The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-07-11
In the Mountain WIIds!

To our Eastern Carolina readers the
following from Morganton No~untain~~r.
VII! give a glimpse Il an unknown land:
The Elk valley j. magnifcently tim
bered. The hem!ock. the oak and the
poplar attain a wonderful height. and
the banks OF the steam and the surrouad-
ing mountains abound ii the wild cherry
tree. which. next TO the black walnut. :
the most valuable timber to he found in
the mountain. There are several IN
stances along the Elk where the owners
OF lands have realized more for the cher
~ timber on their lands alone than they
asked for the whole farm a feS years ago.
\ NORTHWESTERN furniture firm have
invested largely in timber in that sectiIn n.
and al one saw mill nearly 1000. 600 feet
o. cherry has been sawed. seasoned. aud
i now being hauled to Cranberry and
thence shipped north
The next point of interest was the
Cranberry Iron Mines. where the finest
iron ore in the United states l. found in
Quantities that, L" all appearances, are
ineXaustible. \ considerable Village
has sprung up. and the mining compan
j. building a large hotel for the summer
visitors.
In company with the superintendent we
entered the deep shafts which run horo-
z~ontally for "A great distance into the
mountain of solid iron ore. Trainways
ruu back into these shafts and one hun
bred tons OF ore. yielding from sixty-five
To eighty per cent. of iron. is shipped
per day via the East Tennessee and
Western North Carolina X. r., a pretty
lfttla n.rrp .rttara linz tIir+ - fo,r
miles long running from the mines to
Johnson City Tenn, where it connects
with the f.. L. V. 81 G. II. X. The ore
is shipped to Allentown, Pa, and the
company who own the mine are arran9-
my to thrible their capacity for g%ettin.
out ore by putting in two more large CON
dencing engines to run the air drills in
the shafts Furnaces are also being
erected, where the crude ore Will be man
u'actured Into pig iron and shops are to
hc built for the manufacture Of plOws.
axes aud various other tools and machine
cry.
At Cranberry. Gebhardt and the editor
took passage on one of the pretty little
passenger coaches ON the f. +. V. X
w. y G. Il. Il. for Roam Mountain
Station in Carter county, Tenn. the re-
mainder OF the party going around with
wagon. In eight miles. the distance
from the mines to Roam Mountain Sta
ton. four Villages are springing up and
from the car windows we counted six
new hotels and numerous stores and
dwelling houses i'll course of erection.
The road is aid with new steel rails.
has stone ballast. and the mail and pas
senger coaches are very handsome. hav-
ing been built of the native mountain
timber. The small engines with three
little driving wheels was gaily decked
with mountain flowers, and the train
spun along through the fills, along
through the fills. along the mountain
sides and over dizzy bridges at a speed
that made us nervous when looking
back at the narrow track scarcely three
feet wide. Strange to say trains OH
these narrow gauge a are hardly
ever derailed, and accidents are of far
less frequent occurrence than on the
standard gauge lines.
Roam Mountains Station is .. pretty lit
tie village in the Doe River valley Just
above the famous Gorge where for
five miles the railroad track winds
around the face of a perpendicular wall
of rock Il thousand feet above the river.
When the road was being surveyed some
years ago the engineers had to be low
cred with ropes from the cliffs above
while locating the line, and the road bed
was obtained by blasting of the cliffs
with dynamite, making for a consider
able part of the way. a tunnel open on
the side next to the river, the dark rocks
o~verhangin. the track and sending the
echo of the passing trains for miles up
and down the valley.
From this point on the railroad an en-
terprising firm has built a trainway six
miles into the gorges of the Roam noun
ain where their immense saw mills are
saving walnut. cherry and poplar lumber
which is SEM down on the trainway and
is shipped thence to all points north and
west. The lumbermen now nave a con
tract for furnishing a Liverpool furniture
company with 10000 cherry logs ten feet
i'll length.