The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-05-08
SOME MOUNTAIN RED MEN.
Remnant of n Great Tribe Dwelling In
Peace and Comfort
Especial COrrpspOndenco

Remnant of Great Tribe Dwelling In
Peace and Comfort.
Especial Correspondence
QUAI.LA RESERVE, NJ c., May g.
There arc score OF two Of idle, drunk
Ell Seminole Indians left in southern
Florida the remnant of strong and
warliko tribe which was beaten and
transported beyond the Mississippi more
than so years ago. Tho only other Indians
in the southern states between the Allan
tic and the Mississippi arc the 500 or
moro Cherokoes who, since the rest of
tho great tribe was sent west by Goner-
al Jackson, have occupied this reserva-
ton of some so, 600 acres in series of
the most beautiful valleys in all tho
Appalachian range.
Through this splendid reservation
there flow the Ocowo and loco. two
clear mountain streams, the tributaries
OF which arc filled with trout These
mountain Chcrokces in wealth, culture.
obedience to law and everything that
indicates civilization are abreast if
not in advance of their neighbors, tho
white mountainous of the Black, the
Balsam and Great Smoky ranges. These
Cherokees have good farms churches,
schoOlhouses, fair roads and such me-
chanical industries as are essential to
their own wants.
Here, walled in from the rest of tho
world by cloud kissing mountains, rs is
the toy nation of Andorra, we have an
independent republic with its own laws.
customs and its regularly elected chief,
all as distinct and separate from the
great state and nation about them as
Andorra is independent of France and
Spain. The new chief is elected for four
years, like our president, with salary
of $500 year and travelling expenses
when he ventures OH state business out
side the domain of Qualla
In this republic there are political
parties without political impurity. The
Baptist and Methodist churches claim
nearly all the adults as communicates.
In no part of the country is the marriage
VOW moro respected than among. these
little known Cherokees, and drunken
ness and divorce are practically un-
known
Like their brethren of the Indian Ter
ritory, tho Cherokees of Qualla have
their own written language and their
Wv iI'iiibStJ DN tIldb WOluer-
full man. the Indian Cadmus, Sequoia.
While the White mountainecrs of this
part of North Carolina are an unimag-
NATIVE and legendlcss race, the Chcro-
KEGS are most poetic and roman
tic people, and with every stream, val
Icy, prccipicc or mountain peak there is
some legend or myth connected that
lifts it out Of the stupid and often gross
ly vulgar nomenclature of the whites
and gives 1t an added charm by nssociat-
ing 1t with some stirring event or
heroic character of the past
An Englislman whom I met down
here, and who, being at Asheville, near
by, was induced to come over, declares
that Qualla is the most beautifully ro-
mantle place he has ever seen, and that
the Chcrokecs are by all odds the most
interesting people he has ever met, yet
outside this neighborhood there is not
one American i'll ten thousand who
knows anything about the place or the
people.
Although good Christians, tho Choro-
KEGS ut Qualla, like their kinsmen be-
You'd the Mississippi, still retain many
of their old tribal rites, which once had
and still retain some religious signifi-
canoe They have just finished series
Of dances and festivities, intended to
propitiate the powers that control frui-
ton, which always precede their plant
Ing of crops. After the harvest is in,
am told, they have what is known as
their corn Dances " which l am as
sured it is worth crossing the continent
to SEQ. +"
While tours are being made to the
Yellowstone and to even rs far away as
Alaska here is place. within easy
reach Of all eastern cities. which for
the beauty Of its surroundings and the
interest Of its red inhabitants is I'M
equaled by any part of the great repub-
lie, and yet even its name and its where
abouts are practically unknown to our
people ALFRED r. CALHOUN.
Stripes and tho Figure.