beginning publication
of selections from a
notable 1883 travel book.
the heart of the alleghanies I
by tvilbur g. zeigler & ben s. crosscup
Oh. holy melody of peace'
Oh. nature tn thy grandest mood.'
I love thee most where uiays are rude
Of men, and wild the landscape 's face.
The great mountain system that be¬
gins in that part of Canada south of
the St. Lawrence, and under the name
of the Alleghanies. or Appalachians,
extends southward for 1,300 miles,
dying out in the Georgia and Alabama
foot-hills, attains its culmination in
North Carolina. The title of Appa¬
lachians. as applied by De Soto to the
whole system, is preferred by many
geographers. Alleghany is the old In¬
dian word, signifying "endless." It is
ancient in its origin, and in spite of its
being anglicized still retains its soft,
liquid sound. It was not until a com¬
paratively late year that Western North
Carolina was discovered to be the cul¬
minating region. Until 1835 the moun¬
tains of New Hampshire were con¬
sidered the loftiest of the Alleghanies,
and Mount Washington was placed on
the maps and mentioned in text books
as the highest point of rock in the
eastern United States. It now holds its
true position below several summits
of the Black, Smoky, and Balsam
ranges. From the barometrical mea¬
surements of trustworthy explorers, no
less than 57 peaks in Western North
Carolina are found to be over 6,000
feet in altitude. The more accurate ob¬
servations being taken by means of
levels, by the coast survey, may slightly
reduce this number.
It was John C. Calhoun who, in
1825, first called particular attention
to the southern section of the system.
His attention had been turned to it by
observing the numerous wide rivers,
and tributaries of noble streams, which,
like throbbing arteries, came forth
from all sides of the North Carolina
mountains, as from the chambers of
a mighty heart. He saw the New River
flowing toward the Ohio; the Wa¬
tauga, the Nolcchucky, the French
Broad, the Big Pigeon, the Little Ten¬
nessee, the Hiawassec, and their thou¬
sand tributaries, pouring from the cen¬
tral valleys through the deep gaps of
the Smokies into the western plains,
and uniting with the branches from
the Cumberland mountains to form the
stately Tennessee; the Yadkin, the Ca¬
tawba, the Broad, the Chatooga, and
the headwaters of the greatest streams
south of Virginia that empty into the
Atlantic. From these observations he
reasoned rightly that between the par¬
allels of 35 degrees and 36 degrees
and 30 minutes, north latitude, lay
the highest plateau and mountains of
the Atlantic coast.
The region, as measured in a bee
line through the center of the plateau
from Virginia to Georgia, is 200 miles
Unaka Konooi IWbilciide*, on illusltolion from the old trovcl book.
THE STATE. APRIL 7. 1956
9
