History of Watauga County”
by John Preston Arthu

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Rev. Joseph Harrison.-- This "just and faithful knight of God" was the son of Joseph Harrison, and was born February 4, 1799, in Iredell County, close to Black Oak Ridge, now alexander County. Joseph, Sr., came from England with his brother, Benjamin, Ben going to Iniana and Joseph to Iredell. There he married Mrs. Nancy Price, whose father was John Caldwell. They had five children: Nathan, born in 1824, married Polly Harrison, his cousin; Joseph, born February 2, 1843, married, first, Elizabeth Hamlet, second, Carolina Wolff, third, Alice Baird, and fourth, Albertine Bond; Malinda, born in 1822, married Wilson Bradshaw; Mary, born in 1834, married John Cook, and Martha, born August 24, 1836, married Emanuel Van Dyke. He preached from 1825 till his death in 1884. He was repeatedly elected Register of Deeds of Watauga County, but during the Civil War he remained loyal to the Union, refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, with the result that Rev. D. D. Harmon served during that time.

Cove Creek Baptist Church.-- There was such a strong representation in the Three Forks Baptist Church from the Cove Creek section that in April, 1799, it held its meeting there, and again in June, when Sarah Davis, Abraham Linvil and Susannah Vanderpool were received by experience, while in the following July Catharine Linville, Margaret Linvil, Mathias Harmon, John Holsclaw and Morgan Isaacs were received by experience. These were followed in Auguse, 1799, by Sarah Davis (probably daughter of the Sarah who had been received in June), Phoebe Vanderpool and George Davis, who were likewise received by experience. The first Saturday in September Three Forks Church again met at Cove Creek and chose Brothers Chambers and Samuel Vanderpool to attend the association at King's Creek on the fourth Saturday in that month. At this meeting also Brother Vanderpool's petition for a church at Cove Creek was granted, while in December, 1799, the newly constituted Cove Creek Church asked Three Forks for ministerial help for ordination, and it was granted, the constitution having been granted already. The first church was of logs nd tradition says stood on the creek, but was washed away with the bridge over

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which the road then crossed, half a mile above Sugar Grove. The road was then changed so as to go around the hill and ford the creek below the site of the old log bridge which the freshet had carried off. This church was then moved to the site of the present Walnut Grove Academy, but was still of logs, and Hugh M. Isaacs, who was born in 1839, attended this church with his mother when he was six years of age, and remembers distinctly that the birds flew around inside the church, feeding their young in their nests in the roof and eves, the logs being open, without chinking of any kind. It then stood where the Academy now stands and where there are yet two or three graves.

Bethel Baptist Church.-- This church was constituted July 4, 1851, from Cove Creek Baptist Church. The members were Wm. B, Abner C., Stephen J., Ann, widow of Wm. B., Anne W., Rachel W., Mary N. and Margaret Farthing, and Madison Johnson and Nancy Johnson. The first church was of logs and stood on the knoll across the road from the site of the present church, which was erected in 1872 or 1873, and was probably the best in the county at that time. It has constituted three other churches which have drawn their membership mainly from Bethel: Beaver Dams Baptist Church, constituted in September, 1874; Forest Grove Baptist Church, constituted in 1889, and Timbered Ridge Baptist Church, in 1906.

South Fork Baptist Church.-- This was the third church sonstituted in Watauga County, and stood at what was known as Elk Cross Roads.

Ebenezer was perhaps the fourth church to be constituted, and was built at what is now called Zionville. Later on three churches were merged into this and called Mr. Zion, but afterwards took the name of the pace at which it stood, Zionville.

Other Early Churches.-- Laurel Springs Church was constituted before the Civil War, with Joseph Brown and Riley Norris as prime movers. The Blowing Rock Church began about 1900 with the Hartleys, Greens and Browns as chief supporters. In 1885 or thereabout George and Isaac McGinnis and Marion Story

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constituted the church at Mt. Lebannon, while about 1895 James Perry and Carroll Adams started Pleasant Grove at Silverstone. Andrew J. and Eli Harman began the Zion Hill Church about 1880, and at about the same time Elias Isaacs and the Phillips family were active in constituting Mount Gillead. Bethany, near the top of Beach Mountain, began about 1895, and Gap Creek about 1875, with Larkin Michael zealous in the interest of the former and John Hopkins in that of the latter. Rich Mountain Church was constituted about 1900, and Doe Ridge, on Stony Fork, about 1900.

Brushy Fork Baptist Church constituted February 26, 1858, by Elders D. C. Harman and Joseph Harrison, with eleven members, to wit: M. C. Harman, Moses Hateley, John A. Hagaman, Sarah Reece, Sally Hagaman, Sarah Hagaman, Susan Danner, Elvira Holsclaw, Elizabeth Hix, Melissa Harman and Sarah Monday. Elder D. C. Harman was the first pastor and served the church in succession for about twenty-five years, except eight or ten months, when he was in the Civil War. The following elders have served the church as pastors: D. C. Harman, A. C. Farthing, E. F. Jones, J. J. L. Sherwood, David Green, J. F. Eller, E. M. Gragg, J. F. Davis, Sidney King, Omey Triplett, S. L. Fox and J. M. Payne. The church has ordained the following ministers: John A. Hagaman, J. F. Davis, I. J. McGinnis, Thos. C. Holsclaw, S. L. Fox and John P. Hagaman.

The Boone Baptist Church.-- This church was constituted in 1882 (Deed Book J, p. 502), by W. L. Bryan and Thomas J. and W. C. Coffey and others. This congregation is now erecting a large and handsom brick church on the corner of Main and School House Streets, to cost over $5,000.00.

Other Early Churches.-- The South Fork Baptist Church at Elk Cross Roads was the third church to be constituted in this county, and among the finest and best beloved of its pastors was William Wilcox. Ebenezer was the fourth church, and it with two others were merged into one called Mount Zion, which afterwards took the name of the town which grew up about it--Zionville. It was here that John Farthing had settled on his

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return to this country in 1831. Antioch was organized largely through the influence of the Rev. D. C. Harman, with the assistance of Messrs. Dyer and Wiley Harman, as well as members of the Hix and Ward families. In it the Rev. L. W. Farthing has been a factor of great good. It was constituted in 1848, and a log house which stood in a meadow near the left bank of the Watauga River, from whih position it was washed away in the May freshet of 1901. In 1904 the original site of the first St. John's surrounded by young white oaks, was bought from the Episcopal Church and a large and attractive frame structure erected there.

Stony Fork Association Churches.-- Among the Baptist Churches belonging to this association are Poplar Grove, Mount Vernon, Laurel Fork in the Storie settlement, Boone's Fork, Yadkin Elk and Doe Ridge.

Bishop Asbury's Journal.-- It is generally supposed that this good man did not travel through Watauga in his trips through these mountains, but the following excerpts show the contrary: "Monday, April 28, 1788 (after preaching the day before at the Glove on John's River [p. 31]), after getting our horses shod, we . . . entered upon the mountains, the first of which I called Steel, the second Stone, and the third Iron Mountain; they are tough and difficult to climb. We were spoken to on our way by most awful thunder and lightning, accompained by heavy rain. We crept for shelter into a little dirty house, where the filth might have been taken from the floor with a spade. We felt the want of fire, but could get lettle wood to meke it, and what we gathered was wet. At the head of Watauga we fed, and reached Ward's that night(1) Coming on the river next day, we hired a young man to swim over for a canoe, in which we crossed, while our horses swam to the other shore. The waters being up, we were compelled to travel an old road over the mountains. Night came on . . . About nine o'clock we came to Greer's . . .
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Note: (1) This was probably Ben Ward, whose descendants are among Watauga's best citizens. There is a tradition that while at Ward's the Bishop needed a better light than that afforded by the open fire, and that Ward supplied it by throwing deer bones on the live coals from a heap of all sort of bones kept in the chimney jamb for that purpose. It is not mentioned in the Journal, however.

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"Monday, April 5, 1790 (p. 78). After worming the stream (John's River) for awhile, we took through the Laurel Hill and had to scale the mountains, which in some places were rising like the roof of a house. We came to the head of Watauga River; a most neglected place. Here the people have had their corn destroyed by frost, and many of them have moved away. It was thus we found it in Tyger's Valley. We passed by W---'s, a poor lodging, and slept at the Beaver Dam in a cabin without a cover, except what a few boards supplied. We had very heavy thunder and lightning, and most hideous yelling of wolves around, with rain, which is most frequent in the mountains. Tuescay, 6th. We were compelled to ride through the rain, and crossed the Stone Mountain . . . We came on to the dismal place called Roan's Creek, which was pretty full . . . Reaching Watauga, we had to swim our horses, and ourselves to cross in a canoe . . . At length we came to Greer's, and halted for the night.

"Wednesday, March 27, 1793 (p. 189, Vol. II). We began our journey over the great ridge of mountins. We had not gone far before we saw and felt the snow . . . We came to the head of Watauga River. Stopped at Mr. S---'s . . . My soul felt for the neglected people. It may be, by my coming this way, that I shall send them a preacher. We hasted on to Cove's Creek; invited ourselves to stay at C----'s, where we made our own tea, obtained some butter and milk and some most excellent Irish potatoes. We were presented with a little flax for our beds, on which we spread our coats and blankets, and three of us slept before a large fire. Thursday, 28th. We made an early start, and came to the Beaver Dam; three years ago we slept here in a cabin without a cover. We made a breakfast at Mr. W---'s,(1) and then attempted the Iron or Stone Mountain, which is steep like the roof of a house. I found it difficult and trying to my lungs to walk up it. Descending the mountain, we had to jump down the steep stairs,(2) from two to three and four feet.
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Note: (1) This was probably Benjamin Webb, the first settler on Beaver Dams, and who sold out to Rev. W. W. Farthing in 1826.
(2) This gap is commonly called Star Gap, though many insist that its true nme is stair Gap because of the steps mentioned by Bishop Asbury.

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At the foot of this mountain our guide left us to a man on foot; he soon declined, and we made the best of our way to Dugger's Ford, on Roan's Creek. We came down the river where there are plenty of large, round, rolling stones, and the stream was rapid. Wednesday, April 22, 1795 (p. 263, Vol. II). Crossed the ridge and kept on to the westwrd. We went Major j. White's path, and found it abundantly better than the old one. We reached the top of the ridge in about six miles. Here we found ourselves among fruitful hills; then we had a good path for six miles more, except where there were some laurel branches and roots. We stopped at S---'s, and it was well we did, or we would have been well nigh starved, both man and horse. I went on to D----'s, and thence to Nelson's, where I met with Brothers B--, A--- and W---, ancient men among us. I stood the fatigue and sleeping three in a bed better than I expected. From White's to Nelson's is eighty miles. We crossed the Watauga about twenty times. At supper we ate of the perch that are taken in great plenty from Smith's fish spring. I judge there must be a subterraneous communication from that to the River.(1) Wednesday, March 22, 1797 (p. 340, Vol. II). After preaching at john's River on the 21st, "I set out on my journey for the west . . . It began to rain violently before we came to Henley's. I took shelter in a house from the rain, and talked and prayed with a poor woman. We dined at Mr. Henley's, calling at Wakefield only to talk and pray. I cannot well pass by my friends without calling. We hastened across Linville mountain, which is awfully barren, and came on to Young's Cove . . ."

White's Spring Church.-- Whenever Bishop Asbury visited John's River he was entertained by Major Joseph White, as the Bishop's Journal shows (Vol. II, pp. 31, 78, 189). By April, 1795, Major White had constructed a good road over the Blue Ridge, probably through what is now called the Coffey Gap, as the Bishop speaks of following the "Major J. White's path, and found it abundantly better than the old one" (Vol. II, p. 263).
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Note: (1) This is what is now known s Fish Spring, four miles below Butler, Tenn. But there is nothing separating the spring from the river, and no fish are found in the spring, floods having washed the intervening bank away.

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Major White had a camp near this old path, and the fine spring there, and just below the Coffey Gap, still goes by the name of White's Spring. This is the same White who was a major in Colonel McDowell's regiment. A good building for the accommodation of the Methodists was erected near this spring about 1895, and commands a fine view. According to Draper (note on page 149), Captain Joseph White was wounded at Cowan's Ford in a skirmish September 12, 1780, and was at King's mMountain (Id. p. 474).

Methodist Churches.-- According to Mr. Cyrus A. Grubb, of Laxton Creek, Methodism began in this county about 1809 when an itinerant minister, whose name he has forgotten, traveled through what is now this county in the interest of Charles Wesley's newly founded church, Bishop Asbury having preceded him at various times between 1788 to 1798, but passing through only a small corner and holding meetings in this section and in other sections, notably in Buncombe Countym from 1800 to 1813. This unnamed pioneer in Methodism is said to have stopped first at the home of Gwyn Houck on Old Fields creek, next at Risden Cooper's on Cranberry, then at James Jackson's on the ridge between Grassy Creek and Meat Camp, afterwards going to Edward Moody's on upper Watauga, following by a visit to a man named Davis on Cove Creek. No visit seems to have been made to Boone, or what was probably nobody's home at that time, for, unless the first Jordan Councill had moved here then, this locality was probably "all in woods." At each place he "left an appointment," as the saying went in those days and as it still goes in many parts in these days. Out of the visit to Cooper's grew what is now Cranberry Church, on the ridge between Cranberry Crddk and Meadow Creek. The Cooper family has always stood for this branch of the Christian Religion, and its influence has been powerful and efficacious in that cause. James Jackson was so much interested in the necessity for some edifice in which all the people might come and worship, to to school or discuss public affairs, that he conveyed to Edmund Blackburn, a brother of Levi, David Miller and Ephriam and William Norris, as Trustees, a track of land for a

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school house, meeting house or church, as was desired by those using it, to be open at all times to all alike. It was at this house that the first Methodist preacher first preached, but his name has been forgotten. Levi Blackburn lived near Jackson meeting House at that time, but soon afterwards sold out to Jonathan Norris and moved to Riddle's Fork at Meat Camp--a section then and since known as Hopewell. Here a log school house was used as a church when the congregation proved too large to be accommodated in Levi's hospitable home, where for many pears preaching was held whenever there chanced to be a preacher in the neighborhood. About that time another appointment was left at Elk Cross Roads, to which Levi Blackburn soon moved and where he died, and where he started another church, using his home or a log schoolhouse for the purpose for many years. This as far as Brother Grubb's information extends, but others state that when Henry Taylor come to live at Valle Crucis he became active in the cause of Methodism, and his family have since followed in his footsteps. He is said to have induced preachers to hold meetings in the orchard in rear of the present store house of W. W. Mast at Valle Crucis, in his own home and at Franklin Baird's home, a mile down the Watauga. As interest increased he acquired the home that had been occupied by "Old Man" Christoffle,(1) a chairmaker, who lived on the right hand side of the road going from Valle Crucis to Charles D. Taylor's present mill inside a field. This house was enlarged and was the firsh Methodist Church in that community. This was in the fifties. This small house was used only three or four years, when another was built where the present edifice now stands, long before the Civil War. The present large frame church was built in 1895. Among the more active pioneers in Methodism in this place were Joel and Levi Moody, Sally Tester, Franklin Baird, Andrew Mast and the first Joseph Shull. But its growth was slow for a long period. Among the first elders and preachers were Elder Haskew, who came from
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Note: (1) Tradition says that this man was judicially and judiciously whipped at Boone for having stolen "hawgs." One who saw the thirty-nine lashes'well laid on" remembers that the licks were struck with small willow switches, which made first white and then red stripes. Christoffle left the country after this disgrace.

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Tennessee long before the Civil War; Archelus Brooks and a Mr. Allspaw. Since the Civil War the church has grown to be the largest and most influential of the denominatoin in the entire county, most probably.

Henson's Chapel.-- According to Col. Thomas Bingham, Elizabeth Whitlow was the first Methodist who ever came to what is now Watauga County. She came with her family when they were on their way to Tennessee in 1810 or 1811, and, becoming snow-bound on Brushy Fork, became acquainted with Golston Davis, whom she afterwards married. Golston followed her to Tennessee, where they were married, and soon returned and started a Methodist community. This is probably the Davis with whom the first itinerant left an appointment, as stated by Cyrus Grubb. But there was no Methodist Church for a long time, the first Methodist preacher who passed up Cove Creek using the log Baptist Church which formerly stood on the site on which the present Walnut Grove Academy now stands. But he preached largely, if not entirely, to Baptists, and when he offered to leave another appointment there objection was made. Whereupon, this Methodist preacher asked if there was not some member of the congregation who would open the doors of his home for the next appointment, and Golsten Davis offered his own home for that purpose. It is said that Davis was not a very prepossessing looking man, and that up to that good hour his wife had been more charmed with the beauty of his heart than with the pulchritude of his person. But when he rose and made this offer, tradition says she declared that he was "pretty," using a generic word for good looks which is still common with our people. At that meeting at Davis's house only two or three were present. This was near Amantha and that preacher's name was Greer. From this nucleus grew the present large Methodist community which worships at Henson's Chapel, built about 1868, the widow of Charles Henson having donated the land for that purpose. Her name was Elizabeth, and she came with her husband from Iredell County about 1829, or 1830. The present house, replacing the one built in 1868, was built about 1885. This congregation is credited with paying more money

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for all purposes than any other Methodist Church in the county, having contributed this year $563.00, of which $360.00 is for the pastor's salary. It has 196 members, of whom J. B. Horton, Don Horton, Thomas Bingham and J. C. Henson are very active and earnest. Among those most prominent in the past are recalled the names of George M. Bingham, John Combs, Thomas Harbin and wife, Charles Henson and his wife, Elizabeth, George Moody, Mrs. Eli Farmer and Golson Davis and wife. Among these who preached here in the distant past were Messrs. Miles, Joshua Cole, Tillett, Blackburn and Martin. Sheriff A. J. McBride was for a time a Methodist preacher, but toward the close of his life bacame a Baptist minister, dying in that faith.

The Boone Methodist Church.-- This was organized soon after the close of the Civil War, meetings having been held prior to that time in the court house and elsewhere. But about 1873 land was bought on the hill on which now stands the residence of J. M. Moretz and a church seating 600 erected. This was used till September, 1897 (Deed Book T, p. 369), when M. B. Blackburn sold them the small lot on which the present church was built. The Gardin, Winkler, Blair, Norris, Blackburn, Lovill, Bingham, Councill, Critcher, Rivers and Linney families are prominent in this church.

Other Churches.-- After the Civil War the third church was built at Elk CrossRoads, after which J. N. and his wife, Nancy, Norris conveyed land to G. W. Norris and C. A. Grubb and others, as trustees in April, 1886, at Fairview, where a large congregation worships (Deed Book l, p. 575). On the 4th of February, 1882, George W. Dugger conveyed to Thomas Proffitt, R. N. Culver, E. H. Banner, J. H. Perry and A. J. Proffitt, as trustees, land for a Methodist Church at Banner's Elk, which church was soon afterwards erected. In this community the church is quite strong, its members having worshipped before acquiring this land in a common meeting house used by all denominations. On the 19th day of April, 1902, John W. Hodges and wife and Robert L. Bingham conveyed to L. H. Michael and others, as trustees, land at Rutherwood for a

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Methodist Church, which was soon afterwards erected (Deed Book Z, p. 142). The first Methodist Church at Hopewell was a small log house which stood in rear of the present home of Wiley W. Blackburn on the land of Joseph Miller. It has been built by Levi Blackburn and his sons about 1850, but afterwards a frame church was erected 100 yards above the site of the first log structure. This stood till about 1900, when the present house was built about 300 yards from the former. As well as Rev. Lorenzo Dow Cole, who for years has been the chaplain of the Nimrod Tripey Camp, Confederate States Veterans, now recalls, the first Methosist preacher in this coundt found Aunt Elizabeth Cooper on Meadow Creek, away back in the earliest days, and left an appointment at her house, and when Cyrus A. Grubb was a boy they were preaching in an out-house in her yard. Out of this in 1885 grew the present Cranberry Church. One of the earliest Churches built was at John Morhew's, and later on near Lazton's Creek. About 1875 the Blackburns and Grahams built a church at Todd. It is called Blackburn Chapel. Rev. James Daly Joseph Haskew and -----------Clawton were presiding elders prior to the Civil War. Among the preachers who have served the Methodist Churches since the war are Messrs. George Stewart, G. W. Miles, L. L. Cralock, B. W. S. Bishop, Taylor, Wheeler, Cook, Cordel, Blair, Bagley, Vestal, Jones nd Bennett.

A Family of M. E. Church Preachers. -- William Matney and John Wright with their families came from England to America just after the close of the Revolutionary War and settled in Virginia, near the James River, William finally locating in Pittsylvania County, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a strict John Wesley type of Methodist. Two of his children, John and James, are remembered yet by his North Carolina descendants, John having married Nancy Wright, a daughter of John Wright above named, and after a few years removed from Pittsylvania to a farm near the Moravian Falls, in Wilkes County, and , after most of his children were grown, he sold this farm and moved to Caldwell. He had a large family of children, was a scholary man for his day, taught

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school, conducted religious services and was an effective, oldtime Methodist exhorter. All of his five boys married except one who died at fourteen, while all fo his seven girls followed their example, one of them marrying Adam Hampton, of Watauga, and the others Caldwell and Wilkes County men. John Matney's eldest son, William, settled in Missouri; John was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg, while James and Thomas became intinerant Methodist preachers of the M. E. Church. Thomas came to Watauga County just after the close of the Civil War, and James followed in 1871, both preaching in the bvounds of the Blue Ridge circuit. James Matney organized six of the churches of this circuit, the first having been in 1865 and in the home of Samuel Brown, the grandfather of R. M. Brown. Thomas matney had eight boys, six of whom were preachers. Two have died and two others have gone to other States, while two still remain members of the Blue Ridge Atlantic Conference. Thomas Matney died at Montezuma, now in Avery County, while James Matney died at this home in Watauga, February 28, 1914, aged ninety-one years, his widow and three children still residing here. One son, Prof. W. W. Matney, resides in Asheville. The men of this family seem specially called to preach and all are law-abiding citizens and friends of education, temperance and progress.

Methodist Episcopal Churches.-- This branch of the Methodist Church did not begin its work in this section till after the close of the Civil War. There is a church of this denomination on the Blue Ridege, known as Brown's Chapel, and others at the mouth of Grassy Creek, on the head of Valley Creek and at Silverstone, and the Pine Grove Methodist Church one mile afrom Antioch Baptist Church on lower Watauga.

Primitiva Baptists.-- For years this church, also called Hard Shells, Anti-missionary, etc., Baptists, were the prevailing denomination of this entire mountain country. They were the pioneers and fought the first battles with sin in this wilereness, led by preachers who refused all compensation for their services as ministers of the gospel. A church of that faith is still flourishing

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on the upper Watauga, near Shull's Mills. It seems that the real name of this denomination is simply "Baptists."

The Presbyterian, Southern.-- There is a flourishing church of this denomination at Banner's Elk, which was established there about 1900, and another at Blowing Rock, established in 1898. That there are schools with both these churches goes without saying, as with this denomination beside the foundation stone of Christ and Him crucified is always laid still another foundation stone, EDUCATION. The good work these churches are doing is simply incalculable. With them, faith without works is dead, while to be in true fellowship with them, one must prove his faith by his works. Schools, hospitals, orphanages, domestic science and other practical and helpful enterprises, signalize this denomination wherever it is found. Gradually the descendants of the old Scotch Covenanters are returning to the home of their great-great-grandfathers, always to remain.

The Lutherans.-- This church is the Prostestant Church of Germany, having been founded long before Henry the Eighth established the Church of England. Martin Luther believed that the people were entitled to red the interpret the entire Bible, and to that end defied the Diet at Worms with words that will live forever: "Here I stand, God helping me. I can do no otherwise." The large German and Dutch element of our population required a church of this character, and one was established at Valle Crucis before Bishop Ives arrived in 1842. Among these were William Van Dyke, Andrew and Alexander and James Townsend, Harey Hllers, Samuel Lusk, members of the Herman Family, and David Shook, all Lutherans. Their church stood to the left of the road going from Mast's store at Valle Crucis toward the Mission School, in alittle flat above Dr. Perry's, nearly opposite the site of the first Methodist Church. It was here that Christian Moretz preached, while others came occasionally. It is mentioned in the"Life of W. W. Skiles" that members of this church worshipped with the Valle Crucis Mission during the time of Bishop Ives. Timothy Townsend is now a vestryman of the Episcopal Church at Valle Crucis. Prior to the sstablishment of this church at Valle Crucis, about 1845,

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according to Alfred J. Moretz, his father, John Moretz, established the first Lutheran Church in the county near Soda Hill, in a small school house. This church was visited in summer months by Lutheran ministers from Lincoln, Iredell and Catawba counties. These preached at first in German. Among the first of these preachers were Alfred J. Fox, of Lincoln; Jonathan and Timothy Mosers, of Catawba, and Father Henry Goodman, of Iredell, and Adam Elfird, of Lincoln. The first sermon was preached at Lookabill school house. The Lutheran Church was not built there till after the Civil War, say, 1866 or 1867. A new church replaced the first about 1890. Another Lutheran Church was built about 1900 at the head of Meat Camp Creek. There is also one on Dutch Creek at Valle Crucis, while there is a small congregation at Gap Creek. The Moretz, Winebarger, Woodring and Davis families, of Meat Camp, were attendants of these churches. There is a German Reformed Church at Blowing Rock, with Rev. John Ingle as pastor. The Lutherans, under the leadership of Rev. Mr. Carpenter, are preparing to build a church edifice in Boone.

The Episcopalians.-- In addition to the facts stated in Chapter VII, it should be recorded that on June 26 1882, the late D. B. Dougherty conveyed to the Diocese of North Carolina a lot in Boone opposite the late Dr. W. B. Councill's home place. (Deed Book "J," page 488.00 Shortly thereafter George W. Council was given the contract to build the present St. Luke's Church. After Mr. Savage's arrival, in 1903, a vestibule and chancel were added to the original building.

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Chapter X.

County History.

Formation of the County.— In 1848 George Bower, called "Double Head" because of his wisdom and farsightedness, was in the State Senate from Ashe, and Reuben Mast in the House. Bower lived in Jefferson, while Mast lived near Valle Crucis, thirty-five miles from the county-seat, which rendered it very inconvenient for him and his neighbors to attend court. As Ashe County embraced in its limits not only what is now Watauga, but the present county of Alleghany also, it could very well spare the southern portion, which was too remote for convenience. Besides, Jordan Councill, Jr., lived in the territory which it was sought to detach from the mother county, and his influence, which was great, was thrown for the new county. As he was the brother-in-law of Senator Bower, he naturally "had the ear of the court." A bill for a new county was, accordingly, introduced in the legislature and passed in 1849.

Jordan Councill, Jr's Influence.— This gentleman for years kept the only store in this section. He fixed prices of all things in which he dealt. He bought large steers for as low as nine dollars each, and drove them and the larger cattle to the Valley of Virginia, frequently accompanied by his brother-in-law, George Bower. From Virginia they went north and bought their stocks of goods, shipping them by water to Richmond, VA., and from there by canal boat to Lynchburg, from which point they were brought by wagon to Boone and Jefferson. Other goods were shipped by water to Fayetteville, from which they were brought by wagon to Boone. Councill would load wagons with deer hams and hides, butter, cranberries, dried fruit, beeswax, tallow, etc., and, drawn by six horses, these wagons were hauled to Charleston, SC. With the wagon train went droves of mules and horses, which were sold along the road to planters and goods purchased with the proceeds. He unwittingly hauled

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a rat in a goods box from Charleston to Boone on one occasion. He drove cattle-fat cows and heifers-to Charlotte and Concord. Large droves of cattle, horses and mules passed through Boone from Kentucky to the South and East before and since the Civil War. Hogs were driven through before, but not since the Civil War. When the location of the county seat was to be determined it was the influence of Jordan Councill, Jr., that fixed it near his store and dwelling. Some wanted the court house at Bushy Fork and others at Valle Crucis. It would most probably have been located at the Muster Ground, half a mile east of Boone, if Benjamin Councill, Sr., had been willing to donate the ground for that purpose, but as Ransom Hayes and Jordan Councill, Jr., were willing to donate twenty-five acres each, it was determined to locate the court house where F. A. Linney's residence now stands, Hayes deeding twenty-five acres between the branch above Blackburn's hotel, then called Upper Branch, and the branch that flows by the new post office, then called the Middle and Lower Branches, as the stream that flows west of the Critcher hotel–the old Coffey hotel–was called.

Three New England Visitors.— Watauga has had three distinguished visitors from New England: Dr. Elisha Mitchell, of the North Carolina University; Charles Dudley Warner, and Miss Margaret W. Morley. To our everlasting regret, we pleased only that last of these, but, as she was the most recent, it is hoped that we had improved since the visits of the other two. "Faithful are the wounds of a friend," said Solomon thousands of years ago. If so, then Dr. Mitchell and Mr. Warner were our friends indeed, for they "spoke right out." As Dr. Mitchell's remarks were in letters to his wife and not intended for the public, nothing he wrote rankles, but while we are anxious to attribute the Warner strictures to dyspepsia, he certainly "stuck to what he said," having preserved what he wrote for Harper's Magazine in 1884, and repeated it in book form (On Horseback) in 1888.(1) He certainly flayed us, sparing
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Note: (1)"On Horseback."

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nothing and nobody. And if, in this Land of the Sky, he saw a bird or a bee or a sunbeam; if a single pleasant odor from the chalices of the wild flowers was wafted to his nostrils, if a bird sang within his hearing or a child's prattle appealed to him once during the whole of that two hundred miles' journey through the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina in the liquid gold of our summer sunlight, he left no record of it in the saturnine account of his trip which published to the world. On the other hand, Miss Morley, who passed over a part of this same route a few years later, saw the sunshine imprisoned in our flowers, heard the strains of invisible choirs in babbling brook and singing bird, and recognized angel faces in the countenances of little children clinging to those whom Mr. Warner called their "frowsy"mothers.(1) Mr. Warner chief trouble seemed to be flies. Whenever he stopped, there seemed to him to be nothing but flies. They were not only in the ointment, but in the amber also. And no wonder, for on leaving Abingdon, VA., the saddle he rode was discovered to have been smeared the previous winter with tallow. Seat, pommel, cantle, stirrup leathers and saddle skirts, all had been covered with tallow, which had been well rubbed in when they were put away the winter before. Mr Warner discovered this before he started on his journey, and bought white overalls, which served to protect his trousers from the grease. This grease, mixed with the dust of the road, attracted the flies, and hinc illoe lacrimoe, or words to that general effect.

Dr. Mitchell's Geological Tour.(2) — In July, 1828, this gentleman of New England birth and North Carolina adoption, for he was then a slave-owner, made a tour of the mountain counties at the expense of the State, and "determined" several specimens of minerals that were submitted to him. He passed over the Ballou iron mines, the Ore Knob copper mines, the mica mines near Beaver Creek, the porcelain clay on Howard's Creek, and was near the Elk Mountain copper vein; he visited the
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Note: (1) "The Carolina Mountains," Houghton-Mifflin Co., Boston, 1913
(2) This diary was published by the University of North Carolina in its James Sprunt Historical monograph, No.6, 1905. It should be widely read.

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Grandfather and did not recognize the tamarack tree nor the great age of the rocks of that ancient pile, thinking they "belonged to the transition of Tennessee," whatever that may or may not mean. But he made no report of his journey and seemed never to have suspected that copper, iron and mica of great wealth and abundance existed at the points indicated. But he did find fault with one of our ladies because she wiped her soiled hands on her clean apron just before she began to mix the meal for his bread, and called some of the women with whom two hunters were living illicitly "schquaws, very pretty ones, but schquaws notwithstanding." He visited Robert Shearer's where he met his "pretty daughter and her husband, a good-hearted fellow, not half good enough for her." He preached at Three Forks Baptist Church, stopped at Jordan Councill's store, which he found open on Sunday, and visited Noah Mast, David Miller and several others.

The Tennessee Boundary Line.— In 1784 North Carolina passed an act to give Congress twenty-nine million acres lying between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi River. Congress needed the money with which to pay off debts incurred during the Revolutionary War, but that was not the principal reason for the cession of this great territory, much of the best portions of which had been already granted to settlers. Up to that time the people of the ceded territory had presented many claims for compensation for military services, supplies, etc., in campaigns against the Cherokees, in the strict justness of which the mother State did not altogether believe. On the score of poverty North Carolina had refused to establish a Superior Court in this territory, called the Watauga Settlement, or to appoint a prosecuting officer. The four counties comprising the settlements west of the mountains were Davidson, Washington, Sullivan, and Greene, and their representatives voted in the legislature for the cession. The act of cession provided, however, that the sovereignty and jurisdiction of North Carolina should continue over the ceded territory until it should be accepted by Congress, and made the act void if Congress should not accept the gift within two years. As most of the Watauga settlers were originally

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from Virginia, the majority were anxious for an excuse to withdraw from North Carolina and set up a government of their own. The result was the attempt to establish the independent State of Franklin, with John Sevier at its head. This attempted secession failed and North Carolina resumed full jurisdiction over the disputed territory before March, 1788. Congress accepted the cession of the territory, and in 1796 the State of Tennessee was organized. In 1796 North Carolina ordered a survey of the boundary line between the two States.

Boundary Line and Land Grand Disputes.— Any map of North Carolina will show that the line between it and Tennessee runs due south from the Hiawassee River, instead of following the general southwestern direction with the trend of the mountains. The case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1914, between Tennessee and North Carolina, grew out of a dispute over the line at the head of Telico and Citico Creeks, just north of the Hiawassee River, being what is called Rainbow Country. Telico and Citico Creeks rise much further east than the points at which the State line crosses those streams, the mountain range bending eastward instead of following the general southwestern course of the range. The Supreme Court decision is to the effect that, as it was originally run and marked there, and both States adopted that line soon thereafter as being in accord with the Act of Cession, each State is bound thereby. Why Tennessee consented to this loss of territory may be accounted for by the fact that the line runs due south from the Hiawassee River to the Georgia line. There is, however no evidence that the commissioners agreed to exchange what North Carolina gained in the "Rainbow" country for what Tennessee gained south of the Hiawassee. But, in making that trade, North Carolina lost the Ducktown copper mines!

Military Land Warrants.— When the Tennessee territory was ceded to Congress the act provided that all military land warrants that had been given to soldiers of the Revolutionary War, and all entries previously made in the ceded territory,
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Note: (1) Archiblad D. Murphey anticipated trouble on this account because of the claim Tennessee was making in November, 1819, that the mountain range did not extend south of the Hiawassee river. Murphey's papers, Vol. II, p. 190.

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should be reserved for the satisfaction of those warrants and entries in case the holders of the same might not be able to satisfy them out of land fit for cultivation in North Carolina. Many of these warrants had not been so satisfied. Congress accepted these conditions. However, in 1803, at the request of Tennessee, North Carolina granted Tennessee power to issue grants and perfect titles in this reserved territory as fully as could North Carolina, except that North Carolina reserved the right to issue military warrants exclusively, which act Tennessee ratified August 4, 1804, and Congress April 18, 1806. But, as time went on, very little territory was left in Tennessee except Indian lands, to which the Indian rights had not been extinguished. As, however, North Carolina had executed to Tennessee title to all the Tennessee territory by deed dated February 25, 1790, Congress, in order to make this power effective, had to cede to the latter State nearly half of the vacant lands within it limits, which it did by the same act by which it had ratified North Carolina's grant in 1803 to Tennessee of equal with herself to issue grants and perfect titles, except military warrants, namely the act of April 18, 1806. All the territory to which still remained in Congress was the Chickasaw Indian Reservation, which by treaty of 1818 vested in Congress. Congress then empowered Tennessee to satisfy North Carolina claims out of lands lying west and south of the line prescribed in the act of April 18, 1806. North Carolina notified holders of her military warrants of this and caused the muster roll to be published and transcribed, but went on thereafter to issue additional military warrants until the muster roll had been filled. But, in 1840, some of these military land warrants and some entries also remained unsatisfied. Tennessee, claiming that she had already provided for all valid military land warrants, refused to make provision for those still outstanding. But this provision had required the submission of such claims to a commission which had been appointed by Tennessee alone, and had ceased to exist from October 22, 1822, so that no North Carolina military land warrants issued after that date could be submitted to that commission. Under these circumstances

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Robert Love, of Haywood County, prepared and submitted to Congress a memorial in 1816, and succeeded, apparently, in getting these claims satisfied, and another memorial was drawn up and sent to Congress by Archibald Murphey January 29, 1824, according to Murphey's Papers (Vol. II pp. 320, 328). Many of these military land warrants were held by the descendants of Revolutionary soldiers in Ashe, afterwards Watauga County.

Running the State Line.— As the Cherokees occupied the territory southwest of the Big Pigeon River in what is now Haywood County, no provision was made for running the line beyond this point. Generally speaking, the line was to follow the tops of the Stone, the Smoky and the Unaka Mountains from Virginia to Georgia, but to be surveyed and marked only from Virginia to the Pigeon. The surveying party consisted of Col. Joseph McDowell, David Vance, Mussendine Matthews, speaker of the House, commissioners. John Strother and Robert Henry were the surveyors. The party met May 19, 1799, at Captain Isaac Weaver's, near what is now Tuckerdale, a station on the new Virginia-Carolina Railway, in Ashe County. The chain bearers and markers were B. Collins, James Hawkins, George Penland, Robert Logan, George Davidson, and J. Matthews. James Neely was commissary. In addition, there were two pack horse men and a pilot. The survey began on the 20th of May and ended the 28th of June, 1799. They camped on the night of the 23d of May in the Cut Laurel Gap, whence they sent John Strother down to David Miller's on Meat Camp to get a young man to act as pilot, but Strother failed to do so, and then went on "to Cove Creek, where I got a Mr. Curtis and met the company in a low gap between the waters of Cove Creek and Roan's Creek, where the road crosses the same." This road must have been the Indian trail which passes over the low gap between what is now Zionville, NC and Trade, TN. Traces of this trail can still be seen to the right of the present wagon road. It was this trail that Boone followed on his first trip to Kentucky. The new pilot was discharged on the 28th because he proved "not to be a woodsman;" and on June 1st

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they came to the Wattogoo River. This was a short distance above Watauga Falls, where they killed a lean bear, just out of winter quarters, which they ate "with bacon and johnny cake on Sunday morning." As the act of cession required the line to be run from the "place where the Watauga River breaks through the mountain a direct course to the top of the Yellow Mountain where Bright's Road crosses the same," and the Yellow was not visible from the river bed, the surveyors had to go back to the peak overhanging the Falls and get the bearing of the Yellow from that point. The diaries of Strother and Henry show that the line was actually run and marked from the Watauga Falls to the top of the Yellow, though a local tradition maintains that the party simply found the easiest path to the top of the Yellow, without surveying or marking a straight line from the point where the river breaks through the mountain. It was here that the Cranberry vein deflected their compasses. It was on Saturday, June 1st, that they came across a very large rattlesnake, which Strother called a rattlebug. They tried to kill it, but "it was too souple in the heels for us." In Robert Henry's diary he mentions Gideon Lewis as the guide from White Top Mountain to the place where they sent for another, when they got to the head of Meat Camp. One of his descendants, David Lewis, lives near Ashland, and Rev. Gideon Lewis, a Dunkard minister, lives now in Taylor's Valley, TN. Most of the Lewises of Watauga are descended from the same Gideon who piloted these surveyors along the State line in 1799.

Watauga County Lines.— In order to determine the lines of Watauga County it is necessary to give the various calls of several counties, as follows:

Of Burke: Beginning at the Catawba River on the line between Rowan and Tyron Counties; thence running up the meanders of said river to the north end of an island known by the name of the "Three Cornered Island;" thence north to the ridge that divides the Yadkin and Catawba waters; thence westerly along the ridge to the mountains that divides the eastern and western waters, commonly known by the name of the Blue Mountains (sic). All that part of Rowna County which

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lies west and south of the said dividing line shall thenceforth be erected into a new county by the name of Burke, while that part east of the dividing line shall remain Rowan County. Laws of 1777.

Of Buncombe: Beginning on the extreme height of the Appalachian Mountain where the southern boundary of the State crosses the same; thence along the extreme height of said mountain to where the road from the head of Catawba River to "Swannanoe" (sic) crosses; thence along the main ridge dividing the waters of South Toe from those of "Swannanoe" unto the Great Black Mountain; thence along the mountain to the northeast end; thence along the main ridge between South Toe and Little Crabtree to the mouth of said Crabtree Creek; thence down Toe River to where it empties into the Nolechucky River (sic)'(1) thence down the said river to the extreme height of the Iron Mountain and Cession Line; thence along the Cession Line to the southern boundary; thence along said boundary to the Blue Ridge, and thence to the beginning. Laws of 1791.

Of Ashe: "That all that part of the county of Wilkes lying west of the extreme height of the Appalachian Mountains shall be and the same is hereby erected into a separate and distinct county by the name of Ashe." Potter's Revisal, Vol. II p. 98, Laws 1799. This is the shortest act creating a new county on record, and the supplemental acts required to make it clear shows that while brevity may be the soul of wit, it is not that of perspicuity.

In 1814 (Rev. Stat. Vol. II, p. 98) an act was passed to establish permanently the dividing line between the counties of Burke and Ashe, which was to be as follows: Beginning at the Yadkin Spring (which is fifty yards southeast of Green Park Hotel, Blowing Rock); thence along the extreme height of the Blue Ridge to the head spring of the Flat Top Fork of Elk Creek (on the right of Linville River after passing Linville Gap); thence down the meanders of said creek to the Tennessee State line, shall be and the same is hereby declared to be the permanent dividing line between the counties of Burke and Ashe.
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Note: (1)This river is now called the Toe or Estatoe till after it passes into Tennessee when it becomes the Nollechucky, or simply ‘the Chucky."

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Of Yancey: That all that part of Burke and Buncombe included within the following bounds, to wit: Beginning on the extreme height of the Black Mountain, running thence alone said mountain to Ogle's improvement; thence along the dividing ridge to Daniel Carter's Fork field; thence a direct course to the mouth of Big Ivy Creek; thence with the Warm Springs Road by Barnard's Station to the Three Forks of Laurel; thence a direct line, so as to include James Allen's house to the Tennessee line; thence with said line to the county of Ashe; thence with the line of said county to the Grandfather Mountain; thence a direct course to the extreme height of the Hump Backed Mountain (just east of Linville River above the Falls); thence with the Blue Ridge to where it intersects the Black Mountain; thence with the ridge of said mountain to the beginning, be and the same is hereby erected into a separate and distinct county by the name of Yancey. Laws of 1833.

A Supplemental Act, passed in 1813 (Rev. Stat. Vol. II, pp 170, 171), provided that the county courts of Buncombe and Yancey should appoint commissioners to ascertain the dividing line between said two counties whenever the same shall be necessary, and that they should commence their survey at Daniel Carter's Fork field and run a direct line from thence to Barnard's Station, from which point the line shall run along the old Warm Springs Road to James Allen's Road, so as to include his house, and thence to the Tennessee line.

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Of Yancey: That all that part of Burke and Buncombe included within the following bounds, to wit: Beginning on the extreme height of the Black Mountain, running thence alone said mountain to Ogle's improvement; thence along the dividing ridge to Daniel Carter's Fork field; thence a direct course to the mouth of Big Ivy Creek; thence with the Warm Springs Road by Barnard's Station to the Three Forks of Laurel; thence a direct line, so as to include James Allen's house to the Tennessee line; thence with said line to the county of Ashe; thence with the line of said county to the Grandfather Mountain; thence a direct course to the extreme height of the Hump Backed Mountain (just east of Linville River above the Falls); thence with the Blue Ridge to where it intersects the Black Mountain; thence with the ridge of said mountain to the beginning, be and the same is hereby erected into a separate and distinct county by the name of Yancey. Laws of 1833.

A Supplemental Act, passed in 1813 (Rev. Stat. Vol. II, pp 170, 171), provided that the county courts of Buncombe and Yancey should appoint commissioners to ascertain the dividing line between said two counties whenever the same shall be necessary, and that they should commence their survey at Daniel Carter's Fork field and run a direct line from thence to Barnard's Station, from which point the line shall run along the old Warm Springs Road to James Allen's Road, so as to include his house, and thence to the Tennessee line.

Watauga County Established—"That a county be and is herby laid off and established by the name of Watauga, to be composed of parts of the counties of Ashe, Wilkes, Caldwell and Yancey, beginning at the State line in Lemuel Wilson's plantation and running with the State line in a northern direction two miles; thence running as near as may be in a direct line, so as to include Thomas Sutherland in the county of Ashe, to the top of the Big Bald Mountain; thence to the mouth of Elk Creek (now Todd or Elkland) on the South Fork of New River; thence down the river to the mouth of a creek (now called Meadow Creek) that runs through Samuel Cooper's plantation; thence to the Deep Gap of the Blue Ridge between the waters

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of Stoney Fork and Lewis Fork waters of the Yadkin River, to where the road leading from Wilkesboro to the Deep Gap crosses the top of Laurel Spur; thence to Elk Creek at the Widow Hampton's; thence to the top of the White Rock Mountain (between Joe's Fork and Dugger's Creek); thence to the top of the Blue Ridge at the nearest point of the Yadkin Spring; thence along the extreme height of the Blue Ridge to the top of the Grandfather Mountain; thence with the lines of Burke County to the corner of McDowell County; thence to the State line where it crosses the Yellow Mountain; thence with the State line to the beginning. Ratified the 27th day of January, 1849, Laws of North Carolina, 1848-49, pp. 66. 67, 667, Ch. 25.

Mitchell County: It was established out of portions of Yancey, Watauga, Caldwell, Burke, and McDowell counties, with the following boundaries: Beginning a the top of Grandfather Mountain; thence with the top of the Blue Ridge to the Bear Wallow Gap; thence to the Three Knobs; thence to Big Crabtree Creek; thence down said creek to Toe River; thence down said river to the Tennessee line; thence with the Tennessee line to Elk River; thence to the place of beginning. Laws of 1860-61, Ch. 8 p. 14.

Changes in Watauga County Lines.—By the laws of 1876-77, Chapter LXVII, page 341, the lines between the counties of Watauga, Wilkes, and Ashe were changed so as to run from the top of the Wolf Knob, near the Widow Tempy Mikels, where the Watauga and Wilkes County lines intersect, and thence running a north course to the top of the Blue Ridge at the dividing line between the lands of Leander Robbins and Enoch Triplett, and thence a north course to the top of Henson's Ridge; then a north course to the ford of Gap Creek, near the mouth of Alexander Green's lane; thence a northwest course to the top of the Big Ridge to the Ashe County line. All of Ashe and Wilkes counties within these lines was to be a part of Stoney Fork township, Watauga County.

By the laws of 1870-71, page 319, "all that portion of Caldwell County comprised within the following boundaries, viz: beginning at the Fairview on the Caldwell and Watauga turnpike

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road on the top of the Blue Ridge; thence a straight line to the top of the Grandfather Mountain," was annexed to Watauga County. In a suit between Levi Morphew and Elisha and Joseph Tatum concerning the county line between the mouth of Meadow Creek and the high knob near Cranberry Methodist Church, about 1883, it was decided that there should be a resurvey, the first survey having been made by Reuben Mast, county surveyor when the county was first formed. It is said that Mast guessed that Deep Gap was south sixty degrees east from the mouth of Meadow Creek, but that when he got to the first high knob from which he could see Deep Gap he found he had been wrong. Instead, however, of turning back and running a new line, he continued the line to Deep Gap, leaving much land that legally belonged to Ashe in Watauga County. The court ordered a new survey, to be run on the true degree, and Rev. L. W. Farthing ran and marked it. (Levi Morphew v. Joseph Tatum and others, Minute Docket B, page 172, July Term, 1883, Superior Court, Watauga County.)

Avery County Established.—By the Public Laws of 1911, chapter 33, page 63, Avery County, named in honor of Col. Waighstill Avery, of Revolutionary fame, the one hundredth county of North Carolina, was established, with the following boundaries: "Beginning at the highest point of the Grandfather Mountain; the corner of Watauga, Caldwell and Mitchell counties, and running a direct line to the Hanging Rock Mountain; then with the dividing ridge to the Turnpike Road in the gap of Bower's Mountain; then a direct course to the eastern prospect on the eastern end of Beech Mountain; then a direct course to the Buckeye Spring; then down and with the meanders of Buckeye Creek to Beech Creek; then with the meanders of Beech Creek to Watauga River; then with the meanders of Watauga River to the Tennessee line; then with the Tennessee line to the Grassy ridge Bald; then a direct line to Spear Top; then with the main height of Yellow Mountain to the highest point on Little Yellow Mountain; then a direct line to Pine Knob; then to the mouth of Gouge's Creek on Toe River; then south forty degrees east to the Bald Ground on Humpback

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Mountain at the McDowell County line; then with the McDowell County line to the Burke County line; then with the Burke County line to the Caldwell County line; then with the Burke and Caldwell line to the highest point on Chestnut Mountain; then a direct course to Anthony's Creek so as to include all of Carey's Flats, then to the beginning." Ratified 23rd of February, 1911.

Last Change in County Line.—The act creating Watauga County provided that the line should run from the top of the Big Bald Mountain to the mouth of Elk Creek. As long as men remember there has been a settlement at the mouth of Elk Creek, called at first Elk Cross Roads, and later on, for the sake of brevity, and in honor of the Todd family, Todd. When, however, the Virginia-Carolina Railroad reached that place, it was found that Todd was too brief for euphony or the terminus of a great railroad, and changed to Elkland. But the post office still remains Todd. Then, too, it was found that a part of Todd or Elkland was in Watauga and part in Ashe County, owing to the fact that the line between the two counties did not follow Elk Creek, while the boundary line of the town did follow that stream. So, in order to avoid confusion and for other reasons, Hon. Robert L. Ballou, State Senator, had the line changed so as to run from the top of the Big Bald to the ford of Elk Creek near the residence of Alex. Blackburn, just above the town, from which point it follows the creek to its mouth in the South Fork of New River. (Ch. 34, Public Laws, 1915)

Jail and Court House Changes.—The land for the first court house was donated by Jordan Councill the second. It was on the hill now occupied by F. A. Linney's and J. M. Moretz's residences. The court house was burned on the 29th day of March, 1873, according to Col. W. W. Presnell, and while he was register of deeds. It was thought by some that one of the county officers, against whom judgments were docketed, caused it to be burned, but this theory is not generally believed now. Later on, during that year, a new court house was built on the lot now occupied by the Watauga County bank building, but a deed therefor was not made till April 12, 1875, when Joel Norris
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Note: (1)A wind-storm blew in the gable end of the court-house January 28, 1886.

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conveyed to the county commissioners one half of an acre on the corner of King and Water Streets for $300.00 (Deed Book G, p.208), Thomas J. Coffey and W. C. Coffey having the contract for $4,800.00, the building committee having been Henry Taylor, Dudley Farthing and Jacob Williams. It seems that there must have been some doubt as to the power of the county commissioners to build "the court house on a lot other than the one on which the old one stood when it was burned," for chapter CVII, Laws 1873-74 (p.143), made that action legal. The county commissioners, consisting of J. E. Finley, Thos. J. Coffey, and W. H. Calloway, sold the lot on which the jail then stood to Coffey Brothers for $555.00. The deed was dated June 1, 1888 (Deed Book N, p.330). On May 22, 1889, Coffey Brothers sold to J. E. Finley, W. W. Presnell and Joseph H. Mast, county commissioners, for $200.00, half an acre of land on Burnville and King streets, and running with Burnsville street across the branch to a back street. This is the lot on which the present jail stands.

The First Jail.--This was built by a Mr. Dammons for $400.00, and stood in front of the present Murray Critcher barn, west of the street leading from Critcher Hotel to the side street in front of the present Baptist Church. It was of brick, with a steel cage inside. But the brick were of poor quality and could be easily removed from around the windows and doorways, and, after standing a few years, Elisha Green got the contract to build another of white pine logs, the same steel or iron cage which had been in the first being used in the second. This stood till Stoneman's raid, when it was burned. After the close of the Civil War, Jack Horton, who had built the first court house, got the contract to build a new jail, which was also of heavy logs, the second story timbers being twelve inches square and crossed with heavy iron bars three inches broad and bolted to each log by heavy iron bolts. This was removed when the jail lot was sold. The present jail was built by William Stephenson, of Mayesville, KY., in 1889, for $5,000.00

Court Records of Ashe.—Some of our heros of the past suffer when subjected to the fierce light of history, among whom

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are Benjamin Cleveland, Richard Henderson, and Judge Spruce McCay, the last of whom was denounced by Chancellor John Allison of Tennessee, in his "Dropped Stitches" (pp.51, 52) as a "heartless tyrant." This gentleman (McCay) married a daughter of Col. Richard Henderson, according to Wheeler's History (Vol.II, p. 384), and not a daughter of Gen. Griffith Rutherford, as erronously stated in "Western North Carolina" (p.374). He presided over the Superior Court of Ashe County in September, 1807, but his record there was unobjectionable. It was only when he was in Jonesboro, in August, 1782, presiding over the court of Oyer and Terminer, that he won for himself such condemnation. It was Judge Francis Locke, at the March term, 1809, who passed such a cruel and bloody sentence upon Carter Whittington, at Jefferson, after his conviction of perjury. This sentence was that he be fined £10, stand one hour in the pillory, have both ears entirely severed from his head and nailed to the pillory.

To Restore Lost Records.--Laws to "restore the records of Watauga County . . . carried away and lost by Kirk, in 1865," and when "the court house and all the records therein were burned," were passed in 1873-74 (Ch.XIX). Chapter 38, Laws 1874-75, makes the certificate of the clerk of the late county court and of the Judge of Probate competent to secure reregistration of destroyed record of deeds.(1)

To Encourage Sheep Raising.--The laws of 1850-51, chapter 184, page 497, authorized a majority of the justices of Watauga County to lay a tax on the citizens for the purpose of paying any person or persons who kill any wolf or red fox that is caught in said county, which was amended by chapter 121, Laws 1874-75, page 121.

To Protect Fish—Chapter 285, Laws 1899, provided penalties for the destruction of fish in waters of Watauga County, while chapter 639 provided for fish-ways over dams on the South Fork of New River, and chapter 319 of the same laws forbade the use of dynamite to destroy fish; chapter 345 of same laws regulated fishing in Elk, while the laws of 1907 prohibits saw dust in streams.
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Note: (1)See, also, Chapter 162, Laws of 1874-'75.

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First Term of Superior Court.--There is much confusion as to where the first of court was held in Watauga County. It is generally conceded that it was held in a barn in the rear of what was then the home of Henry Hardin and is now the residence of Joseph Hardin, a mile or more east of Boone. It is also generally admitted by those who were there the "hawgs"–not hogs, be it understood!—had held several terms of court there before Watauga County was formed. That should tell the entire story of what followed, but lest if fail to do so, it may be added that if an elephant had as much power in his or her hind legs as each denizen of that barn had before court met, he could jump around the world in one jump. But these facts are insignificant compared with the question as to what court was held there and then. If it was the County Court, then Dudley Farthing, Esq., presided over his first court as the presiding justice thereof–a position he held with dignity and honor till the constitution of 1868 substituted the Board of County Commissioners therefor. If it was the Superior Court, then Judge Anderson Mictchell presided and E. C. Bartlett acted as clerk. It is contended by those who insist that it was the Superior Court which was then held there that there are yet living several men who were jurors at that term, and that jurors belong exclusively to the Superior Court. This is a mistake, grand and petty jurors having been a part of every other term of the County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, according to the recollection of Col. W. L. Bryan, who served as a justice of the peace several years before that court was abolished. Besides, unless it was, there was no county court from the formation of the county in 1849 until some time in May, 1851, for by an act which was ratified January 28, 1851, it was expressly provided that "there shall be a Superior Court of Law and Equity opened and held for the county of Watauga, at the court house in Booneon the sixth Monday after the fourth Monday in March and September, in each and every year, . . . at which time the judge holding the said court shall appoint the necessary court officers." Watauga was then placed in the seventh circuit, and all suits pending in the Superior Court of Ashe in which both

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parties were citizens of Watauga, and all criminal proceedings against citizens of Watauga were transferred to this court. And it was further provided that the "spring and fall, now jury terms, of the Courts of Pleas and Quarter Sessions shall be held in . . . . Watauga County, at the same time and on the same week on which the Superior Court of Law and Equity shall be holden," etc." This seems also to make still more doubtful another disputed point, viz: as to when the first sheriff was elected by the people. For if he was elected first in 1852, then the general impression that D. C. McCanless absconded during his second term is established, and if he was elected in 1850, then McCanless must have been serving his third term, which some still insist was the case. But this seems to establish another fact, viz: that the court house was far enough advanced at May, 1851, to be used by the court, for all who were present at the first court held in that building agree that it was far from finished at that time. The act expressly provides that the first term shall be held "at the court house in Boone." If there was no such building then, it is likely that the act would have been differently worded. Still, it may have been held elsewhere, as many contend.

A Snap-Shot in Passing.--Mr. Skiles, in his "Life," leaves us this (p.79): "I was at Boone Tuesday (before May 21, 1850) and saw a great crowd; it was court week, and I witnessed an amusing scene. There was a man intoxicated who was very rude and treated the court with contempt. For want of a jail to put him in, the court ordered him taken out and tied to a wagon wheel until he became civil. They took him out, tied him, and left him tied."

A Happy and Homogeneous People.--Many think that Watauga has the best dwelling and farm houses in the State; that its inhabitants are of a more homogenous character than any other; that there are almost as few tenants as in any other county, except Alleghany; that there are fewer very poor and fewer very rich people than elsewhere; that the average of intelligence
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Note: (1) This was repealed, (Laws 1852, Ch. XLVI, p. 100) and the terms of courts of Pleas and Quarter Sessions were required to be held on the third Monday in February, May, August and November of each year.

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and education will compare with those of any other county most favorable; that there is as little crime per capita as in any other; and there is as great church attendence and as many churches and school houses per capita as in any other county; that the apples, cabbages, beets, buckwheat, stock of all kinds, and dairy products surpass all other counties in the State.

That Roving Spirit.--The same influences which brought our ancestors to America and their sons into the unexplored mountains, sent their grandsons across the plains in 1849, and since then into every State and territory of the vast West. When Missouri was first opened to settlement many left this county and tried their fortunes there, some to remain, others to return. It was probably this "trek" which caused so many families to disappear from the church rolls of Three Forks Baptist Church. For them, there was still something else to find, and they went and sought it, some of them to realize that they had already chanced upon it in Watauga County (then Ashe), and to return to enjoy it. Among those going to Missouri were the Whittingtons. Dr. Whittington, of Asheville, is a descendant of Benjamin Whittington, a brother of John and Cromwell, who went to Missouri, passed on still farther westward, only to be killed at last by Indians in the Rocky Mountains while on his way to California. It is said he had shot an Indian, and when the rest of the Indian band demanded his surrender by his party, they gave him up to the savages, who robbed him and stripped him of all clothing and then left him to perish in the mountains. Jonathan Lewis left Zionville for California in 1849, settled in Fresno and got rich. He went from Watauga County alone, joining a party in Missouri. Alexander Thomas, Andrew J. McBride, Marion Wilson, Jesse Bradley, and Wm. Isaacs, of the Cove Creek section, went to California in 1849, and McBride left a diary, but it has been misplaced within the last few years. It is said that his brother. Carroll, went with him, and that on their return Carroll stopped in Tipton County, Tennessee. While in the West they killed a deer, but Indians took it from them and forced them to run for their lives and to hide in a ravine. It

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is also said that they made money in California, but spent it all buying a waterproof cloth with which to make a pipe to draw off the water in a creek above the point at which they had discovered gold, hoping to gather much from the bottom of the bed, not realizing that it was being washed down from above till too late.

Legislative Representatives.(1)—Alexander B. McMillan, in 1850, and Benjamin C. Calloway, in 1852, both of what was and still is Ashe County, represented Watauga in the House, and George Bower, also of Ashe, in the Senate, but from and including 1854 Watauga has had its own citizens as representatives in the House:

Senators Representatives
1854 George Bower of Ashe Jonathan Horton
1856 A. M. Bryan, of Ashe George N. Folk
1858 Joseph H. Dobson, of Surry Mark Holdsclaw
1860 Joseph H. Dobson, of Surry George N. Folk
G. N. Folk having resigned,
his place was filled by Thomas Farthing
1862 Isaac Jarratt, of Ashe William Horton
1864 Jonathan Horton, of Watauga William Horton
1865 A. C. Cowles, of Yadkin Charles Porter
1866 A. C. Cowles, of Yadkin William Horton
1868 Edmund W. Jones, of Caldwell Lewis B. Banner
1870 W. B. Council, of Watauga W. F. Shull
1872 J. W. Todd, of Ashe J. B. Todd
1874 A. J. McMillan, of Alleghany L. L. Greene
1876 Hervey Bingham, of Watauga W. R. Council
1879 J. Bledsoe, of Ashe W. R. Council
1881 F. J. McMillan, of Alleghany Thomas Bingham
1883 E. F. Lovill, of Watauga W. W. Lenoir
1885 J. W. Todd, of Ashe E. F. Lovill
1887 W. C. Fields, of Alleghany Thomas Bingham
1889 W. S. Farthing, of Watauga J. A. Crisp
1891 Benjamin P. Griggsby, of Ashe D. B. Phillips

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Note: (1) From the "North Carolina Manual."

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1893 W. C. Fields, of Alleghany E. F. Lovill
1895 W. H. Farthing, of Watauga L. H. Michael
1897 J. M. Dickson, of Ashe Thomas Bingham
1899 W. C. Fields, of Alleghany W. B. Councill, Jr.
1901 L. H. Michael, of Watuaga William H. Calloway
1903 H. M . Wellborn, of Ashe Lindsay H. Michael
1905 S. A. Taylor, of Alleghany C. W. Phipps
1907 E. F. Lovill, of Watauga W. D. Farthing
1909 Robert L. Doughton, of Alleghany Smith Hageman
1911 John M. Wagoner, of Alleghany Smith Hageman
1913 E. S. Coffey, of Watauga John W. Hodges
1915 Robert L. Ballou, of Ashe A. W. Smith
Superior Court Clerks.— The first clerk was probably appointed by Judge Anderson Mitchell, who held the first court. A fine cherry tree stands alone in the field near where the old barn stood. The fleas which attended as witnesses, jurors and spectators are still remembered for their cordial reception of their human rivals. The first clerk elected by the people was George M. Bingham, of cove Creek, but owing to an impediment in his speech, he resigned at the first term, Mr. _________ McClewee, an attorney resident of Boone at that time, being appointed to fill the unexpired term. This was probably in 1850. Then followed Col. J. B. Todd, Henry Blair, W. J. Critcher, appointed to fill the term for which Col. J. B. Todd had been elected in 1868, but which he could not fill because he could not take the "iron-clad oath" of Reconstruction. Owing to the destruction of the records when the court house was burned in 1873, it is impossible to give the dates accurately prior to that time, but from then on the records show that J. H. Hardin served from 1874 to 1882; J. B. Todd from 1882 to 1894; M. B. Blackburn from 1894 to 1898; John H. Bingham from 1898 to 1902; Thomas Bingham from 1902 to 1910, and W. D. Farthing from 1910 to the present time 1915.

The registers of deeds were Rev. Joseph Harrison, from about 1850 to 1860, or thereabouts; Rev. D. C. Harman, till 1865; Joseph Harrison, till 1870; W. W. Presnell, from 1870 to 1886;

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Eugene Blackburn, from 1886 till his death; when W. W. Presnell was appointed to fill out his term; then came M. B. Blackburn from 1888 to 1890; then Calvin J. Cottrell, from 1890 to 1894; then John W. Hodges, from 1894 to 1898; then J. M. May, from 1898 to 1908, followed by W. Roy Gragg, from 1908 till now, 1915.

Sheriffs.— Michael Cook, 1849 to 1852; John Horton, 1852 to 1856; D. C. McCanless, 1856 to 1859 (January); Sidney Deal, till 1860; A. J. McBride, from 1860 to 1866;(1) Jack Horton, from 1866 to 1876; A. J. McBride from 1874 to 1882; D. F. Baird, 1882 to 1894; W. H. Calloway, 1894 to 1900; W. B. Baird, 1900 to 1904; J. W. Hodges, 1904 to 1908; D. C. Reagan, 1908 to 1912; E. R. Eggers, for part of Reagan's unexpired term; Asa Wilson, elected 1912, but resigned, and E. R. Eggers appointed by county commissioners to fill out term to 1914; W. P. Moody, elected in 1914. Sidney Deal lived where J. W. Farthing now lives, and was elected sheriff by the people in 1860, but joined the army, and the remainder of his term was filled by Jack Horton. Deal moved across the Blue Ridge after the close of the Civil War.

Financial.—The debt of Watauga County is too small to be mentioned, there being only a few hundred dollars still due for the new court house. Real estate is assessed at about one-third of its real value. The tax rate for State and county combined is one per cent of assessed value, being twenty-seven and two-thirds mills for State and seventy-two and one-third for county, and $2.30 on each poll. This is equivalent about thirty-three cents on each hundred dollars. The towns have no debts and raise little or no money for street or other improvements, what is collected for any purpose being largely voluntary contributions in many cases from the more progressive citizens and licenses from "shows", etc. County affairs are keenly looked after not only by the county commissioners, but by many citizens
__________
Note: (1)Some claim that A. J. McBride was sheriff during the Civil War, and others that Jack Horton held the office from 1862 to 1876. Owing to the loss of the records 1873, it is impossible to ascertain the exact facts now. Some claim that Sidney Deal was elected sheriff in 1860, and served till he entered the Confederate Army, while this is denied by others.

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who are eager to find a seam in the political armor of anyone offending in the way of extravagance, carelessness or fraud. Every dollar collected is applied as the law requires.

Watauga's Contribution to the Confederacy.—Company D, First Cavalry, was organized in Boone May 11, 1861; first captain Geo. N. Folk; first lieutenant Joe B. Todd; second lieutenant James Councill; third lieutenant J. C. Blair.

Company B, 37th Regiment, organized September 1861, in Boone. First captain, Jonathan Horton; first lieutenant A. J. Critcher; second lieutenant, David Greene; third lieutenant, Jordan Cook.

Company E, 37th Regiment, was organized at Sugar Grove August 8, 1861. First captain, W. Young Farthing; first lieutenant Paul Farthing; second lieutenant W. F. Shull; third lieutenant, Isaac Wilson, Jr.

Company I, 58th Regiment, reorganized in Boone in July, 1862. First captain, William M. Hodges; second lieutenant, Jordan C. McGhee; third lieutenant, James Horton.

Company D, 58th Regiment, organized at Valle Crucis July 7, 1862. First captain, Rev. D. C. Harman; first lieutenant, Ben. F. Baird, second lieutenant, W. P. Mast; third lieutenant, William Howington.

Company M, 58th Regiment, organized early in the winter of 1863 from Ashe and Watauga. First captain, Leonard Phillips; first lieutenant, Geo. W. Hopkins; second lieutenant, Thomas Ray; third lieutenant, J. Riley Norris, with about fifty of the men from Watauga.

Company A, 6th Cavalry Regiment; Captain B. Roby Brown, with twenty to twenty-five men from Watauga.

There were other companies made from Ashe and Watauga by William G. Bingham and Thomas Sutherland, who joined a Virginia regiment of cavalry, there being about twenty-five men from Watauga. There were five full companies that went from Watauga, each of which must have contained 150 men, from first to last, and parts of three additional companies that had

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at least 100 Watauga men, besides the men from Watauga County who joined other regiments. By Moore's Roster, Watauga County actually furnished 671 men, and the Home Guard at Camp Mast must have contained 250 men. Col. W. W. Presnell, adjutant of the Nimrod Triplett Camp of Confederate Veterans, estimates that there must have been 900 men from this county in the service of the Confederacy, but there were most likely nearer 1,000.

Col. Presnell estimates that there were at least 100 men from Watauga County who went through the lines and joined the Federals, or remained in Watauga and worked for them in Watauga County during the closing months of the war.

He also says that Companies D, B, and E were in the eastern or Virginia army, while the other companies were in the western army.(1)

Population and Other Facts.—The population since 1850 follows:

1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910
3,400 4,957 5,287 8,160 10,611 13,417 13,423
But for the pigeonholing of a bill which Marcus Holtsclaw had passed by the House of Commons in 1858, the court house would have been changed from Boone to Brushy Fork, Holtsclaw having been elected over Thomas Greene and William Horton by one vote on the issue of making that change. But Joseph Dobson, of Surry, represented Watauga in the Senate that year, and he put Holtsclaw's little "bill to sleep."

That our pioneer ancestors spun, wove, knitted, made rope, tanned hides, dyed, made shoes, boots and moccasins; made pails, buckets, cradles, bee-gums, ladles, chairs, plows, sleds, wagons, knives, guns, and almost every tool then in use goes without saying, for they were cut off from the world and markets of all kinds. Dyes were obtained from yellow oak, from hickory, which dyes yellow, butternut dyes brown, black walnut
__________
Note: (1) By joint resolution No. 56, of the General Assembly of North Carolina, 1915, the State Historical Commission was authorized to correct and amend More's Roster of Confederate troops from North Carolina so as to include all who were actually in the sevice of the Southern Confederacy, the present list being faulty and incomplete

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dyes dark brown, sumac dyes yellow, alder dyes reddish, dogwood dyes red, madder dyes red, bedewood dyes purple, dye-flowers and snuff weed dye yellow, copperas dyes yellow, and burnt copperas red. To "set" dyes they used laurel leaves, copperas, alum, salt, etc. Honey and maple sugar and syrup were the sole "sweetening" we had before sorghum came in shortly before the Civil War. Reaping hooks preceded scythes and cradles many years. Grain was threshed out of cloths by the use of flails made of hickory saplings beaten soft two feet from the large end.

Soldiers of Mexican War.—The government does not place "monuments" over the graves of dead Mexican soldiers, presumably, else George Wright, whose body lies near that of Moses Yarber, would be similarly honored. He has a son living in the Beech Mountains who doubtless could furnish full information for a tombstone, but, jemooney Christmas! just think what it would cost! How many other dead Mexican soldiers are buried in these mountains is unknown, and the government does not seem to care. A few are still living, here and there, among them being Benjamin Pritchard, now living on Roaring Creek, still neat and soldierly, and Nehemiah P. Oaks, who lives within a mile or so of Elk Park. Pritchard was born on the Blue Ridge, near the McKinney Gap, about 1825, and remembers that on one occasion a Mexican threw every man in his regiment in wrestling contests. Then Pritchard was sent for threw the Mexican three straight falls. He was a member of Captain John Blalock's company, of which A. T. Keith was a lieutenant. Blalock had to resign because of bad health, and when the men elected a man named Constable, who lived on Cane Creek, captain, Keith also resigned, feeling that he had been slighted. John Payne was the colonel and Montford Stokes lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, which was the First North Carolina. Nehemiah P. Oaks was born on the Humpback Mountain, December 28, 1828, and belonged to the same company and regiment. He was also a member of the 13th Tennessee Cavalry, and draws two pensions. Pritchard also draws a pension for service in the Mexican War.

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Assessments for Taxation in 1915.—It will be interesting to compare the assessments of property this year with those for the years following the building of a railroad through this county. The increase in population between now and then will also be of interest.

Total real estate assessment in 1915 amounts to $1,783,983.00
Total personal property assessments for 1915 948,866.00
____________
Total assessments $2,732,849.00
The highest average assessment per acre was in Cove Creek, $14.17. The lowest average value per acre was Elk Township, $3.91.

The Weather.—It is colder in Watauga both summer and winter than in any other county in the State, probably, with the exception of Ashe, Alleghany, Avery and Haywood. The "cold Saturday" was February 8, 1835. The date of the Big Snow cannot be fixed, except that on the 2nd and 3rd days of December 1886. But old people remember hearing of a snow that was so deep that all fences were obliterated from the landscape and deer were slaughtered by the score. On the 5th day of June, 1858, corn knee-high was killed in this county and all fruits and vegetables, while white-oak trees between Boone and Jefferson were killed outright, some of their stumps being still visible. There was a frost at Blowing Rock July 26, 1870, while on February 13, 1899, the thermometer went to fourteen degrees below zero. On the 15th of May, 1835, there was snow while land was being laid off for corn and sugar water was being boiled for maple syrup on Brushy Fork.

Agricultural.—Patch farming was the rule for years, only small clearings being possible because of the sparseness of the population. Corn could not be raised at all for many years till the land was opened up to the sunlight. Owing to the stumps and roots, it was difficult to plough the ground at first, and the planting was done with the hoe. Gradually the land became warm enough to produce and mature corn or maize. Cabbages

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and all root crops flourished from the first settlement. Buckwheat and rye did well long before wheat, oats and other small grain began to thrive. Stock were fed on Irish potatoes and buckwheat, as is still the case in some places. Long, red Irish potatoes were carried in the arm as are ears of corn, and horses get fat on them. Hogs were kept in the mountains all winter, as the mast rarely failed. When a very cold or snowy time came, corn was carried to these hogs, beds were made for them in sheltered places, under cliffs, and in caves of rocks, but for many it was literally a case of "root hog or die." Col. W. L. Bryan has a bronze medal and a diploma which were awarded to him at the Columbian Exposition for the best buckwheat. If a colony of Swiss could be induced to try their lot with us, they could demonstrate the fact that on our mountain slopes, properly terraced, we could raise grapes, fruit of all kinds, and goats and cattle without number. Cheese factories have been already established at Sugar Grove, June 5, 1915, and elsewhere. The factory at Sugar Grove was the first established in the South. It is already thriving. With a little harder work and more scientific methods, wealth would follow agriculture in Watauga.

Mountain Forests.—In his address before the American Geographical Society in New York in April, 1914, Prof. George Cobb, of the University of North Carolina, said that seventy-six per cent of this section is still forest cover, or a little more than three million acres of forest land is found in the sixteen mountain counties; that the mountains of North Carolina are the oldest forest land on the continent, and the botanists and plant geographers are agreed that the deciduous forests of eastern North America have been derived from the forests of these mountains, in which they reach their greatest development; that while the hardwoods of the northern United States have migrated from the mountains since the last glacial period, it seems equally certain that the coniferous growth on the Balsams and other high mountains was forced south at the time of the greatest extension of the ice sheet, and is able to survive now only in the cooler atmosphere of our high mountains, where the mean annual temperature is forty-eight degrees, and, in the valleys they

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