The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-12

teams, feedstuff and all kinds of stock. They landed at Deposit, or Gunter's Landing, and storing their provisions, proceeded up Gunter's creek to Brooks vile. and turning to the left across the valley of the Locust Fork of the War rior, entered Murphree's valley. thence down that valley until their route inter- sected the road to Mud Town, at Vil- lage Springs Another favorite route was the one pursued by General Coffee in hls expedition against Old Town, Just below Tuscaloosa and ever since known as the Tennessee road
 By the first of the year 1918 all these roads were thickly settled.
 At the time the Cherokee Indians pos- sessed all that part of the country lying between Wills creek and the Chatta- hoochee river, and the Carolinians and Georgians had to pass through all that savage region, over very rough roads, and crossing Wills creek, entered St. Clair county, thence over the Raccoon moun- tains into Blount All pioneers from either direction had to pack or haul their implements, corn or meal and salt from Madison county, or the Tennessee river. The woods furnished an abundance or meat. Horses and cattle, sheep and hogs lived upon the grass and acorns in the woods.
 Several very worthy families, in the year 1S15 emigrated from the upper dis trict of South Carolina to Tennessee. and early in 1877 removed to the upper part of Jones' valley, to which they gave the name of Murphree's valley. In honor or their leader Daniel Murphree Here they formed a prosperous and notably moral community that for purity and high ideal of all that is upright and honorable in life has not been surpassed in our com monwealth The members of this little hand of devoted Christians wrote to their friends in South Carolina of the beauty, healthfulness and fertility of this region, and induced many to join them
 Previous to 1877 there were no wagon roads for these eastern people, but in lslS and 1919 hundreds of immigrants came in. Their route crossed the Chattahoochee river at the upper Shallow ford. passed through Rome, Ga., crossed Wllls creek at Bennettsvile, and leaving the Rac- coon mountains close on the right mana, entered Jones' valley about seven or eight miles east of Elyton. and then formed i,nct,on with the great Tennessee road If was at this point nearly all the pion- eers from the east entered the promised land of Blount Gall thae part being now Jefferson county, but not until the Ten nesseans, as in every other section or the county, had located themselves on the choicest places north and a few miles south of Hlyton with the possible ex- cention of the Daniel Murphree colony. The South Caronians settled very thick in the lower portion of Blount, now Jeff ferson.
 Although the Tennesseans had nearly two years start in the race, and the choice of location, the Carolinians and their oe- scendants soon became the most numerous of the population of Blount and JeHerson counties. Differing so widely in man ners. customs traditions and tempera- nent. these two strong parties soon be- came hostile to each other. Several se- were skirmishes, called in the pioneer terms, bear fights" took place between them in 1877, in which the Tennesseans were generally victorious. This was a bitter humiliation to the chivalrous spirit of the South Carolinians, but they had to endure 1t for almost year In ISIS they received a chosen reinforcement rom their native state, and notified their op- ponents that they would like to try their strength and valor over again. The chal- Ience was promptly accepted, and at the function of the Tennessee and Georgia roads a battle royar' between them oc- cured, in which the fortunes of war were