Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1888-11-28
TENNESSEE MoUNrAINEERs.
A Mountain Trip From Haserstown
TO Cranberry, y. G.


We came through from HagerStown,
stopping en- route long enough to take
in the most Interesting features of
country rich In historical associations
leading backward TO colonial days. and
found ourselves at Johnson City, a
prosperous and growing town on the
Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia Air
Line. Our point of destination being
Cranberry, we were transferred to the
narrow gauge road of North Carolina
and East Tennessee, that magnificent
triumph OF engineering skill. built by
the Cranberry Iron Company through
the narrow gorge of the Doe river, and
after passing few struggling villages,
called into life by this modern industry,
came to EliZabethton, the second ol /
est settlement in Tennessee, and were
standing face TO face with two phases
Of our modern American civilization.
The quaint town seated low on the
banks of the beautiful Watanga river
was put to sleep more than 50 years
ago. and has never since been able to
shake itself free from slumber, and we
could not help thinking, after au OBJ
servation OF two days, that stagnation
is its essential characteristic. 1t has
Indian legends, revolutionary tradi-
lions and later historic memories soft
tened and colored by romance, and the
traveller will find it worth while to stop
long enough and make the easy ascent
of Lynn Mountain, one OF the Isolated
hnots which are characteristic features
of this peculiar country, where he may
look down upon an ideal valley once
the bed of crystal lake-now rich
with deepest pastures and soft with
ad off tn
hills and washed by two beautiful runs,
and fed, guarded and strengthened by
a long line of bony mountain ridges.
Cultivated through hundred years,
these fertile fields still yield, without
bsing artifcially fertilized and with
very Indifferent farming, succession
or crops that would exhaust our thin
northern soil In a single season. Look
ing down upon this beautiful habitable
land one feels there is an untamed
strength yet to be conquered by the
industry of man, when the forests
shall be subdued and the mountains
are made to give up their mineral
treasures and the lowlands yield their
full abundance; and could we prophesy,
We might say the time is not far off,
for the energy and capital of the North
united to the enterprise of some of the
native inhabitants, are pushing new
railroads into the heart of the noun
tains, which Will bring this region into
direct communication with the great
thoroughfares of the world. and lead
forw ward to its gradual aud sure devel-
opment.
Again picking up our route OF travel
and passing few more villages. where
enormous stacks of lumber and great
logs tell the prevailing industry, we
were fairly within the narrow gorge of
the Doe river, shut in by high noun
ltains and precipitous cliffs. where
b yefy exposed escarpment and railway
cutting give evidence of the peculiar
geologic conditions that place these
rocks among the primary foundations
of the earth through which Ibis now
quietly flowing river dug its bed ages
ago, leaving after 1t a barricade of
towers and bastions, which engineering
genius has subdued 10 its purpose and
where the sound of the whistle is the
voice of the conqueror.
One fair, wild scene succeeds an
other. Magnificent moss covered cliffs
lead into a deep tunnel and out again
upon a sweet, sunlighted valley spark
ling in beauty, bound by walls of deep
est green, its foreground made up OF
picturesque log cabins of the noun
taineers, and the women and children
gathered in the doorway or at work IN
the garden, tell that even these path
ways of majestic loveliness and wild
grandeur have been through generations
the background of human lives.
After a succession OF tunnels and
bridges We came to Roam Mountain
Station, neat and prettily built town.
which Is the point OF departure for
Cloudland Hotel, on the top OF Roam
Mountain, 6300 feet above the level of
the sea, and the highest human habita
ton east of the Rockies. The higher
mountains now recede into the far dis
tance, the country grows gentler, we
pass Elk Park, an industrial little
town, which only five years ago was
planted on a green hillside, and are at
| the rustic station of Cranberry Inn,
having passed over a stretch of road
not surpassed in rugged picturesque
ness by the great Ding wall Railway OF
Scotland.
Cranberry Inn, so aptly called the
Cottage Beautiful" and to which we
would like to add the Cottage BountI-
full, Is an ideal mountain lodge, nest
ling among the wooded hills, blessing
for a night, hut a retreat from summer
heat TO those in search of beauty, com-
fort, ideal cleanliness and all the gent
Ter relnementS OF a summer home.
Here one may dream, res or work.
The stimulating quality of the air, un-
like the languid heat of the valley, is a
tonic to wearled brains and overtaxed
nerves. Here the hay fever patient
forgets his discOmforts and malaria
makes no more ravages upon its vic
Tins. The wooded hills, glens, dells
and mountains sides, rich in fora,
tempt one to exercise, and the buoyaucy
and lightnesS of the atmosphere make
long pedestrian excursions charm
| ing.
Cranberry Hotel is uEeEceptionably
the place to settle down in homelike
security, leave ones heavy luggage and
make excursions ~ different places of
| interest, these excursions being made
easy by excellent saddle horses, teams
of mules, tents, comfortable wagons
and all other requirements for long
| mountain rambles.
A ride OF four hours brings US to the
top of Roam, Grandfather Mountain
| or the Balds of the Yellow, while a
longer or more extended tour may in
| ciude the noble Black Mountain, the
Cana Valley, Bayly Mountain, the
mica region and the solitudes of the
Blue Ridge. And SO charming are all
the seasons here, and so deep the
sources OF delight when the whole heart
| OF nature sheds forth her great bsne-
fcence one scarcely knows which
months are the loveliest when June's
radiant skies make the landscape lu-
minous with beauty, and the laurel and
rhodendron convert the woods into a
paradise of flowers, or when the mel
lower glories of autumn cover the
mountains and the forests are dyed in
crimson and gold.
The development of the cranberry
region Is due to the efforts of the
Cranberry Iron Company, made up
principally of Philadelphia stockhold-
ers and which has already been called
'sThe arst wedge OF civilization fairly
' driven into the northwest mountains