In
о
20-day meeting with tome 1,000 Cherokee Indian» ond their chief», ogcnt» of the Troiuylvonio
Company exchanged votf quontitie» of good» for »ome 22,000,000 ocre» of lond — a tronioction which gove
impetu» to the country'» We»tword eipantion.
The 14th Colony
North Carolina entrepreneurs nego¬
tiated the largest private land deal
ever undertaken in North America.
By VANCE E. SWIFT
b;wl bargains in the shell. Occasionally
one can pick up a real bargain in pecan
meats, but most of the time one merely
pays extra for the shelling and culling.
Insist upon the current crop when
buyingeither meats or nuts in the shell.
Freezing is a good way to store pecan
meats. Ordinarly nuts in the shell will
begin to turn rancid in a year's time if
not stored under refrigeration.
Shelling pecans can be fun. and
there are far better ways of cracking
the nuts than with your teeth. The in¬
ertial crackers advertised around
Christmas are fine. These cause the
shells to explode away while leaving
the meat more or less intact. Inertial
crackers seem to be designed mostly
for pecans shaped like Stuart.
The old fashion jaws, or
squeeze-em. crackers are fine if used
correctly, and they fit pecans of all
sizes and shapes. The first impulse
when positioning a pecan for cracking
in the jaws, or lever, type cracker is to
set the jaws along the ridge that runs
around the nut lengthwise. The ridge,
or suture, looks as if it should be the
dividing line between the halves in¬
side. Not so. Nature seems frequently
to do things wrong, the positioning of
the meats inside a pecan shell being
one such case in point. To correct the
mistake, just rotate the nut half a turn
until the jaws rest on the flat, fat part of
the shell. The nut is. of course, gripped
endwise with the pointy end inward.
Press down, and the pecan cracks
neatly between the halves. With a little
practice one can shell out virtually
enough intact halves to top a Dundee
cake in the time it takes Archie Bunker
to make a point with the Nleathead.
Shelling pecans can thus be fun. and
eating the produce of one's labors even
more so. But beware. Good quality pe¬
cans contain up to 70 % oil of a par¬
ticularly tasty and caloric kind, so hold
your intake to modest levels if svelte is
your goal.
MATH QUIZ
By Edmund Jones Lilly, Jr.
Problem No. 422
A man exerts a force of 220 pounds
on one arm of a six-foot lever. How far
from the other end must the fulcrum be
placed so that he can lift a weight of
1 100 pounds?
(Solution on
раце
28)
Six early North Carolina settlers.
Richard Henderson. John Williams.
Thomas Hart. Nathaniel Hart. William
Johnston, and John Futtrell. formed in
1774 a land company, called the Louisa
Company, for the purpose of pur¬
chasing from the Cherokee nation a
large territory west of the mountains
and east of the Mississippi River.
Daniel Boone had explored part of
the territory as secret agent for
Richard Henderson and. following his
failure to settle Kentucky. Boone was
hired as agent of the Louisa Company
to make further explorations of the ter¬
ritory to determine its suitability for
purchase and settlement.
The project soon outgrew its articles
of agreement, and on 6 January 1775.
there was a reorganization. A new
company, called the Transylvania
Company, was formed. Three new
members. James Hogg. David Hart,
and Lend Henley Bullock, were
added, making in all. nine proprietors.
Deal With Indians
In the autumn of 1774. Richard Hen¬
derson and Nathaniel Hart held inter¬
views in the Cherokee Country with
the chiefs of the various tribes for the
purpose of purchasing land west of the
Cumberland Mountains. According to
a letter in Kentucky archives, written
by Nathaniel Hart. Jr., his father re¬
turned to his home at "Red House" —
in what now is Caswell County. N.C.
— with six or eight of the principal men
of the Cherokee nation who remained
with him for some time and assisted in
selecting and assembling goods for use
in exchange for the land. Vast quan¬
tities of goods were assembled at Cross
Creek (now Fayetteville). N.C. and
transported by wagon train to Syca¬
more Shoals on the Watauga River
where Henderson and Hart had ar¬
ranged a meeting with the Cherokees
to negotiate the treaty or land pur¬
chase.
The meeting was attended by some
1.000 Cherokee Indians and their
chiefs, and lasted for twenty days. The
Transylvania Company was rep¬
resented by Richard Henderson,
president of the company. Nathaniel
Hart, chief negotiator, and two other
proprietors of the company.
Negotiations were finally com¬
pleted. and the treaty, or conveyance,
was signed on 17 March 1775. The pur¬
chase. or treaty, embraced all of the
territory from the Kentucky to the
waters of the Cumberland River which
included most all of the territory com¬
prising what later became the states of
i6
THE STATE, NOVEMBER 1976