Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-09-05
BEFORE THE RAILROADS.
Interesting Account of Mountain Ex-
periences Fifty Years Ago.

Ioday nundredS or nappy people
are being carried comfortably and
cheaply from the southern counties
of this state to the health and pleas
ure resorts among the mountains Of
the land Of the sky" Leaving their
homes, some within sound Of the
murmur Of the sea, the iron horse
will before late tea time carry them
to their rest destination beyond the
Blue Ridge.
! Memory goes back to our first
trip to the mountains, in the summer
of 1858. The writer was then a Wof-
ford junior, and 1t so happened that
he and four other youngsters were
spending the long summer vacation
in Spartanburg. The monotony Of
sleep grew so tiresome that trip to
the mountains was determined upon.
A horse and wagon were hired from
Major A. H. Kirk, still living, an anti
please magistrate. A tent. some bed
ding and a few cooking utensils were
borrowed. One Of the party, who
was disabled in one leg. hired sad
die horse for his transportation. The
others agreed to ride and tie," one
driving for three miles, when he
would get out and "hit the grit,
another taking his place. AS we were
| in no hurry had no schedule to make,
our progress was deliberate. Leaving
Spartanburg after dinner we reached
our first camping place, Cherokee
Springs, before nightfall and were
given a rough room without furniture
| by a minister who was spending the
summer there with his family. The
thinness Of our bedding, the hardness
Of the floor and the novelty OF the
situation banished sleep.
The first full days journey was SO
full of tarryings that we fell short OF
reaching Rutherfordton by several
miles when night came and we biv-
| ouacked. None of us had the gump-
ton to pitch the tent properly-we
learned next day-so we slept with
our bodies under cover and the ex-
tremities in the starlight. When a
nearby farmers chanticleer crowed
for day we were up and busy. The
lone cavalryman hustled off to Ruth
erfordton and told Al. Handy that
| four healthy appetites were coming.
The Scotch breakfast that his good
folks gave us has not been forgotten
| to this day.
Making our way slowly up the
Hickory Nut Gap road. the most
beautiful and picturesque Of the
passes over the Blue Ridge, we
| reached the summit at noon and took
our first lesson in mountain climbing
by ascending "Ferguson's Peak" so
called because a Whig soldier Of that
name had been killed there by Tories
in the Revolutionary war. Just be-
yond the gap was a stage house call
ed Sherrill's, with a spring just on
ter so cold as to make our teeth
ache. The country dinner we had at
SherrilIs after all that exercise was
a memorable one. The next day,
crossing the Swannanoa two miles
south Of Asheville, we turned up that
stream and followed its course to the
| foot Of Black Mountain, where a nu-
merous family Of the name Of Stepp
kept hotel in several houses. There
we had our first meal Of speckled
trout. the finest fish in the world. A
whole day was taken up in our as
cent Of the mountains, the serpentine
path being composed Of about equal
proportions of black mud and all
|
was the summer home. used as a no
| tel, that had been built by a wealthy
Charlestonian, Mr.. Patton, but which
was not open that summer. The
view from that point southwark was
magnificent map Of mountain peaks
| and nesting valleys. Beyond the
house the path passed through a
piece Of prairie land and then for the
last half of the distance from the foot
| of the mountain some seven miles,
wound among the fir trees, above the
snake line and where the moss on the
ground seemed to be knee high.
We passed the night on the noun
tain, shivering with cold, though 1t
| was midsummer. great rock 1ut-
ting out from the mountain side shell
tered us from the dew, and the bal
sam boughs on which we lay were
sweet scented to our nostrils. A big
fire was kept up close to our rock
roof by the guides, whose dogs bayed
all night because, as their owners
said, bears were about.
One sunset night and sunrise was
sufficient to satisfy our romantic
feelings. Each placed q stone on the
lone grave Of DR.. Elisha Mitchell,
who was buried on the very summit
of the mountain, the highest point OF
| land in the United States east Of the
Mississippi river. DR.. Mitchell was a
professor in the university Of North
Carolina A controversy had risen
several years before between him and
United States Senator Thomas L.
Clingman as to which was the dis
coverer of the highest peak. DR.. Nit
chell had returned to the mountain
to gather proofs in support Of his
claim. In following an old trail he
lost his way and fell down the noun
tain side into deep pool, where he
was drowned His body was not dis
covered until several days after his
death. The cold water had preserved
1t 80 we'll that 1t was carried to Ashe-
Vile and buried. Later 1t was carried
back to the mountain and given final
burial.
After the rough ascent and descent
of the mountain the Swannanoa val
lev seemed to we'll merit the praise
bestowed upon it by the Charleston
rhymester, Jaques, one stanza Of
which we recall:
"Swannanoa, nymph Of beauty,
| would WOO thee in my rhyme,
Brightest, fairest, loveliest river
In our sunny southern clime.'
The water was as clear as air and
every pebble was visible in the bot
tom OF the deepest pools.
Asheville was passed through, not
made a stopping place for such an
excursion as ours. 1t was then long
and narrow village, with not so large
population as Barnwell has today
1t was noted then as a sightseeing
stopping place for travellers, but very
few If any strangers spent the sum-
mers there Among its chief distinc-
tions at that time were the facts that
Robert Y. Hayne Of this state had
died in the old Eagle hotel there
while engaged in promoting the
building Of a railroad from the South
Carolina coast. 1t was also the home
of United States Senator Thomas L.
Clingman and Zebulon B. Vance, af-
forwards governor and United States
senator. In those days no one could
hold office in North Carolina unless
the owner of fifty acres Of land or
town property of equal value. To
enable Mr.. Clingman to begin his po-
litical life as a member of the legis-
lature, some one gave him fifty acres
on the top of Pisgah, mountain TO
the west and in plain view OF Ashe-
vile.
On the French Broad, just out of