The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-04-14
OVER HILL, THROUGH VALLEY.
FROM GAINESVILLE TO HIAWAS-
SEE AND YOUNG HARRIS.

Counties. aud Some Of the People
He Met-In the Gold Hills of Hab-
ershanl, Down the Picturesque
NncoOchee valley. Across the Blue
Ridge Through Unicoy Gap and
Fast the Headwaters of the Chat
tahOOchee Into the Lovely Valley
of the Hinwassee-A Country That
Rivals the Far West in It's Beauty
of scenery and Is Filled With an
Enterprising People.
MY recent trip through the noun
tains. hills and valleys of North Geor-
gia was a pleasant one, and one that
/ shall always remember. l reached
Gainesville, Habersham county. a
Sunday morning and was met at the
depot by Capt. S. NJ. Chestnut. Col. j..
B. Erwin, Capt. G. S. Bean and 9TH
ers, and took lunch with the captain
and his friends. It was the Sabbath
and / did no calling. A number of
gentlemen, however stopped in while
] was at Capt. Chestnut's. among
them, Mayor G. P. Jones. City Mar
shall w. j. Fuller. Capt. w. w. Berry,
DR.. E. P. West. Judge Franklin, Frank
Asbury, Ed Barron, c L. Bass, the
editor of the Gainesville Advertiser
and ex-member of the Legislature, and
others.
/ had but little time to spare, as
expected to reach Hiawasse in time
for supper The sequel proved. how
ever, that this was a delusion on my
part At o'clock behind, a pair of
good horses, and with Mr.. w. J. Full
Ter holding the reins we started at
a lively pace for Towns county. pass
ing through Habersham and White
counties en- route. On the road l met
Messrs John H. Derrick of Burton.
Sylvester Burrell of Osborn, David
Crum, William Pepper and A. j. Jen-
kins of Gainesville, S. r. Gardner of
Cornelia. James H. Wood of Sautee.
and w. II. c. Alley, the well-known
proprietor of the Nacoochee Hotel in
the valley of that name. His hotel was
destroyed by fire a few months ago.
was told. however that 1T would be re-
built in time for the coming seasons
business. We had a very pleasant
drive through a fine country. the love-
ly Nacoochee valley, until we reached
the Chattahoochee, and even then it
was nothing to complain of, though
my experiences were novel. The coun-
try is rough and picturesque. and
one need not go to Colorado or Cali
fornia to see nature in it's rough
grandeur.
Gainesville is the summer home of
many Savannahians. and their COM
ings and goings antedate the build
ing of railroads and go back to
eighty years ago. The Gilmers,
Owens. Kollochs. and others have
homes there. and it's health record
stands with few rivals.
This is the gold region. There are
several mining companies in operation
in Habersham and White counties.
and gold indications are to be found
everywhere, Biologists. ii is said, pre-
diet that some day the right veins will
be discovered, and then the yield of
Z Gorgias hills will equal that of Cali
a and Australia. +s
On my trip l passed near Sells
Mountain, in White county. 1t is a
mountain of asbestos, and is now the
property of a corporation which ex-
poets to make millions out of it.
Towns County.
Towns county is in Northeast Geor-
gia and borders on North Carolina.
1t has an area of $50 square miles and
is watered by the head streams of the
beautiful Hiawassee river. 1t is hilly
and mountainous. but the soil is gem
orally fertile. Its principal products
are corn. wheat, rye, oats, potatoes
and apples. There is also a small
quantity of rice grown. Horses, mules.
sheep and hogs do we'll. There are
valuable corrundum and mica deposits
and some gold in the mountains. The
population in 1900 was 4,74S, of which
only about 100 were colored. There
were never many of the latter in
Towns county. but what few there
were are disappearing.
With the building of good roads.
there will be great increase in
wealth and population, and a railroad
in few years would bring thousands
OF those people who in summer seek
the invigorating breezes of the noun
tafrts What is said about Towns
county applies with equal force to
Union, White. Fannin. Rabun and
other counties in Northeast Georgia.
Union in 1857 and named in honor of
George w. Towns, who was elected
Governor in 1S47 and again in 1S49.
Hiawassee.
Away back in the days when Horace
Greeley was a presidential possibility,
a story was told about his experience
in driving over the Sierra Nevada
mountains to keep an engagement to
speak in a California town. Hank
Morik, a celebrated Jehu of that day,
was the driver of the stage coach.
Mr.. Greeley. getting into the vehicle.
urged upon Monk the Importance of
his reaching his destination in time.
Hank cracked his whip and the team
went off at a gallop The coach spun
along, whirling around the sharp
curves of the mountain highway and
across rock bottom gulles. much
to the alarm of Mr.. Greeley, who poked
his head out and told the driver not
to go so fast, and the formers reply
came back. Hold on, Mr.. Greeley, l
will take you through in time" and he
did.
The road to Hiawassee is through
the famous Nacoochee valley, thence
across the Blue Ridge. through Unicoy
Gap, down into the lovely valley of
Hiawassee. The distance from Clarkes-
willie to Hiawassee. / was told was SO
miles, but, as Mr.. Fuller suggested
when the trip was nearing its end,
the surveyors left out the mountains.
which would have made the mileage
AZ miles. I thought it was a hundred
miles.
BY the word Gap the inexperienced
reader may Imagine that the road