjected them." This is also true of the stones on Battery Park hill. Dr.
Sondley suggests that this may have been the famous lake mentioned by
Lederer in his account of exploration into North Carolina in 1669-70, as
it "fits the description and lies near the place," describing his visit to
the Sara Indians who were subject to "a neighbor king residing upon the
bank of a great lake called the Usbery, environed on all sides with
mountains and Wisacky marsh." The water of this lake was a little
brackish, due to mineral waters flowing into it, and was about ten leagues
broad. He cites Hawk's History of North Carotina, p.49.

MINOR ODDITIES. On the waters of Meat Camp, Watauga, is a field formerly
belonging to David Miller who represented Ashe in the House of Commons in
1810, 1811 and 1813, still known as the "Sinking Spring Field," because
its water sinks shortly after appearing on the surface of the ground. In
this field was also the largest white oak of which people still speak,
said to have been 32 1/2 feet in circumference and from 50 to 60 feet to
the first limbs. There are several immense springs which gush out of the
earth in what is still known as The Meadows, mentioned in the will of
Robert Henry as having belonged to him at the time of his death, but which
is now owned by the heirs of Dr. Hitchcock of Murphy. On a ridge on the
bank of Little Santeetla, near where John Denton used to live, is the
largest single spring in the mountains, the stream from it being almost a
creek. On the same ridge at the point known as Howard's Knob, near Boone,
and probably half a mile to the northeast, is a place about ten feet in
diameter on which it is said no snow was ever known to lie, and a piece of
the ore taken from it melted into lead. There is also still some talk of a
Swift and Munday mine, now long lost, but supposed to be somewhere in
Ashe. What metal it was supposed to contain is not now known.

CHEOAR AND NANTARALA RIVERS ORIGINALLY ONE. In the descnption of the
Nantahala quadrangle (1907) the United States Geological survey says of
the Nantahala and Cheoah rivers:

"Nantahala river has by far the greatest descent, falling from 4,100 feet
on the Blue Ridge to a little less than 1,600 feet at the point where it
joins the Little Tennessee, an average grade of about 65 feet per mile,
the greater part of it coming in the upper 25 miles. A similarly rapid
fall characterizes the lower portion of Cheoah river. Originally the
Nantahala flowed in a direct course down the Cheoah valley. It was
diverted about midway in its course by a branch of Little Tennessee river,
working back along the soluble Murphy marble. Its old elevation of 2,800
feet is marked by pebble deposits on summits one and one-half miles nearly
west and three miles nearly southeast of Nantaha1a. On the upper reaches
of both these streams small plateaus and rarely over a mile in width,
accom~any the watercourses. Below on the Nantahala, and Buffalo creek, on
the Cheoah, the rivers descend in narrow and rapidly deepening canyons.
Similar plateaus, from two to four miles wide, border the upper parts of
the Little Tennessee and Tuckaseegee. The river channels have cut their
way 200 to 500 feet below the surface of these plateaus. Not far beyond
the junction of these two rivers the valley is hemmed in by steep
mountains and becomes a narrow and rocky gorge. The descent of 4,000 feet
from Hangover to the mouth of aheosa river is accomplished in a trifle
over four miles."

THE BALDS. There are no balds on the Blue Ridge; but from Whitetop at the
Virginia line to the Stratton and Hooper balds in Graham county, the Great
Smoky mountain summits, abound in bald spots. They are usually above the 5,
000-foot mark, and contain no trees whatever. Instead, they are carpeted
with rich wild grass, and tradition says that before white men turned
their cattle on them to graze, this grass was "saddle-high." Some of the
transverse ranges have these balds also, notably the Nantahalas and the
Balsams. There must be a thousand acres of almost level and perfectly bald
lands on the Roan and Yellow mountains, and a large acreage on the
Tusquittee and Nantahala. From Thunderhead in Swain to the Little
Tennessee river there is a succession of bald summits, and the Andrews
bald just north of Clingman's Dome covers a considerable area. There are
invariably small springs flowing from the edges of these bald spots, where
cattle slake their thirst in midsummer. From a distance these green
patches seem to be yellow, hence the name of the Yellow mountain just
north of the Roan. Surrounding these balds are usually forests of balsam
trees in primeval state. The Blacks and Clingman's Dome are covered with
them, also the Balsam mountains, in Haywood county. The soil is black and
deep.

STRATTON AND HOOPER BALDS. At the head of Santeetla and Buffalo creeks in
Graham county, near its junction with Cherokee, are the Hooper and
Stratton Balds, named for first settlers by those names. Near them are the
Haw Knob and Laurel Top; and to the north Hangover, Hayo and Fodder Stack
mountains. Just below the Hangover is the residence of Dave Orr, one of
the pioneers of that section and still a famous bear hunter. In 1897 a
bear caught his bell-wether, and the next day Dave belled a cowardly young
hound and left him to gnaw upon the carcass of the dead sheep, and waited.
Soon the pup came running, with bruin at his heels. Dave had a "mess of
bar meat for dinner that day."

TUSQUITTEE BALDS. The view from the balds of Tusquittee is unsurpassed in
the mountains. There are several bald prominences on this mountain, one of
which is known as the Medlock Bald and another the Pot Rock Bald, from a
depression in the rock almost the exact size and depth of an ordinary pot.
It is at least two miles along the top of this mountain, which forms an
elbow in its course.

To the north of this range and scarcely three miles distant is the
parallel range, known as Valley River mountains, and they are separated by
Fires creek. They come together at a point called Nigger Head. This is at
the head of Tunah and Chogah creeks, and there is a high, narrow ridge
running from it to the Weatherman Bald, across which deer and bear used to
have to pass when driven by the hunters from the head of Chogah creek or
Fires creek. It was along this sharp ridge, scarcely wide enough for a
narrow footpath, that "Standers" used to be placed in order to get a shot
at the fleeing game. The late Alex. P. Munday of Aquone used to be a
famous bear hunter, and his old dog, "Nig," and his gray stallion, "Buck,"
knew better where to go than he did himself in order to get the best stand
for a shot. It is near here that one finds the Juckers and Weatherman
"roughs," or rocky places, grown up in vines, laurel and spruce pines.
"Roughs" is sufficiently descriptive of them. On the Valley River
mountains the principal peaks are Beal's Knob, White Oak Knob, the Big
Stamp Knob and the Peachtree Knob.

MITCHELL'S PEAK. This highest point east of the Rocky mountains is about
thirty miles from Asheville. The road used to go via what is now Black
Mountain Station and the old Patton house, near what is the intake of the
city water works and Gombroon, up the North Fork of the Swannanoa river
almost to the Estatoe gap, where it took to the left, and passing the Half
Way house, built by the late William Patton of Charleston, S. C., zig-
zagged up to the top. There is now a road via Montreat and Graybeard.
Another trail is from Pensacola, in Yancey, in trying to follow which
Prof. Mitchell lost his life, and another from South Toe river. It is also
possible to go along the ridge from Celo at the head of Cattail. In 1905
Mr. R. S. Howland constructed a road from what is now the E. W. Grove park
to the top of Sunset mountain, thence to Locust gap, thence to Craven's
gap, and thence to within half a mile of Bull gap, the grade being about
one per cent from Overlook Park, and costing over $50,000. Later on Dr. C.
P. Ambler constructed a road from this terminus to his house on a slope of
Craggy, and known as Rattlesnake Lodge. From there on, in 1911, a riding
way was built via Craggy to Mitchell's Peak; but it was never finished.
This is the road that will be converted into "The Crest of the Blue Ridge"
highway, and will pass Mitchell's Peak and go On via Altamont to Linville
gap, over the Yonahlossie road to Blowing Rock. Work was done on this road
near Altamont in the Summer of 1912. The view from Mitchell's Peak is
somewhat obstructed by the balsam growth surrounding it, and as clouds
hover over it almost constantly, disappointment often attends a visit to
this lofty point. In 1877 there was a hut made of balsam logs and covered
with boughs, that afforded shelter to visitors, in addition to that under
the shelving ledge of rock, beneath which hundreds of visitors have
shivered and lain awake for hours. About 1885 the U. S. Weather Bureau
established a station there, when more comfortable quarters were
constructed for the observers. They had to "pack" their supplies up late
in the fall, and were practically isolated till spring. That house,
however, like the first spoken of, was afterwards burned by vandals. Other
vandals, later on have shot holes through the monument to Prof. Mitchell,
and one fiend sank his axe-blade clean through one of its sides. There is
a good spring near the peak. In 1912 a lumber company erected another
shelter on top, and quarters can be secured for a night's lodging under
certain conditions. Mr. William Patton of Charleston built the first trail
to the top in 1857-58.

THE GRANDFATHER. From Linville city in Avery county, from Banner Elk, and
from Blowing Rock good trails run to the top of the highest of the five
peaks of the Grandfather. Pinola and Montezuma on the Linville river
railroad are the nearest railroad points. The view is splendid-
unsurpassed, in fact. Near the top is a spring which is said to be the
coldest in the mountains, being 450 in all seasons. Alexander McRae's and
the Grandfather Inn are the nearest stopping places. McRea was born in
Glenelg, Inverness county, Scotland, and came over to America in 1885, and
has furnished music on the bagpipes to visitors- to the Grandfather ever
since.(2)

THE ROAN MOUNTAIN. This can be reached from Mountain station on the East
Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad or from Bakersville, three
miles Toecane ou the Cincinnati, Clinchfield and Ohio Railroad. It is much
patronized by hay-fever patients. There is fine hotel there. The view is
better than any other. It over 6,000 feet above the sea.

NANTAHALA BALDS. The Wayah, Wine Spring, Rocky, Jarrett's and Little balds
are the principal peaks. They can be reached from Franklin or from Aquone,
both in Macon county. The view is splendid.

THUNDERHEAD. Just above what is still known as the Anderson Road, an
abandoned wagon road from Tennessee to the Spence cabin in Swain, stands
Thunderhead, one of the lofty peaks of the Great Smokies. From it Miss
Mary N. Murfree saw the picture her pen painted in one of her stories of
this region.

A PEN PICTURE. "On a certain steep and savage slope of the Great Smoky
Mountains the primeval wilderness for many miles is unbroken save one
meagre clearing. The presence of humanity upon the earth is further
attested only by a log cabin, high on the rugged slant. At night, the
stars seem hardly more aloof than the valley below. By day, the mountains
assert their solemn vicinage, an austere company. The clouds that silently
commune with the great peaks, the sinister and scathing deeds of the
lightnings, the passionate rhetoric of the thunders, the triumphant
pageantry of the sunset tides, and the wistful yearnings of the dawn
aspiring to the day--these might seem only incidents of this lonely and
exalted life. So august is this mountain scheme that it fills all the
world with its massive multitudinous presence: still stretching out into
the dim blue distances an infinite perspective of peak and range and
lateral spur, till one may hardly believe that the fancy does not juggle
with the fact."(3)

HELLS. There are many tangles and thicketty places in the coves of these
mountains, and others where the laurel and ivy and small spruce pines so
cover the banks of the streams as to render locomotion along them
impossible. are necessary to hew a way in many places, and woe to that man
who ventures too far into their depths by crawling or creeping between
their rigid branches. At the head of Tellico creek in Tennessee and in the
Rainbow country of North Carolina, where the State line is now in dispute,
is what is called Jeffries Hell. It is said that many years ago a man
named Jeffries got bewildered in that place and spent nine days there
without food before he managed to effect his escape. There are other hells
in the mountains, but Jeffries' is the largest and most famous.

THE CHIMNEYS. At the head of one of the Pigeons, and just west of Collins
gap, visible from the Ocona Lufty road, are three sharp, pyramidal shaped
pinnacles called the Chimneys. They are covered with small spruce pines
and rocks, but how any soil manages to cling to such steep mountain sides
is a mystery. They are green in winter because of the spruce pines
covering them, and present a striking contrast to other peaks around them.

GRAPHIC PEN PICTURES. In "The Heart of the Alleghanies" we have glowing
descriptions of the view from Clingman's Dome, the culminating point of
the Great Smoky range, and which Gen. Clingman measured in 1857; of the
Great Balsam Divide, the Plott Balsams, and of the mysterious Juda-Culla
Old Field, just south of the Old Bald gap between Richland creek and Caney
Fork river; which always "presents a weird and unnatural appearance. . . .
Its only growth presents a peculiar yellowish look, and the fact that no
tree or sapling has ever grown within its limits has not been accounted
for scientifically." Here, the legend says, the giant Tsulkalu made a
clearing for his farm. Here flint arrow-heads and broken pottery have been
found, showing "almost conclusively that some of the Cherokees themselves
. . . occupied it as an abiding place for years." This book also tells of
the "fire-scalds," and of the Devil's Court House in the Balsams, which,
however, is not his Supreme court house the latter being on Whiteside
mountain. Gen. Clingman, in his "Speeches and Writings," describes Shining
Rock in the Balsams most strikingly; and says of the Devil's Old Field on
the Balsams that it was the Devil's chosen resting place. He also accounts
for the balds by saying the Indians supposed they were made by the devil's
footsteps as he walked over the tops of the mountains. A fine description
of the Tuckaseegee falls above Webster is given in the "Heart of
Alleghanies."

OTHER NOTED ROCKS. Buzzards' Rocks and the Dogs' Ears, near Shull's Mills,
Watauga county; Black Rock, above Horse Cove; Satula (pronounced Stooly)
near Highlands; Samson's Chimney, near Howard's Knob at Boone; Hawk's Bill
and Table Rock, between Morganton and Linville mountain; Riddle's and
Howard's Knobs, near Boone; Nigger Head, near Jefferson, and scores of
others are objects of local interest in various localities. Hanging Rock,
above Banner Elk, and the North Pinnacle, on the Beech mountain, in the
same locality, are noted rocks, from the last of which a fine view can be
had after an easy climb from a good road.

TRACK ROCKS. "Some distance further to the west (from Juda-Culla Old
Field) on the north bank of Caney Fork, about one mile above Moses' creek
and perhaps ten miles above Webster, is the Juda-Culla Rock, a large soap-
stone slab covered with rude carvings, which, according to...tradition,
are scratches made by the giant in jumping from his, farm on the mountain
to the creek below." Tracks of elk, wolves, etc., are said to be visible
in a rock at the head of Devil's creek in Mitchell county.

"THE ROCKS." What are locally known as "The Rocks" are two immense masses
of stone standing detached m a pasture field on the road from Plumtree to
Bakersville. They are a landmark. Bynum's Bluff is also noted.

SMALL NATURAL BRIDGE. Just over the ridge from the Caney Fork of the
Tuckaseegee river, in what is called Canada, and where it has been
suspected that one or more blockade stills have existed in time past,
present and (will) to come, is Tennessee creek. It flows under a small
natural rock bridge when it is normal, and over it when it is "full."

THE TRIANGLE TREE. Almost one mile above Fairfax post office on the Little
Tennessee river, in Swain county, stood, until a great freshet came and
washed it away eight or ten years ago, one of the most unusual and
remarkable freaks in the shape of tree growth in America. But so isolated
had it become by reason of the practical abandonment of late years of the
wagon road from Bushnel to Rocky Point that few strangers ever saw it,
while to the few natives of region, who had seen it for years and years,
it called marked attention.

It was a large spruce pine at least three feet in diameter five feet above
the ground where a limb or branch of a diameter of at least eighteen
inches left the main trunk at an angle of about forty-five degrees and
extended out toward the river, while three feet above its point of
departure from the main trunk a second limb or branch, twelve inches in
diameter, shot out in the same direction as the first, but at an angle of
seventy-five or eighty degrees and joined itself to the first limb six or
seven feet from its base so perfectly that it grew into and had become a
part thereof, thus forming with the main trunk a perfect triangle of
living wood. It was easy to climb into this triangle and by sitting
astride the first or lower limb to hold the body erect against the trunk
of the tree immediately under the second limb. It is a pity it was never
photographed, but the dimensions given above are accurate, since they were
carefully measured and noted while the tree was still standing in all its
glory.

THE HIGH ROCKS. Just below the mouth of Eagle creek are what are locally
called the "High Rocks." They are a tumbled mass of solid rocks, some of
them larger than a two-roomed house, resting one upon the other above the
riverside and extending almost to the top of the mountain. They are
apparently now just where they found themselves when eons and eons ago
some cataclysm of nature tumbled these mountains about as though they had
been pebbles and grains of sand.

THE CHIMNEYS. On the road from Montezuma to Banner Elk and just before
reaching the Sugar Gap, are two other large masses of rook projecting out
of the side of the mountain like two enormous and discolored incisor
teeth. One of them is said to be eighty feet in height and the other and
further one from the road, nearly as high. There is no photograph of these
immense rock heaps, but fortunately there is no danger of their
destruction by a freshet or other cause. They are called "The Chimneys."

THE DEVIL'S CAP. Eight miles from Altamont and about three from the Cold
Spring hotel in Burke county, on Ginger Cake mountain, and just east of
Linville river, below Linville Falls, is what is called the Devil's Cap.
It is a perpendicular mass of rock sixty or seventy feet high and about
twenty feet in diameter, surmounted by a large flat stone so placed on its
pedestal as to look as if it must surely soon slide off and fall to the
ground. It is in a little swag or gap in this ridge, and is best seen from
the top of a precipice near by, from which can also be had through a rift
in the dense foliage, a magnificent view of the wild and romantic Linville
Gorge, the wildest and most inaccessible m the mountains, with the
possible exception of that of the Nantahala, between the "Apple Tree"
place and Jarrett's Station on on the Murphy branch of the Western North
Carolina Railroad. This freak of nature, the Devil's Cap however, has been
photographed.

DUTCH CREEK FALLS. Within half a mile of Valle Crucis school, Watauga, are
the Dutch creek falls, which are about eighty feet in height. The little
stream spreads itself evenly over the surface of the precipice down which
it slides rather than falls, forming a fine picture as seen from the
gloomy gorge below. It is more easy of access than falls generally are,
and is well worth a visit.

LINVILLE FALLS are at Linville, a postoffice and village in what is now
Avery county. The falls had in 1876 two distinct falls, each about 35 feet
in height, the upper falls pouring into a small basin and then plunging
over another precipice into the black pool below. But, of late years, the
lower ledge of rock has given way from some cause, and much of the water
passes under and around the boulders into which it has been broken,
instead of falling smoothly over a straight line of rock, as formerly. It
is the most accessible of all falls now.

ELK FALLS. Three miles from Cranberry are the Falls of Elk, and they are
about as high as the Dutch creek falls, but carrying more water in the
descent. The cascades or rapids of the same creek a few miles above, at
Banner's Elk, are also worth a visit.

WATAUGA FALLS are a few hundred feet west of the North Carolina and
Tennessee line. They are hardly falls, but rapids, pouring an immense
volume of water through a narrow gorge, and requiring several hundred feet
at that place to gain comparative smoothness. The scenery around the falls
is wild and imposing, the rocks left bare by the current being immense, It
is only about a quarter of a mile from the Butler-Valle Crucis turnpike.

THE "DRY" FALLS. The Dry, or Pitcher falls, of the Cullasaga river, four
miles from Highlands, are so called because the stream leaps from the
precipice above and leaves a clear dry space beneath, behind and under
which one can pass to the further side dry-shod. It is about seventy-five
feet in height and the water pours over the rock ledge from which it leaps
much as does a stream poured from the mouth of a pitcher.

HICKORY-NUT FALLS. The Hickory Nut Falls are just east of the Hickory Nut
gap of the Blue Ridge. This appears to be a mere ribbon of water hung from
the top of the precipice, but in reality it is a creek of such size as to
have power to turn a grist mill before leaping to the gorge nine hundred
feet below.

CHIMNEY ROCK. Between this loftiest waterfall in the Appalachians and the
Hickory Nut gap road is the Chimney Rock, an enormous rock mass on the
eastern slope of the Blue Ridge, eighty or ninety feet in height. The
large trees growing around it reveal by contrast its immense size and
height. Though, till within the last twenty years, no man had ever scaled
its height to let the plummet down, a ladder-like stairway now reaches its
summit and a wooden railing extends all the way around it.

THE POOLS. The Pools, just above the old Logan hotel or tavern in the same
picturesque locality, are three circular holes from eight to fifteen feet
in diameter, in the rock bed of the creek, all of which are said to be
bottomless. It is evident that they were made by the revolution of small
stones on the softer surface of the creek bed, kept in constant motion by
the continual flow of the creek; but they are not bottomless, nor is there
any danger of suction, as swimmers disport themselves in their cool depths
every summer.

ESMERALDA'S CABIN. Just across the road is the detached rock mass locally
known as Esmeralda's cabin, because of the delightful romance located in
that region by the gifted Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett, called
"Esmeralda," and which was popular twenty-five years ago. Indeed, the
novel was dramatized and successfully played at that time in New York and
all over the country.

SHAKING BALD. Here, too, is Esmeralda Inn, long kept by Col. Thomas
Turner, a veteran of the Federal Army, and now by his son, while not far
away is Bat Cave, a gloomy cavern in the face of the mountain above one
prong of the Broad river; and Shaking Bald, a mountain top which, in the
seventies, caused considerable newspaper comment because of the noises
said to have been heard in that locality. Earthquake shocks and volcanoes
even were predicted for several years but nothing ever came of the
stories. This locality, one the most charming and picturesque in the
mountains, is quately described in Christian Reid's "Land of the Sky, the
novel which gave its name to this entire region. It was published in
l875(5) and was one of the means of drawing public attention to the
beautiful scenery of the mountain region of North Carolina and its
unsurpassed summer climate. The Hickory Nut region is in what is called
the Thermal Belt.

HOT SPRINGS. Paint Rock and Hot Springs, on the French Broad river, about
forty miles northwest from Asheville, are two other remarkable places in
this mountain region worthy of mention, which the same gifted author
described with her facile pen in the same charming story. Hot Springs was
discovered in l787 by some soldiers from the Watauga settlement when in
pursuit of a band of Cherokee Indians, and has been a noted health resort
ever since. Although its waters are strongly impregnated with mineral and
have medicinal properties, they are as clear as crystal. They are very
beneficial for gouty and rheumatic troubles. There is a large and well
appointed hotel which is very popular every season of the year.

PAINT ROCK. "The Painted Rock" of old - Cherokee days, or "Paint Rock" of
our times, is a rock cliff over a hundred feet in height which has a red
stain on its outer surface caused by the oxidation of the iron in its
composition. Whatever figures of men or animals ever existed upon its face
have long since disappeared. There is the usual romantic story of one or
two lovers throwing himself or herself, or themselves, from the top of
this rock and from the top of another rock nearly as high in the
neighborhood of Hot Springs, called Lover's Leap, but there is no tangible
evidence that any local lovers ever were so foolish.

THE SMOKING MOUNTAIN. Twenty years ago there were a series of newspaper
stories of a smoking mountain above Bee Tree creek in Buncombe county, and
many citizens visited the locality in question only to be disappointed,
while none save those living constantly in the neighborhood ever saw the
smoke, and by the time others were called from a distance it had
disappeared. What it was, if anything more than autumn haze or
imagination, was never established. It, however, "had nothing to do with
anything regarding volcanic action."(6)

THE WALKS. A short distance below Flat Shoals of Watauga river, and near
the Tennessee line, are a series of immovable natural stepping stones,
regularly placed across the bed of the river, and over which one may walk
dry-shod even when the stream is considerably swolen. Hence the name-- The
Walks.

"THUS FAR." Almost from the Virginia line to the Little Tennessee river
there is a fringe of balsam or white spruce crowning the crest of the
western escarpment known as the Smoky mountains, except where the dense
blue fringe of trees is broken by the "balds." But, remarkable as it may
seem, there is not a single tree or sapling of the balsam growth south of
the Little Tennessee, although the Gregory Bald, only a few miles to the
northeast, is fringed by a dense growth of balsams which extend to both
the Big and Little Parson balds. The soil and climate and, indeed, the
altitude of the range south of the Little Tennessee, are almost identical
with those to the north, but neither bird nor breeze has ever carried the
balsam seed across the river and imbedded it in the soil beyond in a
manner that has resulted in its growth across which the dead line of that
rapid stream.

HELL's HALF-ACRE.(7) "The bear-hunters are the only men familiar with
these head-waters of the Richland creek. At the foot of the steep,
funereal wall lies one spot known as Hell's Half-Acre. Did you ever
notice, in places along the bank of a wide woodland river, after a spring
flood, the great piles of huge drif~logs, sometimes covering an entire
field, and heaped as high as a house? Hell's Half-Acre is like one of
these fields. It is wind and time, however, which bring the trees,
loosened from their hold on the dizzy heights and craggy slopes,
thundering down into this pit.

"THE CHIMBLEYS AND SHINIES."(7) The "Chimbleys and Shinies," as called by
the mountaineers, form another feature of the region of the Gulfs. The
former are walls of rock, either bare or overgrown with wild vines and
ivy. They take their name from their resemblance to chinineys as the fogs
curl up their faces and away from their tops. The Shinies are sloping
ledges of rock, bare like the Chimneys, or covered with great thick plaits
of shrubs, like the poisonous hemlock the rhododendron, and kalmia. Water
usually trickles over their faces. In winter it freezes, making surfaces
that, seen from a distance, dazzle the eye.

"HERRYCANES." The effects of a hurricane in the Balsam mountains are
described thus in "The Heart of the Alleghanies":

"For two miles, along this sharp ridge, nearly every other tree had been
whirled by the storm from its footing. They not only covered the path with
their trunks bristling with straight branches; but, instead of being cut
off short, the wind had torn them up by the roots, lifting thereby all the
soil from the black rocks, and leaving great holes for us to descend into,
cross and then ascend. It was a continuous crawl and climb for this
distance."

Violent windstorms are rare in these mountains, owing to the fact that
they are broken up as they approach from the lowlands east, west and
south; but there are two other places called "herrycanes," one being on a
branch at the head of Tusquittee creek in Clay county, and the other on
Indian creek just above its junction with Ugly creek, thus forming
Cataloochee creek in Haywood county. The Clay hurricane occurred soon
after the Civil War or during it, and the Haywood hurricane about 1896.
The fallen timber in Clay is still visible, while a whole mountain side in
front of Jesse Palmer's residence is covered with the rent fragments of
giant trees which have been uprooted or twisted from their trunks bodily.

LOOKING-GLASS FALLS. These are in Transylvania county and are on G. W.
Vanderbilt's "Pisgah Forest tract." In the sale of his timber in 1812, he
reserved twenty acres around these falls.(8)

(1. From "Asheville's Centenary")

(2. Balsam Groves, 221-232)

(3. From "The Despot of Broomsedge Cove," by Miss Mary N. Murfree)

(4. Nineteenth Eth. Rep., p.407)

(5. D. Appleton & Co., publisher, but now out of print)

(6. Joseph Hyde Pratt, State Geologist, to J. P. A., April 5, 1912)

(7. Zeigler and Grosseup. p.64)

(8. Buncombe Deed Book, No.161, p.118)



CHAPTER XXIV.
MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY

"The State publications tell us, with well founded pride, that North
Carolina was the first government in America to order a geological survey.
Can she, on that account, afford to be the last state to publish a full
exposition of her geological structure and mineral resources?"- "Heart of
the Alleghanies," page 198.

WHERE TO GET THE FACTS AND FIGURES. North Carolina no longer deserves this
reproach, as Bulletin No.18 of the North Carolina Geological and Economic
Survey, published in 1909, is a bibliography of North Carolina geology,
mineralogy and geography, with a list of maps. It contains, with an
admirable index, 428 pages, and is devoted exclusively to an alphabetical
arrangement of the names of authors, their writings on geology and
mineralogy, mining and other matters connected with minerals, etc., of
this region. It was prepared by Dr. Francis Baker Laney, Ph.D., assistant
curator of geology of the U. S. National Museum, and Katharine Hill Wood.
It is thorough and exhaustive.

In addition thereto Professor Joseph Hyde Pratt, State Geologist, and
Professor Joseph Volney Lewis, formerly of the Survey, but now of Rutgers
College, N. J., are the authors of Volume I of the Reports of the North
Carolina Geological Survey, which contains a description of the corundum
and the periodite deposits of Western North Carolina. It also was
published in 1905, and contains maps, drawings, pictures and designs
illustrative of the subjects treated. It contains, with the index, 464
pages, and either or both of the above volumes will be sent on
application, if accompanied with the postage.

There are also several others of great value, among which are Economic
Paper No. 22, on forest fires and their prevention; Economic Paper No.3,
on talc and pyrophyllite deposits in North Carolina; Economic Paper No.1,
on the maple sugar industry; Economic Paper No.20, on the wood using
industries of North Carolina; Economic Paper No.23, on the mining industry
in North Carolina during 1908, 1909 an 1910, and No.15 on mineral waters.

AVAILABLE SCIENTIFIC AND POPULAR DESCRIPTIONS. A scientific explanation of
the formation of the Asheville quadrangle will be found in the Asheville
Folio, No. 116, U. S. Geological Survey; and an interesting dissertation
on the geological formation and age of the Grandfather mountain is
contained in "The Heart of the Alleghanies"; and in the same volume is a
reference to Mr. King, the artist, who made a journey through these
mountains in 1874, and gave a description of their mineral possibilities
in Scribner's for that year. September 15, 1864, Prof. Charles Upham
Shepard of Yale gave his views as to what minerals and metals might be
discovered here, among which are gold and diamonds, and he is quoted in
Gen. Clingman's "Speeches and Writings."


GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
BY JOSEPH HYDE PRATT

The State of North Carolina is divided into three physlographic divisions,
which have been designated as the Coastal Plain, the Piedmont Plateau, and
Mountain Region. That part of the State lying to the west of the Blue
Ridge is in the Mountain region. This includes the Blue Ridge and the
Great Smokies and the country between, which is cut across by numerous
cross ranges separated by narrow valleys and deep gorges. The average
elevation of this region is about 2,700 feet above the sea level, but the
summits of a great many ridges and peaks are over 5,000 feet, while a
considerable number of peaks have a height of over 6,000, the highest of
which is Mount Mitchell with an elevation of 6,711 feet. Over the larger
part of this region are to be found the older crystalline rocks, gneisses,
granites, schists, and diarite that are of pre-Cambrian age, which are
greatly folded and turned on their edges. On the western and eastern
borders of this mountain region, approximately along the line of the Blue
Ridge and Great Smokies, there are two narrow belts of younger sedimentary
rocks, consisting of limestone, shales, and conglomerates, and their
metamorphosed equivalents, marbles, quartzites and slates of Cambrian age.

The sedimentary rocks have been formed from sand, gravel, and mud which
have been deposited as the result of alteration and erosion of the older
rocks.

By the present position of the rocks we are able to obtain records
regarding the order in which the rocks of western North Carolina were
formed, and thus obtain a geological history of the Mountain section. All
the rocks of western North Carolina are amongst the oldest geologic
formations, although there is considerable variation in the time at which
the various rocks encountered were formed. The oldest rock formation is
known as the Carolina gneiss, which consists of large areas of mica, and
garnet schists; and mica, garnet and cyanite gneisses. The exact origin of
this rock has not been definitely determined it may have resulted from the
metamorphism of a granite rock. Mount Mitchell and the other mountain
peaks of the Black mountains are of Carolina gneiss, as are also Gray
Beard, the Craggies, Sunset Mountain, Pisgah, Great Hoghack (Toxaway), and
Standing Indian (Clay county).

The next oldest rock formation of Western North Carolina is known as the
Roan gneiss, which is not as extensive as the Carolina gneiss, but forms
much smaller areas and, as a rule, forms long narrow bands cutting the
Carolina gneiss. They are also much less altered and are undoubtedly
younger. Roan, High Knob, Big Yellow Mountain, Cocks Knob, the eastern
slope of Craggy Dome and Bull Head Mountain, Nofat mountain, and part of
Caesar's Head, are all of Roan gneiss. These mountains are, therefore,
younger formations than those mountains composed of Carolina gneiss.

Another granite formation has been intruded into the Carolina and Roan
gneisses, forming rather small areas in the northwestern portions of the
mountains. These granites, known as the Cranberry and Beech granites, are
observed in the vicinity of Blowing Rock, Beech mountain, Rich mountains,
and part of Pumpkin Patch mountain. A similar granite, known as the
Henderson granite and of approximately the same age, is found over a
considerable area of southeastern portions of Transylvania and Henderson
cbunties and southwestern portions of Buncombe county.

All these rocks referred to above are of deep-seated or and the lapse of
time between the formation of the different ones was undoubtedly very
great. They formed mountain ranges tkiat were much higher than now
observed, but these have been subject to erosion which has brought them to
their present outline.

The next formation was the lava rocks, which were poured forth upon the
surface of the Archean rocks. These lava flows are of considerably later
period than the granites and gneisses and are older than the overlying
Cambrian sedimentary rocks, and they may belong to the Algonkian age. Some
of these rocks were undoubtedly of volcanic nature, the intrusions coming
to the surface as flows of lava and spreading out over the Carolina and
Roan gneisses and the Cranberry and Beech granites. There was a very long
interval between the formation of the last of the Archean rocks before the
volcanic activity; and during this period these old Plutonic rocks were
subject to very excessive erosion. This volcanic activity probably
extended into the Cambrian time, and many of the lava flows were probably
at the surface when the Cambrian strata were laid down. The indication of
this is the finding of sheets of basalt conglomerate interstratified with
the lower strata of the Cambrian. Rocks of this period include
metadiabase, found just north of Linville and to the east in Grandmother
gap and crossing the Yonahlossee road at several places; blue and green
epidotic schists, which have probably been altered from basalt, such as
are to be seen in the vicinity of Pinola and Montezuma, Avery county, and
Hanging Rock, Caldwell county; a gray and black schist probably formed by
the alteration of an andicitic rock, which is to be observed on Flat Top
mountain and Pine Ridge, Watauga county; and metarhyolite, such as is
found on the slopes of Dugger mountain, Sampson mountain and in Cook's
gap, Watauga county.

These Archean rocks, with the volcanic formations, were then subjected to
a long period of erosion, and the sea at the same time encroached upon
large areas of the dry land. The sediments deposited formed the rocks
which are known as the Cambrian. Portions of the Archean rocks were
submerged and at times uplifted, and there was not a continuous series of
these sedimentary deposits.

These sedimentary rocks, formed from the erosion of the Archean and
Algonkian rocks and from salicious and calcareous material deposited from
animal life found in the sea, consist of conglomerates, sandstones, shale,
limestone, and their metamorphic equivalents, quartzite, slate, and
marble. These are observed very extensively over considerable areas of
western North Carolina, but principally, as stated above, near the western
and eastern sections of the mountain region. Grandfather mountain is
composed of one of these conglomerates of the Cambrian age, as is also
Grandmother mountain, a large part of the area around Linville, and just
to the east of Pinola. A narrow strip of these rocks is to be found
extending across the extreme western part of Buncombe county, across
Henderson and Transylvania counties. Brevard is situated in an area of
these rocks, as is also Boylston, Mills River, and Fletcher, Henderson
county. Practically all of Cherokee and Graham counties is composed of
Cambrian rocks and the western parts of Clay, Macon, and Haywood counties.
Swain county is composed largely of these Cambrian rocks, with the
exception of an area of Archean rocks that is exposed around Bryson and
for some distance to the northeast. West of Asheville these Cambrian rocks
are observed in the vicinity of Stackhouse, Hot Springs, and Paint Rock.
They include all the limestones, such as are being mined at Fletchers,
Mills River, and other places in Henderson and Transylvania counties; the
limestones of Madison county; and the marbles of Cherokee, Graham, and
Swain counties.

From the above it will be seen that the larger part of the area of western
North Carolina is composed of the Archean rocks, representing the oldest
geologic formations.

Associated with the rocks described above are various minerals of economic
importance, the history of which may be of interest in connection with the
geologic history of western North Carolina. The precious metals occur very
sparingly in nearly all the counties of this section of the state, but in
only a very few places has any attempt been made to systematically produce
them, and this has been largely by placer mining. Both the rocks of the
Archean and Cambrian ages apparently contain minute quantities of gold,
but in none of these have deposits been found of sufficient richness to be
profitably mined. In the early history of a estern North Carolina it was
customary for many of the inhabitants to pan the various streams for gold
and to pay their taxes in native gold. Just how much gold has been taken
from western North Carolina in this way is not known; but it evidently was
several hundred thousand dollars.

Iron was discovered in western North Carolina almost as soon as the
country began to be settled, and the manufacture of iron dates back before
the Revolutionary War. These early iron works consisted of the primitive
Catalan forge blown by the water trompe. Such forges were in operation in
Ashe, Mitchell, and Cherokee counties, and as late as 1893 one of these,
the Pasley forge on Helton creek in Ashe county, was in operation. These
early forges supplied iron for all local uses and the forges in Cherokee
county shipped a good deal into Tennessee. The most celebrated iron mine
of western North Carolina is the Cranberry, and this iron was worked in
Catalan forges as early as 1820. The following forges made fron from the
Cranberry ore:(1)

"Cranberry Bloomery Forge, on Cranberry creek; built in 1820; rebuilt in
1856; two fires and one hammer; made 17 tons of bars in 1857.

"Toe river Bloomery Forge, situated five miles south of Cranberry forge;
built in 1843; two fires and one hammer; made about four tons of bars in
1856.

"Johnson's Bloomery Forge, six miles east of south from Cranberry; built
in 1841; had two fires and one hammer; made one and one-half tons of bars
in 1856."

This ore made an excellent quality of iron and soon became known and
attracted a great deal of attention throughout the United States. Since
1882 the mine has been worked almost continuously, and the ore was treated
in a modern blast furnace.

Similar grades of iron ore are found in Ashe county, and the following is
a summary of the history of the Catalan forges that were operated on these
Ashe county magnetic ores:

"The Pasley forge was built by John Ballou at the mouth of Helton creek in
1859; in 1871 it was rebuilt by the present owner, W. J. Pasley, and is
now sadly in need of repairs.

"Helton Bloomery Forge, on Helton creek, 12 miles N. N.W. of Jefferson;
built in 1829; two fires and one hammer; made in 1856 about 15 tons of
bars. Washed away in 1858. Another forge was built one and one-fourth
miles lower down the creek in 1902, but did not stand long.

"Harbard's Bloomery Forge was situated near the mouth of Helton creek;
built in 1807 and washed away in 1817.

"Ballou's Bloomery Forge was situated 12 mile. N. E. of Jefferson, at the
falls of North Fork of New river; built in 1817; washed away in 1832 by an
ice freshet.

"North Fork Bloomery Forge was situated on North Fork of New river, 8
miles N. W. of Jefferson; built in 1825; abandoned in 1829; washed away in
1840.

"Laurel Bloomery Forge, on Laurel creek, 15 miles west of Jefferson; built
in 1847; abandoned in 1853.(1)

"New River Forge, on South Fork of New river, one-half mile above its
junction with North Fork; built in 1871; washed away in 1878."

The brown hematite ores of Cherokee county which occur in the Cambrian
rocks were worked in forges as early as 1840, supplying the surrounding
country with bar iron. We have record of the following forges:

"Lovinggood Bloomery Forge, situated on Hanging Dog creek, two miles above
Fain forge; built from 1845 to 1853; two fires and one hammer; made in
1856 about 13 tons of bars.

"Lower Hanging Dog Bloomery Forge, on Hanging Dog Creek, five miles
northwest from Murphy; built in 1840; two fires and one hammer; made in
1856 about four tons of bars.

"Killian Bloomery Forge, situated one-half mile below the Lower Hanging
Dog Forge; built in 1843; abandoned in 1849.

"Fain Bloomery Forge, on Owl creek, two miles below the Lovinggood forge;
built in 1854; two fires and one hammer; made in 1856 about 24 tons of
bars.

"Persimmon Creek Bloomery Forge, situated on Persimmon creek, 12 miles
southwest from Murphy; built in 1848; two fires and one hammer; made in
1855 about 45 tons of bars.

"Shoal Creek Bloomery Forge, situated on Shoal creek, five miles west of
the Persimmon Creek Forge; built about 1854; one fire and one hammer; made
in 1854 about one-half ton of bars."


With the exception of the blast furnace at Cranberry which uses the
magnetic iron ore from the Cranberry mine, no other furnace has been
erected in western North Carolina for the treatment of iron ores; and when
the Pasley forge on Helton creek went out of commission, there was no
other point in western North Carolina, except Cranberry, where iron was
being made. A small amount of ore has been shipped from time to time from
various localities.

Copper mining at one time was a prominent industry western North Carolina;
and while I have no definite data as to when copper mines were first
operated in western North Carolina, we do know that copper properties were
worked before the Civil War, principally in Ashe and Alleghany counties.
The most noted mine was the Ore Knot, which is in the southeast corner of
Ashe county near the top of the Blue Ridge and about two miles from New
river. This mine was first opened sometime before the War, but it was not
until some years after the war that it was developed to any great extent.
Tbe ore deposit was worked to a depth of 400 feet by means of numerous
shafts and drifts. The mine was equipped with a smelter for producing a
high grade of copper. The amount of copper produced and shipped from
January 1879 to April 1880, which was the time the mine was fully
operated, was something over 1,640 tons. The cost to produce and market
this copper was ten and thirty-nine one-hundredth cents a pound. The mine
has not been worked since about 1882. Other copper properties that were
worked were the Copper Knob or Gap Creek mine in the southeast part of
Ashe county; the Peach Bottom mine on Elk creek, Alleghany county; the
Cullowhee mine on Cullowhee mountain, and Savannah mine on Savannah creek,
Jackson county.

Another mineral for which western North Carolina is noted is corundum. In
1870, Mr. Hiram Crisp found the first corundum that attracted attention to
the present mining region of North Carolina, at what is now the Corundum
Hill mine. A specimen was sent to Prof. Kerr, then state geologist, for
identification, and considerable interest was aroused when it was
discovered that it was corundum. In the same year Mr. J. H. Adams found
corundum in a similar occurrence at Pelham, Massachusetts.

In 1870-71 much activity was displayed in the search for corundum in the
periodite regions of the southwestern counties of North Carolina, and new
localities were soon brought to light in Macon, Jackson, Buncombe, and
Yancey counties. About this time Mr. Crisp and Dr. C. D. Smith began
active work on the Corundum Hill property, and obtained about a thousand
pounds of corundum, part of which was sold to collectors for cabinet
specimens. Some of the masses that were found weighed as much as 40 pounds.

Systematic mining for corundum did not begin until the fall of 1871, when
the Corundum Hill property was purchased by Col. Chas. W. Jenks, of St.
Louis, Missouri, and Mr. E. B. Ward, of Detroit,: Michigan, and work was
soon begun under the superintendence of Col. Jenks. This was the first
systematic mining of common corundum, as distingushed from emery and the
gem varieties, ever undertaken, while the first mining of the emery
variety of corundum in America was at Chester, Massachusetts. The Corundum
Hill mine produced corundum almost continuously from 1872 to 1901. Other
mines that have produced corundum are the Buck Creek mine in Clay county;
the Ellijay mine in Macon county; the Carter mine in Madison county; and
the Higden mine and Behr mine in Clay county.

Mica mining in North Carolina began about 1870, and for the first five
years practically all the mica mined was handled by Heap and Clapp, and
was obtained from the mines of Mitchell and Yancey counties. Mica has
continued to be mined almost constantly since that time not only in Yancy
and Mitchell counties, but in Ashe, Buncombe, Haywood, Jackson, and Macon
counties. There are a great many old workings on these mica deposits, and
before they had been investigated and the mica discovered they were
supposed to be old workings of the Spaniards who were hunting for silver.
It is now supposed that these old workings were made by the Indians for
these sheets of mica; and it is known that mica has been found in Indian
mounds and was used by the Indians who inhabited what is now Ohio in the
manufacture of their beads. North Carolina mica is still known as standard
mica, as it was reckoned from the beginning.

Several other minerals should be mentioned in connection with the
descriptions given above, as they were first identified in North Carolina.
The mineral that stands out most strikingly is the rhodolite, a gem
mineral which was discovered in Macon county about 1894 and was given its
name from the resemblance of its color to that of certain rhododendrons.

MITCHELLITE, a variety of chromite, was discovered near Webster, Jackson
county, in 1892, and was named in honor of the late Prof. Elisha Mitchell
of North Carolina.

WELLSITE, one of the minerals of the zeohte group, was discovered in 1892
at the Buck Creek mine, Clay county, and was named in honor of Prof. H. L.
Wells of Yale University.

The following, belonging to the vermiculite group of minerals, have been
found associated with corundum, and were described by Doctor Genth; they
were all discovered about the same time in 1872 or 1873; Culsageeite, a
variety of Jefferisite, found at the Corundum Hill mine and named for a
postoffice near that place; Kerrite, found at Corundum Hill mine, and
named in honor of Mr. W. C. Kerr, former State Geologist of North
Carolina; Maconite, found at the Corundum Hill mine and named after Macon
county; Lucasite, found at the Corundum Hill mine and named after Dr. H. S
Lucas, who owned the Corundum Hill mine; Willcoxite, found at the Buck
creek (Cullakeene) mine, Clay county, and named after Joseph Willcox of
Philadelphia; Aurelite, found at the Freeman mine, Green river, Henderson
county, about l888--it is a thorium mineral, and was named for Dr. Carl
Auer von Welsbach; Hatchettolite, a tantalium-uranium, was found at the
Wiseman Mica mine, Mitchell county, about 1877, and was named after the
English chemist, Charles Hatchett; phosphuranylite, a uranium mineral,
found at the Flat Rock mine, Mitchell county, about 1879, and named from
the chemical composition of the mineral; and Rogersite, a niobium mineral,
found at the Wiseman Mica mine, Mitchell county, about 1877, named after
Prof. W. B. Rogers."

(1. From "The Iron Manufacturer's Guide," 1859, by J. P. Lesley)

NOTE: The United States Geological Survey has ready for distribution, upon
the receipt of 25 cents each, the following geologic folios each of which
contains descriptive text, topographic map, areal geology map, economic
geology map, structure motion sheet and columnar section sheet. All
information as to the geology and mineralogy of the quadrangles treated
can be found in these folios:
Cranberry Folio, No.90, issued 1903.
Asheville Folio, No.110, issued 1904.
Mount Mitchell Folio, No.124, issued 1905.
Nantahala Folio, No.143, issued 1907.
Fisgab Folio, No.147, issued 1907.
Roan Mountain Folio, No.151, issued 1907.