ki:i>is(ovi:ki\c;
OUR MOUNTAINS
Chimney Rock and
An Awesome Gorge
IV
«I/
KILL SIIAKPi;
Breathes there the Tar Heel with
soul so dead that he has never been
on Chimney Rock?
Л
few; only a few. But perhaps a
million people have visited this pioneer
mountain attraction — most of them
North Carolinians. Norman Greig.
president of the mountain, says rec¬
ords show about 750,000 paid "ad¬
missions." and these do not include
thousands who came before the toll
road was built.
They came to it as visitors do now.
along the bed of Rocky Broad River,
which dashes from the Blue Ridges in
one of the awesome gorges of the cast.
Until the Morse family got to work
and dramatized the Chimney, this par¬
ticular boulder was almost lost in the
spectacular setting. As you go west on
U.S. 64 and 74. you come to the Ridge,
a solid wall. At no other place do our
mountains rise so suddenly from the
Piedmont. The gorge magically opens
a forbidding gateway. High on the left
is the stubby thumb of the Rock, with
a large flag always on top. The eleva¬
tion above sea level is 2.5(10 feet; the
monolith itself is 300 feet tall from its
base to the top.
Result of Krosion
The gorge itself is a cleft so deep, its
walls so smooth, and vertical, that ear¬
ly explorers believed the fissure to be
the result of some titanic upheaval in
which the mountains were split asun¬
der. The impression is strengthened by
the huge boulders which lie in the bed
of the river, as if hurled there by a
terrific blast. More likely, however,
that the gorge was cut by nothing more
violent than the persistent action of
the river.
The Gorge and Gap— there is a dis¬
tinction — comprise a length of several
miles, and at the narrowest point, the
walls of granite seem to be only a few
hundred feet apart. The abundant out¬
crop is a novelty even in our novelty¬
laden mountains, and earliest travelers
were entranced and awed.
Once it was believed l)c Soto en¬
tered the mountains through this gorge
— and what a sight that would have
been! — the column of stecl-helmctcd
Spaniards entering a portal which, to
them, must have seemed like a gate to
another world. Alas! (and this alas be¬
longs to Norman Greig) subsequent
study indicates the Spanish came
through a pass in the Toxaway coun¬
try near Highlands.
Buried Gold
But the gorge is wealthy enough in
legends to spare this one. Because of
the ease with which Reedy Patch Gap
is negotiated (the road to Henderson¬
ville). it was a historic route for In¬
dians. traders and hunters. Around
1790 to 1800. a party of English-
men. laden with gold, were set upon
by Indians in the narrow defile. While
thus besieged, they buried their treas¬
ure. and legend has it that only one
of the party reached England. Before
dying, he drew a map showing the lo¬
cation of the cache. Then, in 1830.
Colonel Lcvcnthorpc. a Revolutionary
veteran, brought a force of slaves to
the gorge and dug a month for the
gold without success. People have been
digging off and on ever since, and as
late as 1928 a goldbug showed up with
a map, which, however, availed him
naught.
A natural phenomenon of 1874 fed
the notion that the gorge is of volcanic
origin. On February 10 of that year,
people in the vicinity heard a loud ex¬
plosion and felt the earth tremble. The
activity continued at intervals for some
six months and received national at¬
tention. It was centered in the precipi¬
tous mountain on the side of Lake
Lure opposite Chimney Rock, and
which now is called Rumbling Bald,
but formerly was known as Quaking
Bald and Shaking Bald.
No satisfactory explanation for
these noises was ever offered. A Pro¬
fessor Warren DuPre of Wofford Col¬
lege betook himself to the area and
conducted an investigation which
largely involved interviews. He found
that the disturbances were heard for a
distance of 10 miles and resembled ex¬
plosions. followed by a low rumbling.
No evidence of volcanic activity was
found, and most commentators think
the noises were caused by huge rocks,
slipping and falling in cavities inside
the mountain. Springs along the edge
of the precipice were said to have
caused erosion, weakening the rock
ledges.
I he stagecoach road from Asheville
ran through the gorge, and old Logan
Inn was a noted stopping place, or
"stand." Parts of the inn — walls four
feel thick — arc still standing.
The early visitors used to clamber
up the mountain (then owned by
Rome Freeman) and along the ledge
THE STATE, SCPTEMOCR 5. 1953
6