[Illustration: VALLEY OF THE NOON-DAY SUN.
(See page 98.)]
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.
[Illustration: The great mountain system that begins in that part of
Canada south of the St. Lawrence, and under the name of the Alleghanies,
or Appalachians, extends southward for 1,300 miles, dying out in the
Georgia and Alabama foot-hills, attains its culmination in North
Carolina. The title of Appalachians, as applied by De Soto to the whole
system, is preferred by many geographers. Alleghany is the old Indian
word, signifying “endless.” It is ancient in its origin, and in spite of
its being anglicized still retains its soft, liquid sound. It was not
until a comparatively late year that Western North Carolina was
discovered to be the culminating region. Until 1835 the mountains of New
Hampshire were considered the loftiest of the Alleghanies, and Mount
Washington was placed on the maps and mentioned in text books as the
highest point of rock in the eastern United States. It now holds its
true position below several summits of the Black, Smoky, and Balsam
ranges. From the barometrical measurements of trustworthy explorers, no
less than 57 peaks in Western North Carolina are found to be over 6,000
feet in altitude. The more accurate observations being taken by means of
levels, by the coast survey, may slightly reduce this number.
It was John C. Calhoun who, in 1825, first called particular attention
to the southern section of the system. His attention had been turned to
it by observing the numerous wide rivers, and tributaries of noble
streams, which, like throbbing arteries, came forth from all sides of
the North Carolina mountains, as from the chambers of a mighty heart. He
saw the New river flowing towards the Ohio; the Watauga, the Nolechucky,
the French Broad, the Big Pigeon, the Little Tennessee, the Hiawassee,
and their thousand tributaries, pouring from the central valleys through
the deep gaps of the Smokies into the western plains, and uniting with
the branches from the Cumberland mountains to form the stately
Tennessee; the Yadkin, the Catawba, the Broad, the Chatooga, and the
headwaters of the greatest streams south of Virginia that empty into the
Atlantic. From these observations he reasoned rightly that between the
parallels of 35 degrees and 36 degrees and 30 minutes, north latitude,
lay the highest plateau and mountains of the Atlantic coast.
The region, as measured in a bee line through the center of the plateau
from Virginia to Georgia, is 200 miles in length. Its breadth, from the
summits of the parallel rampart ranges of the Blue Ridge and Smokies,
varies from 15 to 65 miles, and includes within this measurement a
plateau expanse of 6,000 square miles, with an altitude of from 2,000 to
4,000 feet. Inclusive of the eastern slope, the off-shooting spurs of
the Blue Ridge and the South mountains, the average breadth is 70 miles.
A portion of the piedmont section, properly a part of the mountain
district, would be taken in the latter measurement. The counties are 25
in number, reaching from Ashe, Alleghany, and Surrey in the north to
Macon, Clay, and Cherokee in the south.
After the bifurcation of the Blue Ridge and Smoky mountains in Virginia,
embracing with a wide sweep several counties of that state and Ashe,
Alleghany, and Watauga of North Carolina, they almost meet again in the
northeastern limit of Mitchell county. Here, in collosal conjunction,
through their central sentinel heads, the two ranges seem holding
conference before making their final separation. The Grandfather, the
highest peak of the Blue Ridge and the oldest mountain of the world,
stands on one side; the majestic Roan of the Smokies, on the other,
connected by the short transverse upheaval known as Yellow mountain.
This spot is poetically spoken of as the grand portal to the inner
temple of the Alleghanies; the Grandfather and the Roan being the two
pillars between which hangs, forever locked, the massive gate of Yellow
mountain. The high table-land of Watauga forms the green-carpeted step
to it. Trending southwest, between the two separating ranges,--the Blue
Ridge bending like a bow, and the Smokies resembling the
bow-string,--lies wrapped in its robe of misty purple, the central
valley, comprising 13 counties.
The western rampart range, bearing the boundary line between North
Carolina and Tennessee, lifts its crest much higher than the Blue Ridge;
is more massive in its proportions; less straggling in its contour; but
with lower gaps or gorges, narrow and rugged, through which flow all the
rivers of the plateau. Generically known as the Smoky mountains, it is
by the river gorges divided into separate sections, each of which has
its peculiar name. The most northerly of these sections is termed the
Stone mountains; then follow the Iron, Bald, Great Smoky, Unaka, and the
Frog mountains of Georgia. Twenty-three peaks of the Smoky mountains are
over 6,000 feet in altitude, the loftiest being Clingman’s Dome, 6,660
feet. The deepest gap is that of the Little Tennessee, 1,114 feet.
The eastern rampart range--the Blue Ridge--trends southward with the
convolutions of a snake; its undulations rising seldom above a mile in
altitude and sinking sometimes so low that, in passing through its wide
gaps, one is not aware that he is crossing a mountain range, the fact
being concealed by the parallel spurs rising, in many instances, to a
higher altitude than their parent chain. In spite of its depressions,
and, when compared with the Smoky mountains, the low average elevation
of its crest, it is the water-shed of the system. Not a stream severs
it. On the east every stream sweeps toward the Atlantic. On the west the
waters of its slopes are joined at its base line by those flowing down
the east or south side of the Smoky mountains; and, mingling with the
latter, pour through the deep passes of the loftier range into the
valley of the western confluent of the Tennessee.
From the Blue Ridge is thrown off many short ranges, trending east and
south across the submontane plateau. In character of outline they are
similar to the parent chain. This plateau, known as the Piedmont, walled
on the west by the Blue Ridge, diversified by mountains and hills, and
seamed by the Yadkin, Catawba, and Broad rivers and their affluents,
incloses in its limits many beautiful and fertile valleys. The outer
slope of the Blue Ridge, overlooking Piedmont, is abrupt in its descent
and presents wild and picturesque features; cascades marking the
channels of the streams. Further south, where the range bends around the
South Carolina and Georgia lines, bold escarpments of rock and ragged
pine-set declivities, seamed by cataracts, and beaten on by a hot and
sultry sun, break sheer off into the southern plains. The inner slope of
the Blue Ridge throughout its entire length from Virginia to Georgia, as
contrasted with the outer slope, is more gentle in its descent; is
heavily wooded and diversified with clearings. The Smoky mountains
present similar characteristics--richly wooded descents toward the
central valley; rocky and sterile fronts toward Tennessee.
The reader must not imagine that the central valley or plateau, of which
we have been speaking, is a level or bowl-shaped expanse between the
ranges described. On the contrary, its surface is so broken by
transverse mountain ranges and their foot-hills that, by means of vision
alone, the observer from no one point can obtain a correct idea of the
structural character of the region. From the loftiest peaks, he can see
the encircling ranges and the level lands beyond their outer slopes; but
below him is rolled an inner sea of mountains, which, when looked upon
in some directions, seems of limitless expanse. The transverse chains,
comprising the Yellow mountain, the Black, Newfound, Balsam, Cowee,
Nantihala, and Valley River mountains, hold a majority of the highest
summits of the Alleghanies.
The Black mountain chain, the highest of these ranges, is only 20 miles
long, and has 18 peaks in altitude over 6,000 feet; the highest of
which, Mitchell’s Peak, 6,711 feet above sea-level, is the sovereign
mountain of the Alleghanies. The Balsam range, the longest of the
transverse chains, is 45 miles in length and crested by 15 wooded
pinnacles over 6,000 feet high. The parallel cross-chains have, nestling
between their slopes, central valleys, varying in length and width, and
opening back into little vales between the foot-hills and branching
spurs. Through the lowest dip of each great valley, sweeps toward the
Smokies a wide, crystal river fed by its tributaries from the mountain
heights.
The great valleys, or the distinct regions drained each by one of the
rivers which cut asunder the Smokies, are six in number. The extreme
northern part of the state is drained by the New river and the Watauga.
Between the Yellow mountain and the Blacks lies that deeply embosomed
valley region watered by the head-springs of the Nolechucky. Next comes
the widest and longest plain of the mountain section--the valley of the
French Broad. The Big Pigeon winds through the high plateau between the
Newfound and Balsam mountains. The region of the Little Tennessee
comprises not only the wide lands along its own banks, but those along
its great forks--the Tuckasege, Nantihala, and Ocona Lufta. West of the
Valley River mountains the country is drained by the Hiawassee.
Geologically speaking, the mountains of North Carolina are the oldest in
the world. During the period of general upheavals and subsidences of the
crust of the earth, these mountains were the only lands remaining
throughout firm above the surface of the ocean. Rocks of the Archæan or
earliest age are exposed, and with their edges turned at a high angle
lie upon the beds of later periods of formation. North of the southern
boundary of Virginia, the structural character of the mountains is
different.
The entire region is mantled with forests to the summit of every peak;
the valleys and many of the adjacent coves are cleared and inhabited by
a happy, healthy, and hospitable people. It is rich in picturesque
scenery--romantic rivers, luxuriant forests, majestic mountain heights,
valleys of exquisite beauty, quaint villages, cliffs, and waterfalls. It
is rich in a life-giving climate, brilliant skies, fertile lands,
pastured steeps, and timber and mineral wealth.
It is of this country--the Heart of the Alleghanies--that in the
following pages we have treated in as full, concise, and entertaining a
manner as we could conceive and carry into execution.
[Illustration: UNAKA KANOOS.]
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._
[Illustration: W]e are excluded from a knowledge of ancient American
history by an impenetrable veil of mystery and silence. The past has
left us only relics--relics of things and relics of races--which are
interpreted by an unreined imagination. Before Europeans set foot on the
western shore of the Atlantic, before the Indians occupied the forest
continent, there dwelt on all the sunniest plains and fertile valleys a
race well advanced in mechanical and æsthetic art, skilled in war and
consecrated in religion. It came and flourished and perished, leaving
only monuments of its existence in the form of works of earth, and works
of stone--mounds, forts, and pottery. The old mounds scattered
everywhere are the sepulchres of illustrious dead, and because of their
number, the race has been designated the “Mound Builders.” They
inhabited, among other places, the southern Alleghanies, the largest
number of mounds being found in the upper valley of the Little
Tennessee. Most of the rich mica dikes bear evidence of having been
worked centuries ago. The marks of stone picks may still be seen upon
the soft feldspar with which the mica is associated, and tunnels and
shafts show some knowledge of mining. The fact that a great many ancient
mounds all over the country contain skeletons, encased in mica plates,
associates these diggings with the builders of the mounds.
The earliest traditional knowledge we have of the habitation of the
southern highlands has been handed down by the Cherokees. They say that
before they conquered the country and settled in the valleys, the
inhabitants were “moon-eyed,” that is, were unable to see during certain
phases of the moon. During a period of blindness, the Creeks swept
through the mountain passes, up the valleys, and annihilated the race.
The Cherokees in turn conquered the Creeks, with great slaughter, which
must have occurred at a very ancient date, for the country of their
conquest and adoption is the seat of their religious legends and
traditional romances.
No definite boundaries can be assigned to the land of any Indian tribe,
much less a nation of proud and warlike mountaineers who were happy only
when carrying bloodied tomahawks into an enemy’s country. The tribe was
distinguished by two great geographical divisions, the Ottari,
signifying “among the mountains,” and the Erati, signifying “lowland.”
Provincial historians have designated them as “In the Valley” and
“Overhill” towns, the great highland belt between the Blue Ridge and
Smoky mountains being designated as a valley. The ancient realm of the
tribe may, in a general way, be described as the headwater valleys of
the Yadkin and Catawba on the east; of the Keowee, Tugaloo, Flint, Etowa
and Coosa on the south, and the several tributaries of the Tennessee on
the west. There were 60 towns, and 6,000 fighting men could at any time
be called by the grand chief to the war path. It was the military
prowess of these warriors that gave to the nation the most picturesque
and most secure home of all the American tribes. A keen and delicate
appreciation of the beautiful in nature, as associated with the grandeur
of their surroundings, inspired them to unparalleled heroism in its
defense against intrusion. They successfully withstood neighboring
tribes, but their contest with the whites was a contest with destiny, in
which they yielded only after a long and bloody struggle. The ancient
nation of the mountains, expelled from its home, crippled and enervated,
but improved in some respects, has found a home in the less picturesque
and distant west; but has left a dissevered and withered limb which,
like a fossil, merely reminds us of a bygone period of history.
If any one doubts that the Cherokees possessed an appreciative love of
country and a genuine sympathy with nature, let him turn to his map, and
pronounce those Indian names which have not been cruelly, almost
criminally, displaced by English common-places. Let him remember too
that there is a meaning in their euphony, and a suggestiveness in their
melody. It is a grievous fault, the more grievous because it is
irreparable, that so many of the bold streams which thunder down forest
slopes and through echoing cañons, have lost those designations whose
syllables glide from the tongue in harmony with the music of the crystal
currents. Of many natural features the names are preserved, but their
meanings have been lost.
East of the Blue Ridge, in North Carolina, very few geographical names
of Indian origin have survived. In the valley of the French Broad there
is also a barrenness of prehistoric nomenclature. From this circumstance
it is argued, and the argument is well sustained, that there was no
permanent habitation of Indians in these two localities. The villages
were located in valley, and were known by the name of the streams. In
some instances, traditions became associated with the name, and in them
we have a key to an unwritten scroll. A village, furthermore, gave to a
region an importance which made its name widely known, not only in the
tribe but among traders and other white adventurers, and thus made it a
fixture. There is the additional negative evidence of no permanent
habitation, in the fact that mention is no where made, in the annals of
military expeditions against the Indians, of villages east of the Balsam
mountains. Hunters and warriors penetrated the forests for game, and
carried the tomahawk to every frontier, frequently making the Upper
Catawba and French Broad valleys their camping ground. While we know
nothing about the facts, the presumption is reasonable that at least all
the larger rivers and their tributaries were given names by the Indians,
which perished with the change of race and ownership.
Catawba is not of Cherokee origin. The river takes its name from the
tribe which inhabited its valley until a recent date; South Carolina. It
was a species of vandalism to substitute French Broad for Agiqua and
Tocheeostee, the former being the name applied by the Erati, or “over
the mountain” Cherokees, to the lower valley, and the latter by the
Ottari, or “valley” towns, to the upper or North Carolina section below
Asheville. “Racing river” is a literal translation of the term
Tocheeostee. Above Asheville, where the stream is placid and winds
snake-like through the wide alluvions, it took the name Zillicoah.
Swanannoa is one of the most resonant of Indian names, though in being
accommodated to English orthography it has lost much of its music. It
would be impossible to indicate the original pronunciation. I can,
perhaps, tell you nearer how to utter it. Begin with a suppressed sound
of the letter “s,” then with tongue and palate lowered, utter the vowel
sound of “a” in swan four times in quick succession, giving to the
first as much time as to the second two, and raise the voice one note on
the last. The word is said to have been derived from the sound made by a
raven’s wing as it sweeps through the air. Before white settlers came
into the country that species of bird was very plentiful along all the
streams, and at their points of confluence were its favorite roosting
places, whence, aided by the scent of the water, it sallied up stream in
search of food. Hundreds collected at the mouth of the Swanannoa, and
the name was the oft repeated imitation, by the voice, of the music of
their wings, as they whizzed past the morning camp-fire of the hunter or
warrior bands, on the bank of the stream. The hungry, homely, and hated
raven is indeed an humble origin for a name so beautiful, applied to an
object so much applauded for its beauty.
If the upper tributaries of the French Broad ever had names worthy of
their character which have been displaced by such colloquialisms as
Cathey’s creek, Davidson’s river, Mills’ river, and Little river, they
perished with the race more in sympathy with nature than the inhabitants
of the last century. By some chance that gentle stream which snakes
through the flat valley of Henderson county, has preserved an Indian
designation, though it is probably a borrowed one. Ocklawaha is the name
which we find in old legal documents, and its tributary, which gives the
county’s capital a peninsular situation, is designated the Little
Ocklawaha--a barbarous mixture of Indian and English. The word is of
Seminole origin, and means “slowly moving water.” It was applied to a
river in Florida by the natives, and to this Carolina stream by the “low
country” people who found summer homes beyond the Blue Ridge, because of
the applicability of the name and its resemblance in some other respects
to the original Ochlawaha. Reverence of antiquity and the geographical
genius of the red race, can not be claimed as an argument in favor of
the re-substitution of the Indian designation for the present
universally used colloquialism, “Mud creek,” as homely as it is false in
the idea it suggests. Ochlawaha is not only more pleasing to the ear,
but gives a much more faithful description of the landscape feature
designated, and hence has sufficient claims to the public recognition
which we take the lead in giving it.
Going southward, and crossing the Blue Ridge and Green river, which
derives its name from the tint of its water, we come to the Saluda
range, the fountain of a river of the same name. The word is of Catawba
origin, as is also Estatoa. Toxaway, or more properly spelled Tochawha,
is Cherokee, but we have no satisfactory interpretation of its meaning.
The Balsams are rich in legendary superstitions. The gloom of their dark
solitudes fills even the hurried tourist with an unaccountable fear, and
makes it impossible for him to suppress the recollection of tales of
ghosts and goblins upon which his childish imagination was fed. The
mountains assume mysterious shapes, projecting rocks seem to stand
beckoning; and the echo of cascades falls upon the ear like ominous
warnings. No wonder then, that it was a region peopled by pagan
superstition, with other spirits than human. It is the instinct of the
human mind, no matter what may be its degree of cultivation, to seek an
explanation of things. When natural causes can not be discovered for the
phenomena of nature, the supernatural is drawn upon. The Cherokees knew
no natural reason why the tops of high mountains should be treeless, but
having faith in a personal devil they jumped at the conclusion that the
“bald” spots must be the prints of his horrid feet as he walked with
giant strides from peak to peak.
Near the Great Divide, between the waters of Pigeon river and French
Broad, is situated the Devil’s Court-house, which rises to an altitude
of 6,049 feet. Near it is Court-house mountain. At both places his
Satanic majesty was believed to sit in judgment, and doom to punishment
all who had been wayward in courage, or had departed from a strict code
of virtue, though bravery in war atoned for a multitude of sins.
The devil had besides these a supreme court-house, where finally all
mankind would be summoned for trial. This was one of the great
precipices of the Whiteside mountain, situated in Jackson county, at the
southern terminus of the Cowee range. There is no wonder that the simple
minded pagans supposed that nature had dedicated this structure to
supernatural use, for it excels in grandeur the most stupendous works of
human hands. It consists of a perpendicular wall of granite, so curved
as to form an arc more than a mile long, and rises 1,800 feet from the
moss-blanketed rocks which form the pavement of an enclosed court. About
half way up there is a shelf-like projection, not more than two feet
wide, which leads from one side to a cave. This was supposed to be the
inner room of the great temple, whence the judge of human conduct would
come to pronounce sentence at the end of the world. That this important
business should be entrusted to Satan is a mythological incongruity. A
certain sorcerer, or medicine-man, taking advantage of the popular
superstition about the place, made the cave his home, going in and out
by the narrow shelf. He announced that he was in league with the spirits
of the next world, and consequently could go in and out with perfect
safety, which fact caused him to be recognized as a great man. There
have been found, in the vicinity of Whiteside, Indian ladders--that is,
trees with the limbs trimmed so as to form steps. What they could have
been used for we are unable to conjecture; certainly not to scale the
mountain sides, for such a thing would be impossible.
Old Field mountain, in the Balsam range, derives its name from the
tradition that it was Satan’s bed-chamber. The Cherokees of a recent
generation affirm that his royal majesty was often seen by their
forefathers, and even some of the first white settlers had knowledge of
his presence. On the top of the mountain there is a prairie-like tract,
almost level, reached by steep slopes covered with thickets of balsam
and rhododendron, which seem to garrison the reputed sacred domain. It
was understood among the Indians to be forbidden territory, but a party
one day permitted their curiosity to tempt them. They forced a way
through the entangled thickets, and with merriment entered the open
ground. Aroused from sleep and enraged by their audacious intrusion, the
devil, taking the form of an immense snake, assaulted the party and
swallowed 50 of them before the thicket could be regained.
Among the first whites who settled among the Indians and traded with
them, was a party of hunters who used this superstition to escape
punishment for their reprehensible conduct. They reported that they were
in league with the great spirit of evil, and to prove that they were,
frequented this “old field.” They described his bed, under a large
overhanging rock, as a model of neatness. They had frequently thrown
into it stones and brushwood during the day, while the master was out,
but the place was invariably as clean the next morning “as if it had
been brushed with a bunch of feathers.”
But there is another legend of the Balsams more significant than any of
these. It is the Paradise Gained of Cherokee mythology, and bears some
distant resemblance to the Christian doctrine of mediation. The Indians
believed that they were originally mortal in spirit as well as body, but
above the blue vault of heaven there was, inhabited by a celestial race,
a forest into which the highest mountains lifted their dark summits. It
is a fact worth noticing that, while the priests of the orient described
heaven as a great city with streets of gold and gates of pearl and fine
gems, the tribes of the western continent aspired to nothing beyond the
perpetual enjoyment of wild nature.
The mediator, by whom eternal life was secured for the Indian
mountaineers, was a maiden of their own tribe. Allured by the haunting
sound and diamond sparkle of a mountain stream, she wandered far up into
a solitary glen, where the azalea, the kalmia, and the rhododendron
brilliantly embellished the deep, shaded slopes, and filled the air with
their delicate perfume. The crystal stream wound its crooked way between
moss covered rocks over which tall ferns bowed their graceful stems.
Enchanted by the scene she seated herself upon the soft moss and
overcome by fatigue was soon asleep. The dream picture of a fairyland
was presently broken by the soft touch of a strange hand. The spirit of
her dream occupied a place at her side, and wooing, won her for his
bride.
Her supposed abduction caused great excitement among her people, who
made diligent search for her recovery in their own villages. Being
unsuccessful, they made war upon the neighboring tribes in the hope of
finding the place of her concealment. Grieved because of so much
bloodshed and sorrow, she besought the great chief of the eternal
hunting grounds to make retribution. She was accordingly appointed to
call a council of her people at the forks of the Wayeh (Pigeon) river.
She appeared unto the chiefs in a dream, and charged them to meet the
spirits of the hunting ground with fear and reverence.
At the hour appointed the head men of the Cherokees assembled. The high
Balsam peaks were shaken by thunder and aglare with lightning. The
cloud, as black as midnight, settled over the valley; then lifted,
leaving upon a large rock a cluster of strange men, armed and painted as
for war. An enraged brother of the abducted maiden swung his tomahawk,
and raised the war whoop; but a swift thunderbolt dispatched him before
the echo had died in the hills. The chiefs, terror-stricken, fled to
their towns.
The bride, grieved by the death of her brother and the failure of the
council, prepared to abandon her new home and return to her kindred in
the valleys. To reconcile her the promise was granted that all brave
warriors and their faithful women should have an eternal home in the
happy hunting ground above, after death. The great chief of the forest
beyond the clouds became the guardian spirit of the Cherokees. All
deaths, either from wounds in battle or disease, were attributed to his
desire to make additions to the celestial hunting ground, or on the
other hand, to his wrath which might cause their unfortunate spirits to
be turned over to the disposition of the evil genius of the mountain
tops. Plagues and epidemics were sometimes supposed to be the work of
sorcerers, witches and monsters, human and superhuman. Once during an
epidemic of smallpox, so says a traditional tale, a devil in human form
was tracked to the headwaters of Tusquittee, where he was apprehended in
a cave. They saluted him with a volley of poisoned arrows, which he
tossed back with derisive laughter. After several repetitions with the
same result, a bird spoke to the disheartened warriors, telling them
that their enemy was invulnerable, except one finger which, if hit,
would cause his instant death. As in the case of Achilles, of Troy, the
vulnerable spot received a fatal shot, and the plague ceased its
ravages. The bird was of the variety of little yellow songsters--a
variety protected as sacred down to within the memory of the man from
whom the writer received this legend.
We return now to the discussion of Indian names, with which the
narration of incidents, connected with the geographical nomenclature of
the Balsam mountains has slightly interfered. The Indian names of the
French Broad have already been given. The present name has an historical
signification to commend its continued use, if nothing more. Prior to
the treaty made between England and France in 1763, the latter nation
claimed all the country drained by the Mississippi, the ground of this
claim being actual settlement near the mouth of that river and at
several places along its course. International customs gave the claim
validity, though the English never admitted it. Adair, an early
historian, says: “Louisiana stretched to the head-springs of the
Alleghany and Monongahela, of the Kenawha and Tennessee. Half a mile
from the southern branch of the Savannah is Herbert’s spring, which
flows into the Mississippi. Strangers who drank of it, would say they
had tasted of _French_ waters.” In like manner, traders and hunters from
the Atlantic settlements, in passing from the headwaters of Broad river
over the Blue Ridge, and coming to the streams with which they
inosculate, would hear, as Adair did, of the French claim, and call it
most naturally “French Broad.”
Watauga and Nollichucky are Cherokee designations, but the latter should
be spelled Nouachuneh. We are unable to learn the original name of New
river. Estatoa, flowing from the Black mountains, has been shortened to
“Toe.” The Pigeon was originally Wayeh, which has been simply
translated.
The reader should be reminded before going further into this subject
that absolute accuracy in the importation of the Cherokee into our
language cannot be attained. In the first place no combination of
English letters can be made to represent the original sounds, nor can
they be uttered by the English mouth. Then again, the same syllables
with different inflections have different meanings. The English spelling
is merely an attempt at imitation, and the meanings, given by those who
profess to know, are sometimes only guesses. In spelling, uniformity is
chiefly to be sought. One rule, however, should be followed implicitly:
never use a letter whose sound requires closing the lips. A Cherokee
said everything with his mouth open. “Tsaraghee” would come nearest a
correct pronunciation of the name of the tribe, yet in its application
to a mountain in Georgia it is “Currahee.”
The country occupied by the Cherokees down to within the memory of men
still living, embraced the valleys west of the Balsam mountains. The
first white settlers adopted the geographical nomenclature of the
natives, which is still retained. Junaluska, the name of the picturesque
mountain group overlooking the Richland and Scott’s creek valleys, was
applied by white settlers in honor of the intrepid war chief who
commanded the Indian forces in Alabama, belonging to Jackson’s army in
the war of 1812. He was an exemplary man, honored by his people and
respected by the whites. The State, in recognition of his military
services, granted him a boundary of land in the Cheowah valley, known as
the Junaluska farm, on which he was buried in 1847.
Tennessee, the name of the largest river in upper Carolina, is of Indian
origin, but was written by the first explorers, “Tennasee.” Kalamutchee
was the name of the main stream formed by the Clinch and Holston. The
French named the whole river Cosquinambeaux which happily perished with
the old maps.
The principal tributary of the Little Tennessee above the Smoky
mountains is spelled differently on almost every map. The best
authority, however, derived from the Indians themselves, through
intelligent citizens, makes it a word of three syllables, spelled
Tuckasege. Most old maps give it an additional syllable by doubling the
final “e.” The English signification of the word is “terrapin.” There
was a town of the same name above the site of Webster, and near it a
pond which abounded in the water species of that reptile. The shells
were much sought and highly prized by the Indians for ornaments. The
couplet of mountains which divide the Tuckasege from Cashier’s valley,
are locally known by the English signification “Terrapin,” but the
original, “Tuckasege,” should be restored.
Ocona Lufta, the name of the pearly stream which flows through the
Indian settlement, is derived from its having been a nesting place for
ducks and other water fowls. One of its affluents, the Colehmayeh, is
derived from Coleh, “raven,” and Mayeh, “water.” The English “Raven’s
fork” is in common use among the whites. Soco, the name of another
tributary of the Lufta, means “one.”
Charlestown, in Swain county, occupies the ancient site of the Indian
village of Younaahqua or Big Bear. Wesuh, meaning “cat,” has taken the
colloquialism Conley’s creek for its name. The post hamlet of Qualla
town, in the present Cherokee settlement, is an English name modified to
suit the Indian tongue. A white woman named Polly, familiarly “Aunt
Polly,” opened a small store. Her Indian customers, unable to give the
sound of “p,” their speech being open-mouthed, substituted the “q”
sound, which came into general use and finally changed the word. Qualla
is a very common name for Indian women.
The euphonious name Nantahala seems to be little understood. The most
commonly given interpretation is “maiden’s bosom,” though that meaning
can only be derived by a stretch of metaphor. If the word, as supposed
by some interpreters, is compounded of _Nantaseh_ and _Eylee_, it means
“between ridges,” whence by far-fetched simile “maiden’s bosom.” But it
is more probably compounded of _Nantaseh_ and _Eyalee_, which literally
means “The sun between,” or “half way,” hence “noonday sun.”
The Hiawassee was known among the earliest explorers as the Euphrasee,
which was perhaps the name applied by a more southern tribe. The largest
affluent of the Hiawassee is the Valley river, known by the Cherokees as
Ahmachunahut, meaning “long stream.”
Cullasaja is the old name of that tributary of the Little Tennessee
which heads in the Macon highlands, and is noted for the beauty of its
cascades. The English signification of the word is “sweet water.” Sugar
fork is the local designation, though the maps preserve the old and rich
sounding original.
Satoola, the name of a high peak overlooking the upper Macon plateau,
has been mercilessly pruned to “Stooley.” Horse Cove is the homely
appellation of a parquet-shaped valley within the curved precipice which
leads from Satoola to Whitesides. Sequilla, the old Indian name, has a
much better sound. Cowee, the designation of the great transverse chain
which divides the Tuckasege from the Tennessee is a corruption of Keowe,
the form which still attaches to the river. It means “near”, or “at
hand.”
The writers regret that they are unable to give the meaning of all the
words of Indian origin which appear upon the map. They regret still more
that they are unable to restore to all places of general interest the
rich accents of the Cherokee tongue. It is a subject which will require
long and patient study. Public interest must also be aroused, so that
designations long since laid aside, when made known, will be locally
applied.
We will now trace the rapid decline of the most warlike of all the
Indian tribes, and conclude with an account of the remnant band known as
the Eastern Cherokees. One of the first white invasions of the
picturesque dominion of the ancient tribe was made by slave traders,
late in the seventeenth century, in the interest of West India planters.
Hundreds of strong warriors were bound and carried from Arcadia and
freedom to malarious swamps and bondage, where they soon sank under the
burden of oppressive labor. Cherokees made better slaves than any other
Indians, on account of their superior strength and intelligence, and
consequently were the most sought. Neighboring tribes were incited to
make war upon them by the offer of prizes for captives. After long
suffering and much bloodshed, the governor of Carolina, in response to
the solicitations of the head men of the tribe, interposed the authority
of his government. The Cherokee nation in return acknowledged Great
Britain as its protector, and permitted the erection of British forts
within its territory. Emissaries of France attempted to win the
allegiance of these Indians with presents of gaudy blankets, and arms
for the chase. While their affections vacillated between the two
nations, the tribe proved loyal in the end to its first vow. In the
French war in the year 1757, the Cherokees bore arms against France,
with which nation most of the red race were in alliance. On their return
from the forks of the Ohio, after the fall of Fort Duquesne, being
poorly fed, they raided the settlements and carried away a large number
of negro slaves. These taught their masters the elements of farming.
The Cherokees remained loyal to the king during the Revolution, and,
associated with tory guerrillas, engaged in many acts of bloody
violence. The transmontane settlement, on the Holston in East Tennessee,
was the chief object of the tribe’s malignant jealousy. For six years,
the little band of settlers held their lives in their hands, struggling
incessantly with blood-thirsty foes and slowly devouring poverty.
The Indians themselves suffered incursions from both sides of the
mountains. Their villages on the Tuckasege, Little Tennessee and the
Hiawassee were frequently destroyed, the country pillaged, corn burned
and ponies led away. Ramsey thus describes an expedition of Tennesseeans
under command of Colonel John Sevier, the lion of the western border:
“The command, consisting of 120 men, went up Cane creek (from the
Holston), crossed Ivy and Swanannoa,” thence through Balsam gap to the
Tuckasege. “He entered and took by surprise the town of Tuckasege. Fifty
warriors were slain, and fifty women and children taken prisoners. In
that vicinity the troops under Sevier burnt 15 or 20 towns and all the
graneries of corn they could find. It was a hard and disagreeable
necessity that led to the adoption of these apparently cruel measures.”
The lower and valley towns afterwards suffered a similar fate.
An incident illustrative of the times is associated with the naming of
Fine’s creek in Haywood county. The Indians were in the habit of making
sallies down the Pigeon into the Tennessee settlements, then returning
to their mountain fastnesses. On one of these expeditions they were
routed and followed by Peter Fine and a company of plucky militia. The
Indians were overtaken in camp beyond the mountains, one killed and the
property recovered. The whites were in turn followed by the Indians,
and, while sustaining a night attack, Vinet Fine, the major’s brother,
was killed. A hole was cut in the ice, and, to conceal the body from the
savages, it was dropped into the creek. It is appropriate, therefore,
that the stream should be called Fine’s creek.