Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-09-07
A G00DLY HERITAGE
In East Tennessee Valleys and
Mountains.
A Most Primitive People, Who Live Near
to Natures Heart and Reek Little
of the Outside Worsd-An
Interesting Folk.

tne center Oh populhtlon Vi tho phiVcu
States there is an unknown land, and
strange folk live therein.
II was in 1884 that Gen, John Sewer
and his band of sturdy pioneers and
Indian fighters crossed the Great
Smokes from Virginia, drove back the
redskins, built Fort Wautaga on the
banks of the Holston and established
the state of Franklin" For four years
Gen. Sewer was governor of the puta-
tive commonwealth. Then the right
full authority of North Carolina, to
whom the territory belonged, was re-
asserted and the State of Franklin
ceased to exist. Some years later North
Carolina coded the section to the Fed
cral government and the State of Ten
nessee was organized. Gov. Sewer
again became the chief executive.
1t was a goodly land that the brave
governor and his followers reclaimed
from the savages. 1t was land Of
rolling mountains, of fertile valleys
of mighty streams and sparkling
springs. 1t was a country clad in
forest wealth of giant trees-with pop
lar, oak, ash, black walnut, pine and
hemlock. 1t was underlaid with rich
deposits of coal and iron. Above all it
possessed climate of salubrity and
healthfulness not excelled by any in
the world.
In all these more than hundred
years, in the great land of East Ten
nessee-as separate and distinct in
thought, people, climate, interest and
employment from Middle and Western
Tennessee as Maine is from Texas
there has risen but one considerable
community, and that one is of COM
parative insignifcance in size and in
| huence.
Depart from any point on the line OF
one of the few railroads that traverse
the country, and half days journey
astride of horse will land the traveller
in region as primeval and untamed as
when the good Sewer laid down his
life for it in 1915. He will find few
roads worthy the name; he will cross
rivers by primitive fords or ferries; he
will see vast timber-clad mountain
sides; he will feast his eyes on scenery
unspoiled by the hand of man. He will
find the agile mountain deer, and great
bronze turkeys, and lesser animals and
fowls stalking the woods, almost I'M
afraid of their arch enemy. On the
higher levels the brooks will be found
swarming with trout, speckled beauties
who know naught of sportmans fly
and reel. Depart but few miles from
any line of transportation and East
Tennessee is an unknown land!
The mountaineers of Virginia and
Western North Carolina, who emigrated
and made their homes on the western
slope of the Great Smokes, were a
clannish people, loyal TO their friends
and implacable to their enemies. With
the determination or withdrawal of the
Indian they scattered along down the
rich bottom lands of the French Broad
and Holston and made homes for them
selves. To large extent the women
have always been the indifferent tillers
of the soil; idling with "fce," gun and
fishing rod has been the masculine EN-.
ployment. In this earlier settled por-
ton of East Tennessee some of the
amenities of civilization have prevailed
of a later day, still it is crude, unlearned
and primitive.
Still Further Westward.
As time progressed some OF the more
adventurous spirits again moved west
ward-moved across the Holston and
the Clinch, across the intervening
mountain ranges, away to the rough
and broken surface of the Cumberland
plateau, where the tempestuous Big
South Fork of the Cumberland haC
carved ragged channel for itself be
tween stupendous sandstone cliffs Be
yond this narrow valley they nevel
ventured, for mountaineers they were
bv birth and education, and TO go fur
Their was to leave the mountains be
hind.
Here, for distance Of many miles
along the main stream or in the littl
laurel entangled "coves," through
: which some mountain torrent had burs
its way, numbers settled. Little, low
doored, stickchimneyed log "shacks
were built, and the occasional marrow
tracts of arabic land were forced Il
Weld sparse "craps" Of corn and vege
. tables. Available soil for the produc
ton of the necessities of life was ia
from being as plentiful as on the slope
and bottom lands of the Great Smokes
which they had abandoned. But here
, in the Businesses of the Cumberlands
for we'll toward q century, this strang
people has existed in the self-same way
!. The sons and daughters have marie
and intermarried, until the entire re
gion is made up of "kin-folks," ultra
clannish and exclusive. OF the outsid
world they know little and care lest
Schools are scarcely known, and fey
, can even read.
7 But these strange denizens of tn
, half-desert mountains, these forgotte
! and unknown inhabitants, though SUI
/ rounded on all sides by progressive an
D prosperous sections-poorer in substar
q tial wealth than the veriest gutter-snip
!. of the great cities-have worth and vii
a tues and happiness. They are deepl
;. religious, extremely bospitable and, az
e cording to their understanding, homes
= Scarce ten miles can be traversed tina
: does not disclose the log "churc
!. house." News of the coming of TIL
y itinerant preacher man" is hailed wit
4 joy, and the congregation present q
e these semi-occasional gatherings o
(! times represent the total population {
d score of square miles. These NEE
o ings consist not only OF religious 81