New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-07-14

tell MIN 10 get INTO the Otner Deu WneIe bOio
men slept, for bad informed them was from He et
York. Lying down, weary beyond expression, i ielc
that the last utter about to come, ana YET tose
young men kept me awake by guessing riddles ABOUT
the first letters of her name" However, sleep
came and only heard the young men tell the nhal
rider to get in with them. ~. ou,,
honey and cOrndodger and coffee was ready early III
tho hot kitchen, while the on " apology made M Mas
that they eat their last yenSon Tor dinner ang
farm was on the sandstone formation, anu anu
seemed III fair condition. ! saw large tnrilg
orchard, and the man told me he had
about LOO acres, of which 90 were IN corr
80 in wheat 20 oats, and considerable IN grass
and that he would net sell it for less than - an acre
Then l paid my bill, and l was charged lor
supper breakfast lodging and GorI SoIisye
double price, but l suppose he Thought va. was
loaded down with money. Seeing wagon u 1
in the road quite FRESH asked who had been along,
and was told that it was peddleT, VINO hau peen
selling thread" that is, cotton yarn.
Starting with the mail-boy we went over a GOOD road
and we passed several farms which looked thrifty
at distance for there were orchards DenunR Nun
fruit but passing the houses ana LOOKING III thoy
seemed foron and almost destitute OF iarhlI1Ie,
The distance to CrOsSvie, the Mecca OF al uaVeI III
this region was made by 0 o'clock, and we entered
il on a sharp tTOt. Before reaching tne Town we
passed. a few houses that looked quite Wen Iot
Northern men were the owners, ana there, were
flowers and qTape-vines and in the suburbs we
overlook two carrying the carcass OF deer on
apole between them Cr9Ssye mas 10 or ~
and not inappropriate name would be Cross hOa9s'
There were three stores, some mechanic shops ana
a without an mv brs inquiry y V WAS about the
table-land of the Cumberland Mountain. Some toid
me that 1 was on 1t, and that &C county my
if I would go northeast few miles
/ would find tracts from 5000 to 10000 acres, as
level house floor, and in answer to INQUIRIES dT
was of the sandstone formation The readers OF llE
TRIBUNE and in particular of the Club reports VIII
remember that 1t was claimed that IoV Dushes %
ha cyrOV tO
challenge had been made The people OF CrosSNlne
knew all about it, and when 1T was mentioned they
laughed a little. The soil must DO described as
thin and the region itself as inc uding an indefinite
number of platesus, divided by deep CULTS and swiftly
rolling streams. The extent OF settlement around Is
indicated by the statement that on the evening Do
fore mr. arrival, az many as dozen deer were seen
close to the town. STILL many Northern men are com;
ing in and was shown a list OF about 100 VINO hau
bought, and arrived with their families within Two
years. and was told that they are doing We'll one
man told that he bought lOOO acres, not thaV he
wanted moro than 200 but because Wou t cost no
more. The price of land quite close TO the t0Wn ana
might say in 1t, is about $40 an acre. Clover ana
red-top grow without any trouble and white clover
crowds everywhere. Corn is not heayy crop, anu
wheat is uncertain, but buckwheat is said TO have
marvellous yield. Fruits of all kinds seem unfallng,
perhaps grapes are an exception ana insect enemies
are unknown The health of the country must be
unsurpassed and the water is good, though much OF
it has queer taste, but was told that It is similar
to that at Saratoga and other watering places Inc
merchants haul their goods from Nashville 10
miles but it is only about 80 miles to the rail
road at McMinnville and 1t IS about 80 miles TO tho
Tennessee River. 1t is expected that the Clnclnnatl
Railroad will come TO CTOssyille and think 1t will.
SO far as could gather most of the favorable and
cOloTed accounts of this region have been made by
real estate agents and by large landed propreoTs,
many of whom claim TO own from 10000 to lClO9
acres 1t is to be noted that the titles TO much land
Is uncertain for deed is piled upon deed and Titles
10 land so held are conveyed from hand 10 hand IN
New-YOTk and elsewhere without any knowledge
as to whether they are valid. | heard man in
Knoxville say that if he had deed of 10000
of nd of he would
not 90 the expense OF COntcStng IT, for the general
impression is, that these large tracts are in the
mountains 1wbeTe the land is not worth q mill an
Still il is easy to trace titles as elsewhere,
the expense is slight and there are vast quantities
Of as good land as any on the mountains, which can
be had from 90 cents 10 81 an acre. IL seemed TO me
that every acre would pay for itself providing q
man had children enough to pick up the chestnuts
Leaving Crossyille I returned by "A longer route,
| leading to the Georgia and Kentucky Gap. The
houses are about two miles apart but generally half
Of the farms deserted and the houses falling
| down. l stopped at two inhabited houses, and
| q woman would como to tho door with baby in her
arms, and several fOrlOrn children aTOundheT Why
they lived so wretehedly could not understand. At
| one place l found live man from Pennsylvania,
who had recently bought o large number Of cows
and he was going TO establish cheese factory, his
COWS getting their feed in old fields and in tho
| woods and he proposed 70 corn fodder to keep
them over Winter. The range of which so much has
! been said, did not seem 20 me OF much value; the
grass is thin and wTy still cattle said to get fat
| on IT. but except tor sheep and colts II must be
utterly worthless in the Winter. All the stock saw
|
descended TO Grassy Cove, which is perhaps thou
sand feet below the adjacent country, and il seemed
| 3 vast sink, while Black Mountain and other ridges
| surround it, This Cove is about a mile broad and
FIVE miles long, and the formation is limestone tho
soil is remarkably good. Originally 10 was divided
into eleven farms, each with large orchard, but
leading STAKEHOLDER bought them all out making a
farm Of 800 acres, and about year ago it was
bought by Mr.. StrattOn of Salamanca, n. Y. This
gentleman has been known TO the public by his
efforts in domestcating the elk and for having sup
piled herds OF this animal to most OF the European
mobiles and kingA He brought with him herd Of
premium DeVons, for which he has abundance Of
feed he has 200 acres in corn, much of which will
be sold to droves Of Kentucky mules on their way to
Georgia; be has mill Improvements are going on,
and there will DO 80 much fruit that it cannot DO
used. In riding this magnificent farm apple
and peach orchards were found growing in the
woods and pear tree surrounded by forest trees
80 feet high, was loaded.
The life Of an intelligent and self-reliant family in
such valley, remote from society," must have it's
charms. Nor, Is might be supposed, Is the country
without inhabitants for even in the lofty mountains
| and in remote eOves the genuine mountaneer has
his almost inaccessible home; and he has small gar
| den and patch of corn. They are willing TO work,
| and the largo farmer will keep O stock of staple
goods, which are valued more than money. Men
get oO cents aday, ana women 81 cents and their
| dinner and they work from sun TO sun. | was told
of one knocking at the house at the break Of day;
| he had come many miles, and having no money, he
brought hen under his arm TO exchange for tobacco
Getting out of the cove and making higher ground
sandstone appeared instead of limestone, and the
soil was pooHT, the growth of timber smaller and
in two miles Little Grassy Cone was reached, being
another sink of some 80 acres, tho limestone reap
pearing. Here were more bees than had seen else
where. Generally the people have only two OF three
stands the honey is obtained hy killing the bees or
by taking off the top board and cutting out the
honey. One might keep an indefinite number, for
the bees do well, but when the family have all they
want there Is no necessity for more since il is
hundred miles to market
Then assembled the mountain again, and travelled
through the wilderness, passing every few miles
fields growing up to forest and houses long ago de-
serted, while roses boomed among blackberry
bushes, and clusters of apples were seen among
branches OF secOnd-grOwth pine. Five miles further
on inhn ted rnd n,IA L. ,Anir