Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1905-07-21
"LAND OF THE sky"
What You Might Have Seen Had You
Been a Poor, Berated Editor.
MAY YOU FOLLOW In THOUGHT. AT ANY RATE.
I Editorial Correspondence.l !

i
into observation quarters, invaded
only by liverIed brakeman who
comes to see that the air brakes are
10 order, dropping the remark that
IN case we broke loose, the brakes
could he depended upon to prevent
our whirling hack down the precipi-
tous route. He tarries and points
out to us the scenes of interest.
Yonder ahead is Black ntain, the
first of Natures giants which frowns
upon our approach; but be is only a
'big dog in little pack" for on
beyond are towering SUBMITS whose
gaze is too exalted to take note of his
Blackship. High upon a mountain
side is little white house beside an
abrupt cut, and this we are told is
Mud Cut; we look up and it appears
up and behind, far in our rear, so
Imagine the surprise when we are
told that that disappearing gap is
one OF the cuts through which we are
later 20 travel. Looking downward a
beautiful mountain valley opens up,
with its farms and tidy homes and
cattle without number; then we catch
gimpses of shining steel and we see
the winding of the road we have
labored up turning in its many S's.
In the valley is a fountain playing
with the force of many ire.hose
nozzles, and this is with water piped
from above Mud Cut and turned
loose with its majestic force at the
base of the mountain. One is re-
minded Of the geysers of the West.
ZIP, zoo. into a rocky tunnel we
plunge, and out almost before you
know it; water dripping from hun
dred springs looks as if the rocks are
bleeding from the barshness of mans
tools. This was the first of seven
tunnels, all picturesque and short
save the last one, which is a mile
long. Standing as we were on the rear
car two tunnels we passed through
could be seen from the third, for here
the roadbed was straight for half
mile, something unusual. Mud Cut is
entered, and after emerging we look
down upon our winding course,
course which discloses the track at
seventeen points and at as many alti-
tudes. For awhile now we stop
climbing and our laboring engines
shut off steam and begin to coast.
But not for long.
In gaining such an ascent the ac-
complishment of magnificent engi-
neering had in view other object
than picturesque climb to be fol-
lowed by an artistic descent. We
had simply gained access to the table
lands of western North Carolina and
come into view of her "sure enough"
mountains. On the right lowered
range of almost interminable
mountains of which Mount Mitchell
is king. His nearly seven thousand
feet of altitude stamps him the
highest peak east of the Rocky
mountains, but he is close run by
Pisgah and the Great Divide further
on. We drop our double header, and
one engine labors away at the more
gradual but never ceasing climb.
Mitchell and Pisgah come into closer
view and the rugged cliffs of the
first, some of solid rock hundreds of
feet high, are at times hidden by the
clouds that lap way down the side of
the vast range. Not uRtil one sees
how they envelop, and then rise, to
watt on and bate another peak in
moisture, can you understand that
the clouds above us are in su ubstance
but heavy, dense fogs. We are now
IN the "Land of the Sky," two thous.
and feet above sea level; and vet our
destination is far up aud away. The
balloonist with his parachute at our
country fairs endeavors to reach
height of thousand feet before
daring to drop with his parachute.
Here we were on table lands-not
mountain SUBMITS, simply the habi-
table approaches, the foot t-hills-and
twice as high above the seas level as
our ballonist assays to go.
Still We climb, slowly and not
precipitateiy, but every mile or two
adding another hundred feet to the
elevation. Bimeby, Mitchell and Pis-
gah and other tall SUBMITS do not
look SO over-towering. That's be-
cause we are doing little surmount-
ing. 1t is an old saying that if you
want to see mountain don't go on
it to LOOK at it. You must view it
from distance to discover that it is
a mountain. When you get up on
1t, You see of it only the Immediate
surroundings. You can look helow
and know that you are up some
where, or you can look away and see
other mountains, but your mountain
is lost to you.
About three o'clock we roll into
Biltmore, station adjoining Ashe-
Vile, and this is where We decamp.
Up high above us we are pointed to |
Kenilworth Inn, our resting place
for the week. Carriages await us
and we climb now behind sure
enough flesh and blood and equine
snorts. We are about the first of
the Virginians to roll in, aud we
get good and we'll acquainted with
our host and hostess on first sight.
This is "pious idea," and if You |
do much travelling you know what
1T means to "stand in" with "mine
host" Mr.. and Mrs. T.. b. Moore
good old Virginia name, and we
found them a good Virginia couple. |
and not "old," either-just made us
feel at home as soon as we had
struck their vast domain. Lunch
was soon provided, and although
they were wrestling with two or
three hundred delegates to the
Young Peoples Missionary Move
ment, We were dropped into a nice
suite of rooms on the second floor.
from whose windows for six days
We were charmed with the sight of
Mount Mitchell and its myriads of