LETTERS FROM THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS — 11
Panthers in the Nantahala
Our 1818 traveler describes the
■liver Valley on liis way to Old
Franklin.
By JOHN LA IN' MAN
Franklin, North Carolina
May 1848
The distance from Murphy to this
place is reported to be fifty miles. For
twenty miles the road runs in full view
of Valley river, which is worthy in
every particular of the stream into
which it empties, the Owassa. It is a re¬
markably cold and translucent stream,
and looks as if it ought to contain
trout, but I am certain that it does not.
On inquiring of a homespun angler
what fish the river did produce, he re¬
plied: “Salmon, black trout, red horse,
hog-fish, suckers and cat-fish." I took
the liberty of doubting the gentleman's
word, and subsequently found out that
the people of this section of country
call the legitimate pickerel the “sal¬
mon." the black bass the “black trout,"
the mullet the "red horse." and a de¬
formed sticker the “hog-fish." And
now, while I think of it, I would inti¬
mate to my friends residing on the
Ohio (to which glorious river all the
streams of this region pay tribute)
that their salmon is none other than
the genuine pickerel of the North and
South, their white perch only the
sheep's head of the great lakes, and
their black perch is but another name
for the black or Oswego bass. So much
for a piscatorial correction.
The only picture which attracted my
particular attention in passing up the
fertile but generally neglected bottom
lands of Valley river, was a farm of
twenty-five hundred acres, one thou¬
sand acres being as level as a floor and
highly cultivated. The soil seemed ex¬
ceedingly rich, and it was evident
yielded a considerable income to its
possessor. I heard, in fact, that the
proprietor had been offered twenty-
five thousand dollars for this farm.
And in what kind of a house docs my
reader imagine this wealthy man re¬
sided? In a miserable log hovel, a dc-
io
This is the second article in a scries
of travel letters published in 1848.
They describe vividly our mountain
regions long before they were known
to the outside world. Other letters will
follow.
cayed and windowlcss one, which a
respectable member of the swine family
would hardly deign to occupy. In¬
stances something like to this had al¬
ready come to my knowledge, and
caused me to wonder at the inconsis¬
tency and apparent want of common
sense manifested by some of the farm¬
ers of this country, but this instance
capped the climax. But again, the in¬
dividual alluded to is a white man, and
prides himself upon being more in¬
telligent and acute than his neighbors;
and yet one of his neighbors is an In¬
dian woman, who raises only about
five thousand bushels of potatoes per
annum, but occupies a comfortable
dwelling and lives like a rational being.
After leaving the above valley, my
course lay over two distinct spurs of
the Alleghanics, which arc divided
by the river Nan-ti-ha-Iah, and con¬
sequently called the Nan-ti-ha-Iah
Mountains. In ascending the western
ridge. I noticed that at the foot and
midway up the pass the trees were all
arrayed in their summer verdure, and
among the forest trees were many
chestnut and poplar specimens, which
were at least seven or eight feet in di¬
ameter; while the more elevated por¬
tions of the ridge were covered with
scrub and white oak, which were en¬
tirely destitute of foliage and not even
in the budding condition. No regular
cliffs frowned upon me as I passed
along, but the mountains on cither side
were almost perpendicular, and in one
or two places were at least twenty-five
hundred feet high. In the side of the
highest of these mountains. I was in¬
formed, is a deep fissure or cave,
which extends to the summit of the
hill, where the outlet is quite small.
When the wind is blowing from the
northwest it passes entirely through
this long and mysterious cavern, and
when issuing from the top comes with
such force as to throw out all the
smaller stones which one may happen
to drop therein. In descending this
spur, the road passes directly along the
margin of the most gloomy thicket
imaginable. It is about a mile wide and
somewhat over three miles in length.
It is rank with vegetation, and the
principal trees arc laurel and hem¬
lock. Even at noonday it is impossible
to look into it more than a half a
dozen yards, and then you but peer
into the opening of leafy caves and
grottoes which arc perpetually cool
and very desolate. It is said to abound
in the more ferocious of wild animals,
and no white man is yet known to
have mustered courage enough to ex¬
plore the jungle. During the existence
The map below shows the probable route of I.anman from Murphy across the
Nantahalas. He probably followed what was known as Old Road Gap, where
the turnpike crossed down into the River Valley. This road, still in existence as
a forest road, is shown by broken line.
THE STATE, SEPTEMBER 25. 1954
