Part 1

THE

HEART OF THE ALLEGHANIES

OR

WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

COMPRISING

ITS TOPOGRAPHY, HISTORY, RESOURCES, PEOPLE, NARRATIVES, INCIDENTS, AND PICTURES OF TRAVEL, ADVENTURES IN HUNTING AND FISHING.

AND

LEGENDS OF ITS WILDERNESSES.

BY

WILBUR G. ZEIGLER AND BEN S. GROSSCUP

_WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS_

RALEIGH, N. C. ALFRED WILLIAMS & CO.

CLEVELAND, O. WILLIAM W. WILLIAMS

Copyright, 1883 By WILBUR G. ZEIGLER AND BEN S. GROSSCUP

CONTENTS.

_INTRODUCTION._

The Culmination of the Alleghanies--Area--The Grand Portal--The Blue Ridge--The Smokies--Transverse Ranges of the Central Plateau--Ancient Mountains.....7

_THE NATIVE MOUNTAINEERS._

The “Moon-eyed” People--Ottari and Erati--Musical Names--Legendary Superstitions--The Devil’s Footprints--His Judgment Seat--A Sacred Domain--Cherokee’s Paradise Gained--Aboriginal Geography--Sevier’s Expedition--Decline of the Tribe--Younaguska--A White Chief--The Qualla Boundary--A Ride Through the Reservation--Yellow Hill--Constitution and Faith of the Band--Characteristics--An Indian Maiden--Soco Scenery.....15

_IN THE HAUNTS OF THE BLACK BEAR._

Bruin’s “Usin’-Places”--Pointers--A Hunting Party--Stately Forests--Wid Medford--Sticking a Bear--Trials of Camping-Out--A Picture--Frosted Mountains--Amid the Firs--Natural History--In Close Quarters--Scenic Features--The Drive Begins--An Ebon Mountain--Judyculla Old Field--Calling In the Drivers--A Snow Storm--The Vale of Pigeon--A Picturesque Party--Through Laurel Thickets--At Bay--The Death Shot--Sam’s Knob--Bear Traps--An Old Hunter’s Observation.....45

_THE VALLEY OF THE NOON-DAY SUN._

The Nantihala--Woodland Scenes--Monday’s--Franklin--Evening on the Little Tennessee--The Alleghanies’ Grandest Highway--The Valley River Range--Lonely Wilds--The Prince of Sluggards--Murphy--A Swiss Landscape--An Animated Guide-post--At the “Hoe-Down”--Apprehensions of Harm--A Jug in My Hands--Pine Torches--The Shooting Match--“Hoss-Swoppers”--Discouraging Comments--The Fawning Politician--Cat-Stairs--The Anderson Roughs--Campbell’s Cabin--No Wash-Basin--The Devil’s Chin--Soapstone and Marble Quarries--A Stinging Reception--Deer--A “Corn-cracker”--Robbinsville.....79

_WITH ROD AND LINE._

The Tow-head Angler--The Brook Trout--Points--The Paragon Month for Fishing--Artificial Ponds--Trip to the Toe--Anti-Liquor--Rattlesnakes--Mitchell’s Peak--A Ghost Story--In Weird Out-lines--Burnsville--Pigeon River--Cataluche--Mount Starling and its Black Brothers--Whipping the Stream--Striking a Bargain--An Urchin’s Ideas--Swain County Trout Streams--In Jackson and Macon--A Grand Cataract--Trout, Buck and Panther--In the Northwest Counties.....107

_AFTER THE ANTLERS._

The Heart of the Smokies--Clingman’s Dome--Prospect from the Summit--Mounted Sportsmen--A Mountain Bug-Bear--Charleston--The Dungeon--A Village Storekeeper--Beautiful River Bends--At the Roses’--A Typical Mountain Cabin--Quil’s Wolf story--A Quick Toilet--The Footprints of Autumn--Knowledge from Experience--The Ridge Stand--Buck Ague--On Long Rock--A Superb Shot--The Buck Vanishes--Acquitted Through Superstition--The Hunter’s Hearthstone.....137

_NATURAL RESOURCES._

The “Tar-Heel” Joke--Tobacco--Favorable Conditions for Gold Leaf--A Ruinous Policy--Hickory--Shelby--In Piedmont--Old Field Land--General Clingman’s Story--Watauga County--Unequalled Pastures--Prices of Lands--Stock Raising--The French Broad Tobacco Slopes--Fair Figures--Henderson and Transylvania--The Pigeon Valley--The Extreme Southwest Portion--Character of Wild Range--Horticulture--The Thermal Zone--Forests for Manufacturers--The Gold Zone--Mica Mines--Corundum--Iron Deposits--The Cranberry Ore Bank--Copper, Lead, Tin, and Silver--Precious Stones.....167

_HISTORICAL RESUME._

Early Emigration--Daniel Boone--The “Pennsylvania Dutch”--Conservatism--The Revolutionary Forces--The King’s Mountain Battle--“Nollichucky Jack”--The Prisoner’s Escape--The State of Franklin--The Pioneers--Formation of Counties--The Western North Carolina Railroad--During the Late War--Restless Mountains--Scientific Explorations--Calhoun’s Observation--The Tragedy of the Black Mountains--Later Surveys--Representatives of the Mountain People.....213

_IN THE SADDLE._

Mounting in Asheville--A Surly Host--Bat Cave--Titanic Stone Cliffs--Chimney Rock Hotel--The Pools--A Sunset Scene--The Shaking Bald--The Spectre Cavalry Fight--A Twilight Gallop Through McDowell County--Pleasant Gardens--The Catawba Valleys--On the Linville Range--Table Rock and Hawk-Bill--The Canon--Innocents Abroad--The Fox and the Pheasant--Linville Falls--A Dismal Woodland--Traveling Families--Grandfather Mountain--The Ascent--A Sunday Ride--Blowing Rock--Boone--Valle Crucis--Elk River--The Cranberry Mines--On the Roan--Cloud-Land Hotel--A Hermit’s History--Above a Thunder Storm--Bakersville--Traces of a Prehistoric People--The Sink-Hole and Ray Mica Mines--Cremation--Drawing Rein.....237

_BEYOND IRON WAYS._

Stage Riding--The Driver’s Story--Waynesville--Court Week--Prescriptions for Spirit. Frument.--Before the Bar--An Out-Door Jury Room--White Sulphur Springs--A Night’s Entertainment--The Haunted Cabin--A Panther Hunt--The Phantom Millers--Light on the Mysteries--Micadale--Recollections--Soco Falls--Webster--An Artist’s Trials--Above the Tuckasege Cataract--Hamburg--A Cordial Invitation--Cashier’s Valley--Whiteside--A Coffee Toper--Horse Cove--Golden Sands--Ravenel’s Magnificent Site--Hints for the Mounted Tourist--The Macon Highlands--A Demon of the Abyss--A Region of Cascades and Cataracts--Through Rabun Gap--Clayton, Georgia--The Falls of Tallulah--An Iron Way.....279

_A ZIGZAG TOUR._

The Mountains as a Summer Resort--On the Western North Carolina Railroad--Sparkling Catawba Springs--Glen Alpine--Marion--Asheville--Romantic Drives--Turnpike--Arden Park--Hendersonville--Flat Rock--The Ante-War Period--Cæsar’s Head--Brevard--A “Moonshine” Expedition--A Narrow Escape--How Illicit Whisky is Sold--Along the French Broad--An Excited Countryman--Marshal--Warm Springs--Shut-in Gap--Paint Rock--A Picture of the Sublime.....333

Tables of Altitude, Population, Area of counties, and Temperature.....371

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE.

1. VALLEY OF THE NOON-DAY SUN Frontispiece.

2. UNAKA KANOOS 13

3. A SOCO LASS 37

4. MOUNT PISGAH 43

5. THE FINAL STRUGGLE 74

6. THE WARRIOR BALD 82

7. A NARROW WATER-WAY 102

8. A GLIMPSE OF THE TOE 119

9. ON THE CATALUCHE 128

10. OCHLAWAHA VALLEY FROM DUN CRAGIN 135

11. ON THE LITTLE TENNESSEE 145

12. SILVER SPRINGS 173

13. THE FRENCH BROAD CANON 182

14. SWANNANOA HOTEL 211

15. SPARKLING CATAWBA SPRINGS 235

16. THE WATAUGA FALLS 266

17. MACON HIGHLANDS 293

18. THE JUNALUSKAS 316

19. THE CULLASAJA FALLS 329

20. UP THE BLUE RIDGE 338

21. BOLD HEADLANDS 354

22. CASCADES OF SPRING CREEK 369

DR. W. C. KERR’S MAP OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA (used by permission of State Board of Agriculture).

INTRODUCTION.

Oh, holy melody of peace! Oh, nature in thy grandest mood! I love thee most where ways are rude Of men, and wild the landscape’s face.

THE NATIVE MOUNTAINEERS.

All kinds of creatures stand and fall By strength of prowess or of wit; ’Tis God’s appointment who must sway, And who is to submit. --_Wordsworth._