Mitchell: Mountain ami Minerals
Valley On the Roof
Of Worth Carolina
By KIM. SHARPE
This is a Valley? Yes. the famous Toe River Valley. Mitchell occupies the space in the center, marked with the broken
line. For years it was a pocket of Isolation, guarded by the rugged ranges of the Blue Ridge, the Black, the Unakas. The
figure 42 Is Ml. Mitchell; 45 is the lofty Roan. — (Photo by Albert Barden of relief map in the State Museum.)
The Toe River Valley is like the
elusive circular rainbows for which
Roan Mountain is famous. One time,
the
С.
C. Crittendens of Raleigh were
driving across the county. They came
up the Blue Ridge, across Gillespie
Gap at Little Switzerland to Spruce
Pine, and thence to Bakersville.
They enjoyed the ride, but Mrs
Crittenden was slightly disappointed.
"I have heard so much about the fa¬
mous Toe River Valley," she said,
"that I had hoped we’d see it on the
way."
All of Mitchell lies in the valley, all
of Yancey and a part of Avery. But it
fits no description which either low-
landers or dictionaries have for val¬
leys.
This one has an average elevation
of nearly 2.500 feet, and it is a valley
only by virtue of its drainage system
and the higher ranges which hem it in.
A pocket in the central-western por¬
tion of North Carolina, the 6.000-foot
Blacks bound it on the south, and a
mountain divide connecting the Blue
Ridges and the Smokies forms its
northern wall. On the east is the Blue
Ridge, averaging 4,000 feet and on
the west the Balds, the Unakas, the
Iron Mountains and the Roan rise
above 6,000 feet.
Three Valleys
There really arc three main valleys.
The Toe branches out first into the
North Toe, which rises in the Big Yel¬
low Mountain of Avery; and then into
the South Toe, which starts in the Black
Mountains. From these three valleys,
yet other valleys open, separated by
high ridges. And from these subsidiary
valleys "rising and swelling” coves
branch out, ending in relatively flat
uplands.
Mitchell is the heart of the valley
comprising a third of its 6S7 square
miles. The north and south forks of
the Toe join near the center of the
county, forming the Nolichucky River
as it escapes from the only water exit
the valley has — through the 1.750-foot
gorge hewn through the Unakas. The
single narrow channel leads some to
think that the
Гое
Valley once was an
inland sea, its rims a beach, and its in-
THE STATE. VoL XX; No. 2. Enter'd aj second-claw matter. June I. 1933. at the Postoffice at Italelch. North Carolina, under the aet ol
March 3, 1*79. Published by Sharpe Publishlnc Co., Inc.. Lawyers Hide.. Italelch. N. C. Copyrlcht. 1952, by the Sharpe Publlthlnc Co.. Inc.
