Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-07-18
FACTS ABOUT EAST TENNESSEE
Interesting Facts from Several
Counties.
NO, xxx.

l. No. xxx.
/ We have received several interesting
letters from friends in various parts of
East Tennessee, which contain facts of in
terest to those of our readers seeking in
formation concerning this section.
First on the list is letter of great inter
est from friend in Morgan county fully
alive to the importance of immigration,
and well qualified tc write of his county.
His letter is a model of brevity and news,
and we hope to hear from him again.
Morgan county lies just North of Roane,
and near the Kentucky line. But we leave
our correspondent to tell of its advan-
tages: s.
/ WARTBURG, MORGAN Co., Tenn, !
July 10th, 1871. !
/ To the Editors of the Chronicle:
/ L would that you could find spare time
to visit Morgan county, and take few
notes and bearings. We have here a coun-
| 1ty the most naturally interesting in East
Tennessee Free from all infectious and
contagious diseases that much afflict most
countries; free from ague, chills and all
kindred diseases blessed with perpetual,
pure and exhilarating mountain breeze,
drinking, in lieu of fashionable beverages,
the health-giving draughts that issue from
our innumerable springs of chalybeate, we
stand here, as Pollock weuld say, Battling
death till tardy age" We have soil suf
ficient to support twenty times our present
population, and purchasers could at all
times find good bargains.
| Our county does not, as many suppose,
consist of a series of huge, sterile, rocky
mountains, with few scattering farms
| hung edgewise; but on the contrary, we
have larger per cent. of level land here
| than can be found in Vermont or New
Jersey, or even in most of the valley eoun-
ties of East Tennessee, and we can, with
the same care in cultivation, compare fa-
vorably with any part of the South in pro-
| ducing corn, wheat rye, oats, barley, flax,
hemp, clover, timothy, red-top, tobacco,
potatoes, grapes, cabbages, onions, beets,
and other productions of this latitude in
the United States.
The moral cultivation of this county will
compare favorably with any county in the
| United States, and / think | am not as
suming too much to say that the county
cannot be found in the State or nation in
which less crime is committed than in
| Morgan.
Drunkenness here might be noted
amongst the things of the past. Our coun-
|
and it does not make enough to arouse any
| spirit of competition.
/ would like very much to give full
| description of this county, for the benefit
of those who might desire to migrate, but
| am very poor writer, and it would be
pressing upon the charity of paper, and
a dearth of more interesting matter to pro-
| long orrepeat my scribbling.
MORGAN.
| Another friend, writing from the Duck
town Copper Mines, gives these facts about
the Ocoee river, which runs through Polk
county. Ofthis stream he writes:
"But this little mountain river, Ocoee,
is very attractive, rushing on with mad
speed, with leapings and foamings, often
with power that seemingly would sweep
everything before it, there being in some
places all average fall of about three or
four feet to every hundred. One is aston
ished at the amount of water power so
easily applied being allowed to glide on
undisturbed. On both sides are the hills,
steep and high, with their caverns and
grottoes, bridges and roofs, and rocks
loosened by the action of the weather, and
waiting to be rolled into the river for
dams, &c. With but little work, the water
power can be manned for manufacturing
establishments every hundred yards or
so. And this, too, is the case, not only for
a few miles, but perhaps for fifteen or
twenty. If the contemplated railroad is
ever constructed through from Georgia, by
Ducktown, to Kentucky, this will be a
vast opening for all kinds of machinery.
Let the railroad be completed, and then
| let this little river run through another
Lowell-the Lowell of the South-at least
the Lowell of East Tennessee. There is
now no railroad near this river at this
place, scarcely no travelling through here
| by persons from other States consequent
ly this inducement to manufacturers has
not been made sufficiently public. Let
those who are interested in such matters
visit this place and examine for themselves.
| positively think there is not that amount
of available water power at another place
in the South, with all its abundancy in
this respect"
Another correspondent from Cooke
county, near the North Carolina line,
writes US of the Big Creek country:
"This romantic place lies at the base of
Smoky Mountains, and at the confluence
Of the two arms of beautiful stream call
ed Big Creek, which empties into the
French Broad river. Here I am making
my headquarters. / have been astonished
to find SO much good land and such excel
lent farmers. The citizens are the very
best of this wealthy country. They have
been greatly benefited by the G. G.. G. &
c. Railroad. They are getting rich rapid
ly. They sell thousands of cattle, which
they Craze in the mountains, and fatten
any number of hogs, which they take to
the Southern markets. The Stokeleys,
the Burnetts, the Joneses and the Huffs
are all good men, and kinder people
have never met with in any country"