The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-03-14

anu EDuIIN il6Ae iIa+El ltI-fS- "Ath'S
has an oil mill. ana III every county
are grist and saw mills. tanHeries. and
distilleries of whiskey and tIuit
brandy The gold belt extends through
Caldwell. Burke. Mcdowell. Cleveland.
Rutherford and Polk. hut the most
extensive placer diggings are found III
the South mountains. occupy Ingn nearly
two hundred square miles III Hufke.
Cleveland and al Joining unit
More than FL, 900. 600 have already been
obtained from this deposit. Penders
gold mine. in Polk. has yielded several
hundred thousand dollars, and large
quantities of gold lie along most of the
streams in the county. Iron. lead and
zinc are found in Mcdowell. and large
CRYSTALS of mica are found in Cleveland.
Rutherford and Cleveland contain too.
an inexhaustible supply of alum and
copperas states. Iron ore IS found III
large quantities in Surry.
The scenery of Piedmont is romantic
and the climate equable and healthful.
In the southeast part OF Surry IS Pilot
mountain rising alone from the plain
like a pyramid some three thousand
feet high. 1t is reached from Salem.
The Blue Ridge runs southwest from
the Potomac, in a single range, until
II ttCIltS 81 DoilIl dDOht IoIIN 4
north of the southern boundary of Nir-
ginia, when it divides into two, enclos-
ing the plateau of Floyd. Carroll and
Grayson counties in that State. The
easternmost range, retaining the maine
of Blue Ridge, trends more to the
southwark, forming an extended arc
hat meets the chord again IN North
Georgia. The western II shorter
range known as the Unaka or Great
Smokymountains, forms the boundary
line between North Carolina and Ten
nessee. Both ranges attain Their high
est elevations in North Carolina. but
uneuually, the average height of the
UnakaS being some two thousand feet
more than that of the eastern range.
White Top. at the corner of Virginia,
North Carolina and Tennessee. is $3.50
feet high. Mounts Alexander, Henry.
Buckley, Love, Collins, Roam. High
Knob, Laurel Peaks, the True Brother,
Thunder, Thermometer, Ravens and
Tricolor Knobs, the Pillar Head, and
a dozen others of the same range rise
to more than 5000 feet above the sea,
While Clingman's Dome is $500 feet.
and Mount Guyot, 6,66S feet high.
The highest peak of the Blue Ridge is
the Sugar-loaf. 6.403 feet high, just
south Of Reedy Patch Gap. GRANDPA
Their and Grandmother mountains, the
High Pinnacle, Gray Beard, Rocky
Knobs. Hawks Bill. Whiteside, Fod-
derstack. Cold mountain, Black Rock
and StoOley exceed 5000 feet and
Caesars Head, Great Hogback, CHM
| new Top and Table mountain nearly
reach that elevation.
The interior region between the
Blue Ridge and the Unakas consist of
a long. elevated plateau OF series of
valleys. some four hundred miles long
and from fifteen to siXty-five miles in
width, containing about 0.000 square
miles. This plateau is filled with spurs
of the two ranges and trayersed by
connecting chains OF "divides of
similar geological structure and of
great elevation. Chief among the
spurs of the Blue Ridge are the Black
and Craggy mountains, thirteen peaks
of the former-Cockscomb, Yates
Grassy and Blackstock Knobs, Bow
Inns Pyramid. Rocky Tail Peak. Mounts
Mitchell and Gibbs. Cat tail Peak.
Hairy Bear, Mt. Sandoz, Black Brother
and the Black Dome or MitcheQ's Peak,
being all higher than Mt. Washington.
The Black Dome is 6,160 feet high.
the greatest elevation east of the
Rocky mountains. The Yellow noun
tains divide the waters of the Watauga
from the Nolichucky, while the Black
mountains lie between the latter river
and the French Broad. The Newfound
and Balsam hem in the waters of the
Big Pigeon river. Bear Wallow, Mt.
PisSah and Cold mountains of the
first, and Amcs and Enos Plots Bal
sans, Jonathan's Greek Bald, Rocky
Face, Rockstand Knob, and the Junal-
eskas of the latter are each more than
5000 feet high, and the Richland Bal
sam reaches an elevation of GAPS feet.
Then comes the Cowee, N~antahela and
Valley River mountains, forming the
watersheds of the TuckaSeegee, Little
Tennessee, Nantahela and Hiwassee
rivers.
The fertile slopes of these mountains
are all covered with a dense, heavy
growth of timber, while their, cloud
capped SUBMITS, above the limits eve
| of the hardy balsam, are rich pastures
OF perennial grasses. There are few
| sections of country in the world, if any,
| of like extent, offering sucha constant
succession of scenery of the utmost
variety grandeur and loveliness. Scores
of mountain peaks towering above the
clouds; lofty ranges whose unbroken
SUBMITS go quite beyond the vision,-
some dark. gloomy and awe-inspiring,
others apparently as soft as velvet and
tinged with purple and with blue /:
wild gorges and terrible precipices.
rich valleys smiling with peace and
plenty, cascades all foam and action,
and rivers softly flowing between vine
clad banks inviting to meditation and
day-dreams.
Beginning at the Virginia line, the
fifteen counties comprising this
section are Allegheny and Ashe.
watered by the New river, which rises
in eastern Watauga Watauga drained
bv the river of the same name: Gancey
and Mitchell. drained by the Nolichuky;
Henderson. Buncombe and Madison,
by the French Broad Pennsylvania.
whose waters flow northeast into the
| Ero,,l prDoI worth into tho Pjpann