Trail Mountain, Georgia, May, 1848.
I now write from near the summit of the highest mountain in Georgia.
I obtained my first view of this peak while in the village of
Clarksville, and it presented such a commanding appearance, that I
resolved to surmount it, on my way to the North, although my
experience has proven that climbing high mountains is always more
laborious than profitable. I came here on the back of a mule, and my
guide and companion on the occasion was the principal proprietor of
Nacoochee valley, Major Edward Williams. While ascending the
mountain, which occupied about seven hours, (from his residence,)
the venerable gentleman expatiated at considerable length on the
superb scenery to be witnessed from its summit, and then informed me
that he had just established a dairy on the mountain, which, it was
easy to see, had become his hobby. He described the “ranges” of the
mountains as affording an abundance of the sweetest food for cattle,
and said that he had already sent to his dairy somewhere between
fifty and eighty cows, and was intending soon to increase the number
to one hundred. He told me that his dairyman was an excellent young
man from Vermont, named Joseph E. Hubbard, to whom he was indebted
for the original idea of establishing the dairy. While journeying
through this region the young man chanced to stop at the major’s
house, and though they were perfect strangers, they conversed upon
matters connected with farming, and soon became acquainted; and the
stranger having made known the fact that he knew how to make butter
and cheese, a bargain was struck, which has resulted in the
establishment already mentioned. The Williams dairy is said to be
the only one in the entire State of Georgia, and it is worthy of
remark, in this connection, that Major Williams (as well as his
dairyman) is a native of New-England. He has been an exile from
Yankee land for upwards of twenty years, and though nearly seventy
years of age, it appears that his natural spirit of enterprise
remains in full vigor.
_Trail Mountain_ was so named by the Cherokees, from the fact that
they once had a number of _trails_ leading to the summit, to which
point they were in the habit of ascending for the purpose of
discovering the camp-fires of their enemies during the existence of
hostilities. It is the king of the Blue Ridge, and reported to be
five thousand feet above the waters of the surrounding country, and
perhaps six thousand feet above the level of the ocean. A carpet of
green grass and weeds extends to the very top, and as the trees are
small, as well as “few and far between,” the lover of extensive
scenery has a fine opportunity of gratifying his taste. I witnessed
a sunset from this great watch-tower of the South, and I know not
that I was ever before more deeply impressed with the grandeur of a
landscape scene. The horizon formed an unbroken circle, but I could
distinctly see that in one direction alone (across South Carolina
and part of Georgia) extended a comparatively level country, while
the remaining three-quarters of the space around me appeared to be a
wilderness of mountains. The grandest display was towards the north,
and here it seemed to me that I could count at least twenty distinct
ranges, fading away to the sky, until the more remote range melted
into a monotonous line. No cities or towns came within the limit of
my vision; no, nor even an occasional wreath of smoke, to remind me
that human hearts were beating in the unnumbered valleys. A crimson
hue covered the sky, but it was without a cloud to cheer the
prospect, and the solemn shadow which rested upon the mountains was
too deep to partake of a single hue from the departing sun. Grandeur
and gloom, like twin spirits, seemed to have subdued the world,
causing the pulse of nature to cease its accustomed throb. “At one
stride came the dark,” and, as there was no moon, I retreated from
the peak with pleasure, and sought the rude cabin, where I was to
spend the night. While doing this, the distant howl of a wolf came
to my ear, borne upward on the quiet air from one of the deep
ravines leading to the base of the mountain.
As I was the guest of my friends Williams and Hubbard, I whiled away
the evening in their society, asking and answering a thousand
questions. Among the matters touched upon in our conversation was a
certain mysterious “water-spout,” of which I had heard a great deal
among the people in my journeying, and which was said to have fallen
upon Trail Mountain. I again inquired into the particulars, and
Major Williams replied as follows:
“This water-spout story has always been a great botheration to me.
The circumstance occurred several years ago. A number of hunters
were spending the night in the very ravine where this shanty now
stands, when, about midnight, they heard a tremendous roaring in the
air, and a large torrent of water fell upon their camp and swept it,
with all its effects and its inmates, about a dozen yards from the
spot where they had planted their poles. There were three hunters,
and one of them was severely injured on the head by the water, and
all of them completely drenched. They were of course much alarmed at
the event, and concluded that a spring farther up the mountain had
probably broken away; but when morning came they could find no
evidences of a spring, and every where above their camping place the
ground was perfectly dry, while on the lower side it was completely
saturated. They were now perplexed to a marvellous degree, and
returned to the lower country impressed with the idea that a
water-spout had burst over their heads.”
I of course attempted no explanation of this phenomenon, but Mr.
Hubbard gave it as his opinion that if the affair actually did
occur, it originated from a whirlwind, which might have taken up the
water from some neighboring river, and dashed it by the merest
accident upon the poor hunters. But this reasoning seemed to me like
getting “out of the frying pan into the fire;” whereupon I concluded
to “tell the tale as ’twas told to me,” for the especial benefit of
Professor Espy.
But to return to the dairy, which is unquestionably the chief
attraction (though far from being a romantic one) connected with
Trail Mountain. Heretofore a cheese establishment has been
associated in my mind with broad meadow lands, spacious and
well-furnished out-houses, and a convenient market. But here we have
a dairy on the top of a mountain, distant from the first farm-house
some fifteen miles, and inaccessible by any conveyance but that of a
mule or well-trained horse. The bells of more than half a hundred
cows are echoing along the mountain side; and, instead of clover,
they are feeding upon the luxuriant weed of the wilderness; instead
of cool cellars, we have here a hundred tin pans arranged upon
tables in a log cabin, into which a cool spring pours its refreshing
treasure; instead of a tidy and matronly housewife to superintend
the turning of the curd, we have an enterprising young Yankee, a
veritable Green Mountain boy; and instead of pretty milkmaids, the
inferiors of this establishment are huge negroes, and all of the
masculine gender. And this is the establishment which supplies the
people of Georgia with cheese, and the material out of which the
scientific caterer manufactures the palatable Welsh Rabbit.