The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1869-03-19
Misfel1 at =.
For the 1f}giS d Iatelligencer.
Th< ETernsft-Pgssseter Of EFohite
TOP Mountain.

MEssRs EDrroRs:- Having plodded
along with my "Recollections of the Olden
Time" till your readers must have grown
weary with the monotony of the subject
and your own patience driven to q point
beyond which that emotion ''ceases to be
virtue" have thought it might be re-
lief both to them and yourselves, to shift
the scenes, and give you an imperfect pen
picture of White Top Mountain and Will
burn Waters, the great Hermit-hunter of
that wild and romantic region. What
may have to say of the mountain and the
man may be regarded as strictly accurate
as | shall describe from actual personal
observation in frequent visits to the spot
and in social intercourse with the hermit
himself in his own rude wigwam and
around his blazing campfire. / will first
try to give you description of the noun
tain.
White Top is an isolated peak in the
grand Appalachian range, here more f,mil-
ilarly known by the local name of Iron
Mountain, and near the point where the
three States of Virginia, North Carolina
and Tennessee all unite at common corner.
1t is about 20 miles from Abingdon by an
air line, though perhaps 80 by the intri-
cate bride path through intervening noun
tains, and within the scope of natural Wis
ion from where am now writing. Until
within few years, comparatively, owing
to its inaccessibility, it was almost in it's
primeyal state, and visited only by hunter.
and trappers, and here and there ''squat-
ter" who may have fled to its Businesses to
cvade those penal cnactments which outlaws
usually deem oppressive. 1t is some 5000
feet high from base to summit and 1000
feet above the level Of the sea. It's sum
nit is vast field, comprising from 3 to
500 acres, without bush or shrub, and
covered with q luxuriant growth of wild
grass, resembling that of our Northwestern
prairies, which is highly nutricious, and is
cropped with Unsuitable avidity by vast
herds of stock, driven there from the
nelghboring settlements to Craze and fat
ten. During the months of May and June
this field, as well as large portion of the
wooded part OF the mountain, is gorgeous
ly carpeted with wild flowers of every i'm
aginablc hue, and so fragrant that their
perfume is often waited considerable
distance on the wings ofthc wind, which
sometimes sweeps across the broad field
like the dying throes of a hurricane, with
fittul shrieks of wild and melancholy music.
Bordering this natural field are great
numbers of wild gooseberry and currant-
bushes, which yield their acrid fruits in
never-tailing abundance, and the wild
leopard-lily, springing from its rocky bed,
sways to and frc, and scatters its rich per
tume, as the blast sweeps by. Upon the
very summit, various springs of ice-cold
water gush from the rocks and leap down
the declivities, babbling their wild music
as they disappear among magnificent rho
dodendrons and the dazzling crimson of
the Indian pink These waters are so pure
and light, that they never Cypress, no mat
ter how freely the thirsty visitor may quaff
them. | once tested their temperature, and
found it to be $50, or 12o colder, presume,
than the coolest spring in Hartford.
"The field Of which / have spoken, is
bordered by very singular as well as very
beautiful growth OF timber known in this
region by the name of lashorn. Some Of
these trees grow to an immense height, but
generally are not more than from 30 to so
feet high, and the most remarkable thing
about them is, that, where not crowded,
they are perfectly flat on top, spreading
out to a diameter Of from Is to 30 feet
1t is species OF, and very much resembles,
the Norway Spruce, an ornamental tree
sometimes found in the yards of our more
elegant city residences. The lashorn of
White Top is peculiar to that locality, and
of the thousands that have been transplant
ted, not one has ever been known to grow,
though some have lived a few years. The
limbs at the top where they spread out are
so tenacious and infexible, and 80 closely
interlaced, that | have seen as many as
twenty persons standing and stepping
about upon the top of the same tree at the
same time. 1t is very easy to ascend and
descend, as the limbs begin at the ground
and being cut off about a foot from the
trunk, very convenient "Indian ladder"
is formed, and then a hole being cut
through the foliage in the centre ofthe top,
it is not difficult for even lady to ascend
and step out upon the broad yernal plat
form. Where the forest Of this singular
and beautiful growth is dense, there is no
underground, the trees limbless to the
hpiuht NJ 40 ur IN enaf tho tona ,oanf;n,,