The Rugby gazette and east Tennessee news. (Rugby, Morgan Co., Tenn.) 1884-188?, 1884-11-15

ment of great value for a consump-
tive 'cho IS a go0d fcIow. These
mountains are much more broken
up into branches, peaks and spurs
than the Cumberlands. They afford
no table territory of any extent.
There are some excellent places
there for hot summer visits-Ash-
vile, Warm Springs, Franklin and
others.
The Cumberland Mountains, as a
whole, are Hat, in broad, level spaces,
broken only by the " divides" or
"gulfs," as they are called by the
inhabitants, where the streams flow
out into the valleys.
Walden's Ridge, of which we
come now to speak particularly, is
the best located of any part of the
Cumberlands as place for living.
From the separation of this ridge
from the main range of Grassy Cove
to its southern terminus at the Ten
neSsee River, it maintains remark
ably uniform character in every
particular. From it, access to COM
merre is easy, having the Tennessee
River and the new Cincinnati South
ern Railroad skirting its entire
length Oh the east 1t rises very
abruptly from both the Tennessee
and oequatchee valleys, being from
l,20O tol 800 feet higher than the
valleys on each side. Looking from
below, on the Tennessee Valley side,
the whole extent of the ridge appears
securely walled in at the top, by a
continuous perpendicular wall OF
sandstone, from 100 to 200 feet high;
and from the Sequatchee side the
appearance is very similar, except
ing that the wall is not SO continuous
| ,,lrt d OF icssineislilit. x
The top Of the ridge is one level
stretch of plain, broken only by the
''sulfs" before mentioned, and an
occasional prominent sandstone wall
or boulder. The width on top is, |
should judge, six or seven miles.
The soil is of uniform character
hight, sandy, and less productive for
the ordinary crops of the Tennessee
farmer than the soil OF the lowlauds.
lhe grape, apple and potato grow
to perfection, better than in the
valleys, and are all never-falllng
crops; so with rye and buckwheat.
Corn grows well-very well in Sc
iected spots and where the land is
made rich by cultivation. The grasses
are rich ana luXurlant, even Gill the
wild forests, and, when cultivated,
the appearance is that of the rich
forests OF the Ohio and Connecticut
river valleys, only here they are
green, and growing the greater part
f the year; so much SO, that sheep,
and in the mild winters, the young
cattle, live by the wild grasses of
the forests the whole year. The
great stock raisers of the Sequat-
chez and Tennessee valleys make
this the summer pasture for their
cattle, and drive them to their own
farms and barns, or to market, in
the winter. The whole Cumberland
table, with the exception of that
small part which is under cultiva-
ton, is one great, free, open pasture
for all the cattle of the valleys.
Thousands of cattle Craze there
whose owners never pay dollar for
pasturage, or own an acre OF the
range, though, as a rule, most of
the well-to-do stock farmers in the
valleys, own more or less mountain
lands. These lands have, until quite
recently been begging purchasers at
from twelve and half to twenty
i've cents per acre, in large tracts
of 10000 acres and upward, and
perhaps the same could be said of
the present time, leaving out choice
tracts and easily-accesSlble places,
which are held at from fifty cents
to two dollars per acre-wooded,
virgin lands.
The forest of Walden's Ridge is