The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1880-09-02
I'm in the Appalachian Chain, Thou
sands of Feet Above the Sea Lev
el-Genuine Mountain Scenery
Through the FOrests-Peerlng
Over a Wonderful Abyss

caa.i.l corresnondence OF the Philadelphia Times
4sbc,iHe. 4ugust n.-Though the school
bov has known for generations that IN Yves
torn North Carolina the Appalachian chain
of mountains attain their highest elevations
and by consequence that there are the high
est SUBMITS Ia North America east OF the
Mississippi river, yet few are acqualnted
with the local peculiarities OF this region;
To supply to some extent this deficiency l
propose to prepare for your paper thls al
ticle. have already stated In a letter pub
E.hed in the Gernant0un Tdegrdph that
the Appalachian chain, 1t l. well known,
crosses the entire western portion OF North
Carolina In a southwestern direction, eX-
tending in width over a number OF counties,
hut attaining within twenty miles OF Ashe-
Vile the greatest elevations, as within that
range are twenty-five peaks, varying from
fftv feet to five hundred feet higher than
Mount Washington, reaching IN Mount
Mitchell a height of q, 100 feet, the culml-
mating point not only OF the Allegheny
Mountains, but Of eastern North America.
There are in Western North Carolina nifty
,ne peaks Of over six thousand feet IN ele-
y,tion and more than $50 of above five
thousand feet. | am indebted for these
figures to the theological Survey Ut North
Carolina. The attitudes were mostly deter
mil ed by Professor Guyot, OF Princeton
College. New Jersey. | have hourly be
fore me, from my OWN temporary home lii
mi, village, a range OF mountains, with one
peak Mount pisgahj 80. feet high, g
distinctly aud clearly cut a. - appear only
two miles distant, though IN reality elgh
teen miles. .Asheyiile Is the %rallyln@ point
from which most excursions are made, IN
fact it is a sort OF Saratoga OF Newport on a
small scale, whittier resort Tor summer re
creation large numbers from the cities ana
towns south of this land some too from the
North. for | attended a lecture here on the
9Th instant. on the mountains of Norway,
by a New York clergyman, who, after hav-
inc extensively Travelled over the mountains
of Europe and the more celebrated parts of
our own country, has found this region 70
possess charms enough to detaln hun over
a month. He and another widely Travelled
New Yorker, unknown to each other, re
marked to me that the charm OF the noun
tains of North Carolina and the neighborlng
States was their beauty, being wooded and
cuitivable to their very SUBMITS. lhls Is a
| ,nc parenthes 8, but Notwithstanding DIR.
.Johnson's dictum that I'D one who knew
what he was writing about used parentheslS
| will sustain myself by the example OF lie
Ouincy.) | resume Asheyllle, then, Is
the great point from which excursions are
made, e. e., to Mount Nl!tchell. III the
Black Mountain range us miles distant to
the foot, 2S to the summlD; to Hickory
Nut Gap "a miles to the entrance and 10
more through it,, to the Warm Springs 90
miles. via the grand scenery OF the French
Broad. illustrated In ScrtJHcr some two OF
three years ago), to Roam Mountain, q 200
feet (on the Tennessee border, ! miles dis
tapt. and, if that alone is the object, more
easily approached by the East Tennessee
Railroad and Caesars Head. ) % feet
high Just across the South Carolinl border
and Is miles distant 10y way Of Henderson
yiIle.l