Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1909-10-14
SEQUACHEE VALLEY

quachee Valley. written by his son Us
car, who Is attending school at New
Market, Ala. The article shows the
young man to be possessed of more
than ordinary attainments.)
The children Of Israel in times OF old
when they we're in captivity, sang
songs and carols to their native land
because it was their home, and they
we're sad and longed to go back to Je-
rusalem. The poets of all nations have
celebrated in song and verse the land
of their captivity, some in note OF sad
ness, some in lays more joyous, so to-
night may be pardoned IL | sing In
| prose of my home, for that same power
which moves the world and ties the
hearts of men to things and places not
less than people, moves me- in like
manner to write OF what to me is the
most beautiful spot in all the South
Land-Sequachee Valley.
Sequachee is an Indian name and
means hog-trough, tho it need not sug'
gest except to the unrefned and those
ignorant OF the customs, manners and
peculiarities of a once vigorous race,
the race of Hiawatha, that the people
who formerly lived there were hogs, or
that those who now live tkere are the
descendants of such.
Sequachee Valley, like other places
is place where people live, many OF
whom are poor but some few moderate
ly rich, One occasionally finds there
an honest lawyer, tho in this respect 1t
is much like Madison County, Alabama,
We have doctors, preachers, farmers,
miners, mechanics, merchants, noun
taineers and the annals of the county
/ record the name, | believe, of one hon
est politician, the tradition now has
1T that he was carried to heaven alive.
But aside from these possessions, which
are common to all places, Sequachee
Valley has many things that make II
wholly different in its spirit, in it,
geography and physiology, and it's eli
mate from every other place in the
whole world.
The valley itself, which on an aver
age, is about three and one half miles
In width, lies Graded between Cumber
land Mountain and Walden's Ridge
with its feet bathed in the waters o
river Of the great bend and its head pill
lowed on the converging cliffs OF Cum
berland mountain and Walden's Ridge
thus extending northeastward iron
Bridgeport, Alabama, some fifty or six
, ty miles to Pikeville, Tennessee, tn
city at its head and terminus OF its onl
railroad.
Winding its way with gravity at II
helm, now swiftly, now placidly from
the head to the mouth of the valley
receiving as its tributaries all along tn
way the clear and limpid waters of hun
dreds OF mountain streams and vale
springs, the Sequachee Valley Rive
soon widens and deepens. then lose
itself in the Tennessee. Along this riy
or are many old watermills and dam
which remind one of the pictures an
paintings he sees in many homes, an
of the lines, The mill will never grin
with the water that has passed"
Here in the warm spring days can b
seen men of all professions, and boy
and girls from the town, fishing for th
gamest trout and bass that ever brok
the crest of surging waters and threw
rainbow of sparkling spray into tn
spring sun.
But its rivers and clear creeks are nc
is only physical charms. Along ii
western boundaries and extending il
entire length, the Cumberland mour
tain rises almost precipitantly to tn
height of some thousand or twelve hui
dred feet, forming great bl uffs, whic
are not only of themselves the mo.
beautiful master strokes of the hand {
nature, but they offer perspectives tina
are yearly sought by lovers of the sui
lime and majestic, by the esthetic an
by the artist In the summer man
people of the towns of the valley, an
some from the distant places, move
their summer homes on these platea,
which overlook the valley. Early
the morning these cliff-dwellers of sun
mer, rise and before sig the husband
are off for the valley on a three-mi
walk, while mother, sisters and brot
ers 60 to the cliffs to see the valley b
low. On arriving at the bluff in I'll
clear morning sun, which is just risin
to the northeast and south west and
the east as far as the Lookout Mou
= tains, which overlook Chattanooga, OF
I can see nothing but a great ocean
snow white fog, undulating as it wer
/ with the hills of the valley. Belo
| this sheet of fog, which completely CO
ers the valley and makes one feel lii
! springing out upon its soft white bose
| and sailing along It's crest, the dista
/ tinkling of COW bells, the far ava
/ songs of the farmer boy on his way
the bottom farm, and the comminglir
| of all the sounds arising from the lit
| hamlet just awakened from its dream
| to its daily activities, can be hear
| But after some hours the sun dispe
the fog and. save for a white line win
4 ing in great bends, that extends {
| east beyond the pale of the valley, b
i hind Walden's Ridge against L,ooko