_To Hon. T. L. Clingman, but originally published in the New-York Albion._
My Dear Sir,—I promised my friends in the Western counties that they
should hear from me through the Highland Messenger, and to the
editor of that paper that he should receive one or two
communications. As the person who undertakes to inform the public on
subjects not strictly in the line of his profession is likely to
fall into some errors, and to say some things which will not be
thought very wise, I have wished that what I have to offer, might,
before going to press, pass under the eye of one, who, like
yourself, has long taken a deep interest in every thing connected
with the mountain region, is well acquainted with the larger part of
it, and in whose friendly feeling I could fully rely. The statements
and remarks that are to follow, will fall naturally under the four
heads of _Elevation of the Country and Height of the Mountains_,
_Soil and Agriculture_, _Minerals and Scenery_.
The elevation of the highest mountain peaks was ascertained by me
within certain limits of accuracy about eight years ago. So little
was known about them before that time, that the Grandfather was
commonly regarded as the highest of all. With the view of coming
somewhere near the truth, one barometer was stationed at Morganton,
and another carried to the tops of the mountains. Their elevation
above that village was thus ascertained; but in order to get their
height above the level of the sea, that of Morganton must be known,
and for this there were no data in which implicit confidence could
be placed. I finally fixed upon 968 feet as a moderate estimate, and
in my desire to avoid an extravagant and incredible result, it now
appears that the elevation assigned to Morganton, and therefore to
all the heights measured, was somewhat too small.
In the first report of the President and Directors of the
Louisville, Cincinnati, and Charleston Railroad, it is stated as one
of the results of the surveys and measurements made with reference
to that work, that “the elevation of the summit of our mountain
passing above a line drawn along what may be regarded as their base
about twenty miles below, does not exceed 1054 feet.” This will
leave 1114 feet for the height of that line above the sea, or 146
feet more than I had allowed for Morganton.
But the surveys referred to were carried along the French Broad
river, in the immediate vicinity of Ashville, and therefore afford a
base, or starting point, from which all the heights in that region
could be conveniently ascertained. Dr. Dickson having undertaken to
observe the barometer at Ashville, and knowing that in his hands it
would afford results in which confidence could be placed, I
determined to try the Black once more, in which mountain I was well
satisfied that the highest points are to be found, as I was, also,
that I had never yet been upon the highest.
The Black Mountain, as you well know, is a long curved ridge, 15 or
20 miles in length, its base having somewhat the form of a common
fish-hook, of which the extremity of the shank is near Thomas
Young’s, in Yancey. It sweeps round by the heads of the South fork
of the Swannanoe, Rim’s Creek and Ivy, and ends at the Big Butt, or
Yates’s Knob—Caney river drains by a number of forks the hollow of
the curve. The summit of the ridge is depressed at some points, and
rises at others into peaks or knobs, 2, 3 or 400 feet higher than
the rest, and it is a matter of considerable difficulty to determine
before ascending which is the highest, as we cannot tell how much
the apparent elevation is affected by the distance of the different
points. The general elevation of the ridge may be stated at 600
feet. The following are the heights measured, which are likely to
have most interest for the readers of the Messenger.
Feet.
Ashville, 2200
French Broad at Ashville, 1977
Lower Ford of Pigeon, 2475
Waynesville, 2722
Head of Scott’s Creek, 3240
Tuckaseege Ford, 1927
Cullywhee Gap, 3397
Blue Ridge head of Tuckaseege, 3795
Col. Zachary’s Cashier’s Valley, 3324
Chimney Top, 4433
Chimney Top above Zachary’s, 1109
Burnsville, 2763
Top of Black, 6672
Morganton, 1031
Table Rock, 3584
Grandfather, 5719
Roan, 6187
It appears that the valley of the French Broad is a trough, or
depression, extending quite across the great back-bone of the United
States, having the parallel, but considerably higher valleys of the
Nolachucky and Pigeon on its two sides. Ivy Ridge is the boundary of
this valley on the north-east, the ford of Ivy creek, near Solomon
Carters, having very nearly the height of Ashville. The difference
of temperature and climate corresponds to the indications of the
barometer, grain and wild fruits ripening sooner about Ashville,
than in the neighborhood of either Burnsville or Waynesville. At the
ford of the Tuckaseege, on the road to Franklin, we are at the
bottom of another deep and warm valley, but this does not, like that
of the French Broad, extend across the whole range of the
Alleghanies.
These measurements are not altogether without value, to the people
of Haywood and Macon, showing as they do, what is the amount of
obstacle that has to be overcome in carrying a road from Tennessee
into South Carolina, along the Tuckaseege. Such a road should be
made, or rather the existing one should be greatly improved, and the
route altered in some places. There is likely to be a good deal of
travel along it, but the gap in the Blue Ridge, where it is to pass,
is about 1500 feet higher than that at the head of the French Broad.
There are but two routes by which the highest peaks of the Black
Mountains can be reached, without an amount of labor which few
people are willing to undergo. One is by the head of Swanannoe. This
brings us to a point a little higher than the top of the White
Mountains in New Hampshire. The other is from the south fork of Tow.
It is represented as quite practicable, and leads to the highest
summit.
_Agriculture._—The mountain counties, Ashe, Yancey, Buncombe,
Henderson, Haywood and Macon, do not appear to have adopted fully
those modes of culture which are the best suited to their soil and
climate, and which are likely ultimately to prevail. For this two
reasons may be assigned.
1. The great amount of travel, through the counties of Ashe,
Henderson and Buncombe, (but especially the two last,) between the
Atlantic states and the West, has created a demand for the different
kinds of grain, and given a direction to the industry of the
population of those counties, which but for the circumstance
mentioned, would be neither natural nor profitable. The roads have
consumed all the corn that could be raised. The practice of the
farmers living near the roads, which will answer very well for them,
(especially if somewhat more attention be paid to the cultivation of
the grasses), may be expected to have an under influence in the
remote parts of those counties.
2. The families by whom these counties were settled, were from below
the ridge, and carried with them into the mountain region, the kind
of husbandry to which they have been accustomed in the warmer and
drier parts from which they came. It is only gradually that men
change the habits and practices of their earlier days. This
influence of custom is exhibited on the northernmost range of
counties in North Carolina, along the Virginia line, where the
culture of tobacco prevails much more extensively than a little
farther south, where the soil is equally well adapted to the growth
of that noxious weed.
The latitude and elevation—and of course the temperature of the
mountain counties as far as it depends upon these two, are very
nearly the same with those of ancient Arcadia—the country of
herdsmen and shepherds. Their soil is different, having been formed
by the decomposition of primitive rocks—granite, gneiss and mica
slate—whilst limestone abounds in Arcadia, as well as other parts of
Greece. But it is to the raising of cattle and sheep and the making
of butter and cheese for the counties below the ridge, that it may
be expected there will be a tendency in the industry of the mountain
region for many years. The quantity of rain falling there, is
greater than in the eastern parts of the state, and luxuriant
meadows of the most valuable grasses, but especially of timothy, may
be easily formed. This is for winter food. But the summer pastures,
too, are susceptible of great improvement.
Whilst the Indians held possession of the country it was burnt over
every year. The fire destroyed the greater number of the young
trees, that were springing up, and the large ones remained thinly
scattered, like the apple trees in an orchard with large open spaces
between. In these, the different kinds of native vines and other
wild plants,—pea vine, &c., contended for the mastery, and each
prevailed and excluded the other according to the vigor of its
growth. Macon county still exhibits in some parts the appearance
which the whole back country of North Carolina may be supposed to
have borne when the first settlements of the whites were made. But
after the Indians had been removed and large quantities of stock
were introduced, the cattle and horses lent their aid in this
contest of the different vegetable species and in favor of the worst
kinds. They ate out and destroyed such as they found palatable and
suitable for the nourishment of animals, whilst such as are
worthless were permitted to grow and occupy the ground. In the mean
time the annual firing of woods that had been practised by the
Indians having ceased, bushes and small trees have overspread and
shaded a large space that was formerly covered with herbage. For
these two reasons, therefore, because the best kinds of vegetables
have been in a great measure eaten out, and destroyed, and because
of the thickening of the forests, the range (even if the population
were still the same) would be greatly inferior to what it was fifty
years ago.
It is necessary here as in other cases that the industry and
ingenuity of man should come in to direct, and to some extent,
control the operations of nature. The best grasses—best for
pasturage, must be introduced and made to take the place of such as
are worthless. The milk, butter, and cheese would be improved in
quality as well as increased in quantity. As the wild onion, where
eaten by cows, gives milk a flavor that is intolerable to some
persons, so it may be expected that bitter and unpalatable weeds of
every kind will give it a wild and savage taste; that it will be
inferior in purity and richness to such as is yielded where the
sweetest and best grasses are the only food. It appeared to me as I
rode down from the Flat Rock to Ashville that there were very
extensive tracts in Henderson and in the southern part of Buncombe
now almost waste and worthless, which would, in the course of a few
years, be converted into artificial pastures; not the most fertile
in the world—but such as would amply repay an outlay of capital upon
them; that the marshes and low grounds would be drained, and rank
timothy take the place of sedge and other coarse grasses that afford
no nourishment. In the immediate neighborhood of the Flat Rock I saw
that the good work had been begun and made a considerable progress.
The sides of the mountains are too steep to be cleared and converted
into pastures that will have any permanent value. The soil that is
exposed would be washed away. But there are tracts, some of no
inconsiderable extent, and especially near the crest of the ridge
and along the head springs of the western waters, where the surface
is comparatively livid, the soil sufficiently moist and fertile, and
where capital might be advantageously invested for the purpose of
converting them into meadows and pastures. The tops of the mountains
also, where the ridge is broad or a single summit has a rounded
surface instead of a sharp peak, will afford a few grazing farms. I
do not altogether despair of living to see the time when the highest
summit of the Black shall be inclosed and covered with a fine coat
of the richest grasses, and when the cheese of Yancey shall rival in
the market of the lower counties that which is imported from other
States.
For accomplishing this a good deal of labor will be required. But
the person to whom it has happened to visit Burnsville soon after it
was fixed upon as the seat of Justice for Yancey county, and during
the present year, will have good hopes of very rough and unsightly
places. A more doleful spot than it was in the year 1834, cannot
well be imagined; and though there is ample room for improvement
yet, it is not difficult to see that the time is near when there
will be a range of meadows passing by and near it, alike productive
and beautiful.
If an inhabitant of the mountains shall be desirous of calling in
the experience of other parts of our widely extended country for the
purpose of directing his own labors, there is no section of the
United States which he would visit with more advantage than the
genuine Yankee land—the New England States. The soil is to a great
extent the same with his own, having been produced by the
decomposition of primitive rocks; elevation compensating for
difference of latitude, there is a considerable similarity of
climate. And if after seeing what the labor of two centuries has
accomplished there, he shall pass through the mountain region of
North Carolina, whilst he will be pleased to see how much has been
done in his own section, he will fix upon many spots that are now in
a great measure neglected, as those which a patient industry will in
the course of a few years render the most productive and valuable.
Extensive tracts in Henderson county, the moist grounds inclining to
swamp in the neighborhood of Waynesville, the valley of Scott’s
creek, bordering the road, the head waters of the Tuckaseege and
those of the Savannah on the south side of the Blue Ridge, are cited
as examples because they fell under my immediate observation.
Closely connected with agriculture as affording access to a market
are good roads, and it was with some surprise that I noticed certain
indications that the road scraper has never been introduced into the
western part of the State, but that all the difficult passes in the
mountains had been wrought out with the plough, the hoe, and shovel.
The Warm Spring turnpike has inequalities, elevations and
depressions, even between the village of Ashville and the point
where it first comes into contact with the river, that would not be
permitted to continue for a year if this excellent labor-saving
instrument were once to come into use. For removing earth through
short distances, for a hundred feet to a hundred yards, there is
nothing comparable to it. A single man and horse will accomplish as
much as six or eight men with the ordinary tools.
I am respectfully yours,
E. MITCHELL.
To Hon. T. L. Clingman.