State

How Fontana Was Named Tli«»re has been Hindi speculation in con¬ nection with the origin of the name, but in the accompany ing article Dr. Fountain puts an end to all questioning. By DR. A. M. FOUNTAIN When Mrs. Wood and her husband lived in the Fontana area, there were only rough cart-roads in that section. The above picture shows how timber and other supplies were hauled to the saw-mill. “■ DID name the place, and I I coined the name." says Mrs. I George Leidy Wood. "When my husband decided the camp should have a name, we looked through endless rail and postal guides, but without finding any¬ thing suitable, mainly because the place was too beautiful for an ordinary name. He then asked me to coin a word that would fit. 1 thought of the lovely flowery glens and the falls that looked like fountains leaping from ledge to ledge, and I finally worked out the name ‘Fontana.’ It was short, musical, and easy to spell.” Thus, back in the summer of 1908, was named the little sawmill village which gave the title "Fon¬ tana” to the huge dam now- a part of the TVA system of power and flood control. The mill was on one of the large timber holdings of the R. E. Wood Lumber Company, a Baltimore concern organized by an older brother. G. Leidy Wood was made executive vice president and promptly named this division the Montvale Lumber Company, in honor of the same mountains and valleys which had suggested the name "Fontana.” While the plant was under con¬ struction he and Mrs. Wood lived up Mill Creek, from the site of the mill. The half-mile trail down from their tent crossed the creek six times. Mrs. Wood entered the area as a tenderfoot, as she terms it, and was often made dizzy in crossing the swift stream on fall¬ en logs or whatever rough pas¬ sage could be provided; but she was "soon as expert as the na¬ tives.” She had plenty of practice, as she and Mr. Wood took their meals in the mill boarding shack. Until a railroad could be built from Bushnell, twelve miles away, all supplies had to be brought in by ox teams hitched six yokes at a time to a great wagon. Mrs. Wood says that the sight of a doz¬ en oxen struggling and groaning to pull the big loads up the rocky road by the side of the river was reminiscent of the old pioneer days. The Wood brothers, sons of a British immigrant, had earlier settled in Lycoming County, in north central Pennsylvania, but soon extended their timber inter¬ ests into several states in the south¬ east. By the beginning of the First World War, the Montvale Lumber Company had cut over 18,000 acres of land. During the war, Mr. Wood served as overall supervisor of lumber from French forests and attained the rank of major in the army engineers corps. After the war. when much of the land was being taken over by the government for the Smoky Moun¬ tains National Park. Major Wood, always accompanied by Mrs. Wood, who now' was a seasoned camper, traveled over the area many times, making appraisals and estimates. One of their favorite camp sites was atop Old Thunderhead, along which runs the state line. Riding mule-back on these trails over¬ looking two states, or viewing the sunrise from Mount Le Conte are described by Mrs. Wood as among the greatest thrills she ever ex¬ perienced. The Woods also owned large timber areas around Lake Toxa- way, where they spent many sum¬ mers. They were there when the dam broke and drained the great reservoir, providing another inci¬ dent in the North Carolina mem¬ ories for Mrs. Wood. A native of New York. Mrs. Wood moved to Pennsylvania as a child, later marrying her neigh¬ bor, young Leidy Wood, and mov¬ ing to West Virginia as a bride. But it was in North Carolina that she became a thorough - going Southerner. After leaving North Carolina, she and Major Wood lived in the state. April 13. 1046