Year: 1869

State. In fact he was the only really I
scientific man in his day in North /
Carolina. He had early held to the |
idea that the range of mountains in
the western part of the State, known
as the Black Mountains, were the
highest of any on the eastern coasts,
for this reason. Looking at the map,
he found among them the head springs
of one of the great tributaries of the
flowing into the Gulf OF
Mexico, of the Kenhawa, entering the
Ohio and of the Santee and the Peedee
into the Atlantic. Knowing
that these were the longest rivers east
of the Rocky Mountains finding their
wayin opposite directions to the ocean,
he reasoned that the point of greatest
elevation must be at their sources. In
1885 he made his first attempt to veri-
fy his idea on the subject by baromet-
rical measurement of the mountain in
question. His report of his explOra-
tiOns were published in due time and
general attention at home
and abroad. 1t was the first authori-
tive annunciation that the summit of
the Black Mountains in North CarOli-
ma was higher than that of the White


Mountains in New Hampshire, and


the highest in the United States east
of the Mississippi. The geOgraphers


of the time unanimously named the


mountain in .NIitchell's honor. He


ascended it again, making careful sur


veys, IN the years 1898, 1874 and 1856.


Some ten years after his first ascent,


one, Clingman, a small beer politician


in the western part of the State,


ascended the mountain referred to


made divers measurements, published


a report of the same far and wide, and


endeayOred to wrest from Mitchell his


well earned honOrs. He announced


that the peak of the black range was


Mt. Clingman. 1t is said he even


went so far as to pay divers map pub


fishers to favor his claims. Some. of


them did so, and issued their maps


with Clingman's peak as the highest


point, but they were universally re-


pudiated as incorrect by all who were


in any degree posted on the subject


Clingman afterwards became a Sena-


tor of the United States, and acting on


the principle that "a lie well stuck to


is as good as the truth" he has ever


since declared that he was the first


man that ever measured the height of


the mountain to which we refer. He


chafed at the idea that q Connecticut


Yankee, as he termed the learned pro-


fessOr, should have the name of the


magnificent mountain, beneath the


shadow of which he first drew breath.


When he male his first ascent Mitch


ell took with him two hunters who


lived in the valley below. On their


return from the summit, one of them


entered the day, and date, and names


of the party in his family bible. Years


after when the matter was in dispute,


he set forth this fact. Clingman at


once went to his house and sought to


tear the leaf from the book. The old


nan was highly wroth and drove the


honorable Senator out of the house.


With unblushing effrontery Clingman


maintained his claims from year to


year, and even declared that Mitchelps


measurements were incorrect. The


latter and hfs friends were indignant,


but the intelligence of the State and


truth itself were on his side. HOwev-


er, to settle the matter forever, and to


prove his statements beyond the


shadow of doubt, in 1857 he again set
out for the mountains determined to
make an elaborate and careful meas


urements of the height of the various


peaks and obtain the affidavits of the
two men who were still alive, who
accompanied him in his first ascent
They were then tOttering on the verge
of the grave. He had proceeded with
his work nearly two weeks, and had
r.aorhn1 Ohnrrf n nf n1rIa
above the mountain house to which l
have referred. 1t was Saturday after
noon, the 27.h of JuLe, when he quit
work and told his son who was with
him that he was going to cross the
to the settlement, on Caney
river to see the two men who had
guided him to the summit in his first
visit. He promised to return to the
house on Monday at noon.
There was no one with him. This
was the last time he was ever seen
alive. On Monday his son repaired
to the mountain house to meet him,
but he did not come. Tuesday the
same thing occurred, and when on
Wednesday he did not return, and
messengersTepOrted that he had never.
been seen in the settlement to which
he had started, the alarm was given
that he was lost. The whole country
for miles around was aroused and the
turned out to a man to
Join in the search. Their devotion for
him was wonderful. Hundreds of them
knew him personally; all loved and
honored him. They had uniformly
his side of the question in
the controversy that had taken place.
He had been with them time and
again in their mountain hunts. He
had enjoyed their hospitality and
preached them the word of God from
the sacred desks of their rural church.
es. Sorrow was on every rOuntenance.
Five counties Joined in the search
On the Sth of July his dead body was
found in a deep pool of water at the
foot of a precipice over which he had
fallen. After leaving his son a sudden
storm arose, darkness came on, and at
nineteen minutes past eight, for his
watch marked that time, he had
headlOng down a cliff
into the yawning chasm below


There, seven thusand feet above the
tide washed sands of the Atlantic, in
a basin worn out of the solid rock by
the frenzied torrent, filled with crys-
tai water from the mountain snow /
above, quietly reposing with out
arm as if listning to the /
mighty requium of the cataract, lay I
the old man cold in death. With in /
labor his body was lifted out .
and carried to the top of the ridge /
above. The mOuntaneers demanded 4
hat he should be buried on the top
Of the highest peak of the range upon .
which he lost his life. His family,
however, desired his remains brought .
down from the mountain, which was
done and he was buried
1t Ashville, twenty miles Distant
There he remained a year when his


amily yielded to the solicitations of
he mountain men, and consented to
MS reburial on the peak they desired.
In fact it was the general sense of the
whole country that he should finally
'est there. On the 9th of June, 1853,
ne was accordingly Te-interred, and
his body carried with the most impOs-
ng ceremonies to the high dome that
)ears his name, and deposited in 2
grave cut out of the solid rock on the
highest peak of Black Mountain range,
III feet above the level of the sea,
IN the. very spot where, D years
,efore, he had first announced the
height to the world. Cling
mans pretentiOns were there forever
lissipated. The two old hunters who
lad accompanied Mitchell thither on
lis first ascent were present, and un-
Iar tho calamity Of their O0fhs bv