The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-07-01

N1GntIdl) w tSJg VI NciAlt NAONiNs hi-A' 'N'@NO'
visited Ticktown while on an equestrian
trip aboard his justly celebrated trick
mule Mary, and was delighted to notlce
how hungry he was on arriving there,
and also how much more SO he was when
he came away.
He also detected what the other citi-
zens had not before noticed, as there
were no scientists then living IL Tick
town, that the place had mean annual
rainfall and a view of Pisgah and the
Rat These facts, together with the
appetite he acquired while there, led him
to consider the feasibility of making
Ticktown Mecca for the invalid.
Here, said he, wealthy men who have no
appetite may come and get mighty
hungry, if they stay long enough.
That was only forty-eight years ago,
or near that. In fact, last Christmas
they tell me was forty-eight years ago.
The governor, in speaking of 1t to me
the other day, said that it struck him
that was a good while between Christ
masses, but we will let that pass.
The altitude of Pisgah, which may be
seen from the hill Just back of Tick
town, is 5,757 feet.
Craggy mountain, which may be seen
from the top of Pisgah, is 5000 feet
high. From the top of this mountain
one NAV see Mount Mitchell, which Is
6,717 feet high, and from the top of
Mount Mitchell one may see Mr.. George
W. Vanderbilt's magnificent place with
a powerful glass; also what his idea was
In building same.
The best way to visit Ticktown is by
diligence from Asheville, N. 9. You
will arrive there about noon. Then by
the time you can gather your strawber-
ries and catch a COW you will be right
hungry. No place can furnish such an
! appetite with so few facilities for quench-
| ing it as Ticktown.
The French Broad river is only short
drive from Ticktown, and furnishes rare
| sport during the fishing season. All
sorts of game fish, such as the red horse
the hog sucker, the stone toter and the
maltese catfish are abundant IN the
French Broad, and are caught with a
club or dynamited when the grand jury
is not in session. These fish are all rich
and nourishing, especially when put on
a cucumber bed.
The German carp is also to be found
here in great abundance, and seven O
the mamma carp on pleasant summer
night will easily lay eggs enough to stoI
navigation With them it seems to be
a sort of gift.
The sportsman during the carp season
provides himself with a twig with which
to scare her off the nest and then a SLED
stake with which to take her life. 1t Is
very exciting. You also take along Z
small colored boy. 1t is his duty every
time you land a fish to burn Il rag.
The hog sucker, or stone toter, as 1t Il
also called by ornithologists, is so called
because it has flat place on the hea(
on which to carry stones for the purpos'
of building wing dams for nest. Som
call him the free and accepted mason
because he lays such beautiful wal
around his nest. The stone tOter make
good eating, but does not resist arres
like the trout or the bass. l have caugh
everything most, but nothing that re
minds me of the stone toter. Catching
him reminds me more of catching thu
mumps than anything else.
The hog sucker is 50 called because N
has been very often fed to the hog. Blu
the native or Sarah Bernhardt hog vii
not eat the hog sucker. Only the north
p ern hog does it. He says: "Oh, how
, lovely! Isn't it nice to look at Noun
Pisgah and eat hog suckers? And
, makes one feel so all fired well and s.
vigorous too. l could live here fOreve
if l could Just smell the magnolia ant
eat the hog sucker"
But the native or Goldsmith Mai
hog saws nothing, but saws wood. II
fills himself up on acorns and sue
| Aoly turn Or two around n KIT
shaped track, sleeps an hour, eats
bushel of corn on the ear, goes over
the depot and eats the packing out of
! couple of sleeping cars, trains an hou
, or two to keep his flesh down and the
+, goes to bed. In this way he becomes
r favorite with the life insurance con
4 panies while the northern hog dies 500
. of heart failure, and early in Novembt
Il Won will see him with a chip in h
Il mouth and another holding his che'
open so that you can see the nice har
- finish OH the inside of his thorax.
There is another fish that one finds i
the French Broad river, called the Prid
of Perdition, think. 1t has legs ON il
and when a man catches one he throw
n down his pole, gives two blood curdlin
, shrieks and hunts for Kelley institute
:, The superintendent of my farm toll
u me aboutit He caught one few week
r ago and didn't feel like working for tw
Q or three days after that. The mout
h was made ut a time when it was though
J, there was going to be more material tina
there really was, and so the body
: slight and the legs are badly bowe
4 from trying to carry the mouth aroun
q in search of more things to eat.
What Tcktown needs is a good hote
At present it is sadly deficient in hotels
also everything else. But a good hote
is needed first. Also large, powerful
urbane man to stop people who vi
. consciously pass through the town an
never come back.
. It Is quiet. Il Is only two miles fror
The main road and only fourteen mile