Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1858-02-17
smR cLfNaM1N AND Rsot PHILLIPS.
Is r. a & For the Standard.
g Horrn a RrrREssNTAT1sEs. Feb. LIST, 1868.


in relation to the Black Mountain controversy bad
not Prof Phillips charged me with suppressieg cyl
dence which would have operated against ny P9.
sitions This was done in his former pu61scanon
and is again repeated, PERHAPS because l took no
VIM. Wilson "He testified to Mr.. Clingman last
spring. when neither Mr.. Broyles nor any Other
4" counsel" was present Why does not Mr.. Cling
man tell US what Mr.. Wilson insisted on then in Mr.
c. g own presence" r;..r gtr. si,.ss ,g.<.s.zt
I have no objection to making the statement more
snecific than l did in my letter of September the
10Th. 1857. I should have done so then but that 1
did not wish to resort to my own recollections for
the purpose of substantating the case, but merely
said what thought it right to state, as intro
ductory to Mr.. Wilson's certificate, which pub
lished.
Hearing it said in April, 1857 when at huntsville,
that Mr.. Wilson had gone up once with Prof Mitch
ell to the top of the Black expressed wish to see
him, and he came into my room and said that some
twenty or more years previously he had been on the
top of Yeats Knob with Prof. Mitchell and Samuel
Austin and that they noticed particularly two points
of the Black which were to the eastward of them.
That the right hand or southern of the two seemed
to him to be the highest, but that Prof Mitchell
thought the left hand one was. He said further,
that the two points might have been nearly one
mile apart, but he did not think they were quite
that far from each other. He said also that there
was no point between these two, but only gap or
South of the right hand one, the mountain fell off,.
or was much lower for a considerable distance, be-
fore any other point arose. told him that his de-
scription correspondent very well with the position
of the highest peak and the one Immediately North
of it, or Guyots Peak; but that if these were the
two points observed, that then the right hand one
was in fact the highest, and not the other as sup
posed by Prof NJ. On my making this explanation
he seemed disappointed and said that he did not
himself know the identity of the points. but that
other persons had told him that the left hand one to
which he and Prof. Mitchell had gone the next day.
was the highest one He said also that he had never
been to the top of the Black, except on that occa
sion and that no one had since pointed out to him
the several peaks as they were then named. He
likewise stated that they were ascending they got
into cloud, and that when on the top they could
not see any of the other points.
Such was Mr.. Wilson's statement and as far as
it amounted to anything it tended to show that the
point selected by Prof. VI. on that occasion, neither
assembled or not was not in fact the highest peak.
I did not think it worth while to ask him to sign
written statement, because Prof. Mitchell did not
pretend that that occasion he in fact assembled the
highest, but affirmed the contrary, and that he had
gone then to the Cat tail peak. After Prof Mitch
ellis death, heard that Mr.. Wilson had been talked
to BY many persons, and had been induced to sign
q statement drawn up by member of the legal pro-
ession different in some respects from his statement
to me- and protesting to give details abeut the course
therefore requested Mr.. Broyles to see him and get
him to make the written statement already pub
lshed by me. The material portion of 1t is as fol.
lows:
"The fog and mist was SO thick that we could not
see the other knobs. There seemed to be knob
was on Yeates' Knob the day before, but I cannot
say for certain that We got on it. thought the
right hand knob was the highest, but Prof Mitchell
said the one he was on he thought the highest
(Signed) WILLIAM WILSON.
July 81, 1857" -
nh ss t AZ far f
was made, should of course have questioned him
particularly to the position and distance of the
several peaks. His testimony would seem to show
that Prof NJ. thought Guyots peak the highest an!
sought to reach it. The distance between It and the
highest is three hundred polls or little less than
one mile, while to the South or right hand Of the
highest the mountain is much lower for nearly three
miles, with, however, one considerable peak in its
depression.
ought, perhaps. to add that Mr.. Samuel Austin,
when saw him last summer, told me that it was
his recollection that when Prot. Mitchell was en-
Yeats Knob with him and VIM. Wilson he selected
three high points to 60 on for the purpose Of meas
urement. Two of them he represented as being in
the centre. and the other farther South. AS he did
not 60 along with them the next day, he did not
profess then to know which one they had ascended,
but said Prof. Mitchell intended to 60 all threeof
them; and he then seemed surprised when l tod
him that he had only gone on one OF them the next
day. f.
And now let me add few words as to Esq. Black
stocks map, about which Prof. Phillips calls on me
to say if have seen it. As stated in the earlier
part of my controversy with Prof Mitchell. in the
year 1888, was for couple of days OH different
portions Of the Black Mountain and became satisfied
that the highest point in its range that since
called Clingman's Peak" 1 on several occasions
endeavored to describe its position and form to Prof.
Mitchell, prior to his ascent of 1874. After his ex
curson of that year, did not learn which poin: he
had been on. but supposed that he had then proba-
bly, gotten to the highest peak. During the next
spring wiz. 1859 Esq. Backstock informed me
that he would traverse considerable portion of the
crest of the Black, and expressed my intention to
accompany him. When the period for starting ar
rived, was obliged to abandon my purpose, but
told him very particularly where thought he would
find the highest peak. When I next saw him after
his return, asked him if he had not found the point
described by me to be the highest. He said he had
no doubt of it; but remarked that he found Mitch
ellis level away to the South describing the position
Of Mt. Gibbes. While expressing our mutual sur.
prise at this, it was suggested that possibly he might
have gone along the ridge southerly until he came
to Gibbes Point and then left his level there
subsequently become satisfied that in truth he had
only gone to that latter point during this excursion
/, however, retained my original opinion in favor Of
the superior altitude Of the other peak up to the
time Of my ascent in 1855.
During the last summer, Esq. Blackstock, while
speaking of his survey of the Black, remarked that
he then so thoroughly satisfied as to the point
which was the highest, that he had called it Mitch.
ellis Point on his plat Of survey, merely however,
because, he said be took it for granted that Prof
Mitchell had found it to be the highest. He added
however, that he became satisfied afterward that in
1914 Prof. NJ. had been on Mt. Gibbes instead Of
the highest In the same conversation he also said
that he attached sort of weight to the opinion
Mr.. VIM. Wilson as to where he had been with
Prof. Mitchell twenty-five years before. He de-
clared from his experience mountain ranger 70,
more than twenty years. his belief that could
tell with any certainty, where he had been under
the circumstances detailed by Mr.. Wilson and Prof
Mitchell. I have thus stated what know Of Black