Mica

For the past couple of days I’ve been working on the beginnings of mica mining in the Valley. There is ample archaeological evidence that the Cherokee mined mica to some extent.
The Cherokee believed that early Spanish explorers did some mining also. In 1873, Thomas L. Clingman wrote that "the old Cherokee Indians, living in some of the western counties, used to speak of a tradition coming down in their tribe, that long ago companies of white men came on mules from the south, worked during the summer, and carried off a white metal with them..."
There was almost no market for mica prior to the Civil War. Zac McHone reportedly took a piece of mica to Marion to sell in 1870. A year or two (or three) later, things changed in the mica industry. E. B. Clapp and John G. Heap, who worked in the stove industry, started purchasing mines and mining mica for use in window pains in their stoves. They possibly owned up to twenty mines in the Valley area.

Mica mining has come and gone in the area. It probably peaked during World War II, when the United States’s supply of internationally produced mica was cut off. Everybody in the area started digging, re-opening closed mines and starting new ones. Once the war ended, the US outsourced its mica once again, and it is not mined in the Valley any more.

Not long ago, they were cutting a new road in not far from where I live. The ground glittered with pieces of mica. Too bad our government continues to support other governments of the world and not out own economy. Oh well, I’m sure some day the foreign market will be closed again and those old mines will be re-visited.

Project on the old Avery County Jail

Some of you might have heard that I working on a project with Jimmie Daniels on the Avery County jail. These are not rumors.

Most of you probably know that I’m on the board of directors for the Avery County Historical Society and Museum, which oversees the Avery County Historical Museum in the old jail. The jail has a great history. One aspect of that history is its use not only to incarcerate certain members of community, but also to serve as the home for the sheriff, deputy, or jailer. It was not only his home, but home for his family as well. Jimmie Daniels, who is also on the board, grew up in the jail. She and I have ben working on gathering information about the jail, and about these families who lived in the building throughout its 50+ year history.

Both Jimmie and I will be at the Museum tomorrow, from 10 until 2 pm, collecting stories from folks who want to venture down to the old jail. If you get a chance, stop by and say hi.

Historical Markers

Why so few state historical markers in the Toe River area?

Why no sign for the Bright Settlement/Childsville - the first county seat for Mitchell?

Why no sign for the Crest of the Blue Ridge Road? Or the Black Bear Highway?

How about one to Lulu Belle and Scotty?

How about Aaron Seminary?

How about Professor Wing’s School?

How about a couple for the ET&WNC RR, or the Clinchfield?

DeSoto? Black Mountain RR?

Can you come up with a couple of dozen yourself?

Historical Markers in Avery - Mitchell - Yancey Counties.

Today, I picked up a copy of the 10th edition (2007) of the Guide to North Carolina Historical Markers. I thumbed through the pages concerning the Toe River Valley area and came up with this.

Avery County has the most, eight markers. They are:
one at the North Carolina/Tennessee state line.
one in Cranberry dealing with the mines
one in Frank that discusses the Yellow Mountain Road
one in Crossnore that talks about the school
two in Banner Elk, one about Shep Dugger and the other, Lees-McRae College.
two at Grandfather Mountain that talk about Asa Gray and Andre Michaux

Mitchell County has five. They are:
Sink Hole Mine, northwest of Ledger
Asa Gray, in Bakersville.
Andre Michaux, in Bakersville
The Spruce Pine Mining District, near 226 and the Blue Ridge Parkway
The Penland School, in Penland.

Yancey County has only three. They are
one at the North Carolina/Tennessee State line, off US 19
one about the long gone Yancey Collegiate Institute in Burnsville
one on Mount Mitchell concerning Dr. Elisha Mitchell.

More than one Mitchell County?

Earlier today, I was doing some digging, and came across a list of other counties in the United States that bear the name "Mitchell" Here is where they are and for whom they are named:

Mitchell County, GA - created in 1857 and named for Henry Mitchell (1760-1837), a Revolutionary soldier, Georgia state brigadier general, legislator, and state senate president.

Mitchell County, IA - created in 1851 and named for John Mitchell (1815-1875), an Irish revolutionary who was in America for a short time.

Mitchell County, KS - created in 1867 and named for William D. Mitchell (? - 1865), a Federal Captain during the Civil War who was killed at the battle of Monroe’s Cross Roads, NC, in March 1865.

Mitchell County, NC - created in 1861 and named for Dr. Elisha Mitchell, a professor at UNC.

Mitchell County, TX - created in 1876 and named for two brothers, Asa Mitchell (? - 1865) and Eli Mitchell (?-1876). Asa was a Texan Revolutionary, as was Eli, who also brought freemasonry to Texas.


Not leaving out the other two counties in the Toe River Valley, here they are. These are the only counties in the United States to bear these names.

Yancey County, NC - created in 1833 and named for Bartlett Yancey (1785-1828), a lawyer, US Representative, and state senator.

Avery County, NC - created in 1911, and named for Waightstill Avery (1741-1821) a lawyer, NC attorney general, signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence in 1775, and member of the general assembly.

Snow in April

Weather is a funny thing here in the mountains of western North Carolina. Some folks say that if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes, and it will change. Yesterday afternoon, I pulled out the lawn mower for the first time this year. I changed the oil and did other maintenance, and then mowed. Today, it snowed, and as I write at 8:30 pm on Sunday evening, it is still snowing.
This got me to thinking about other snow storms - real snow storms, in the Toe River Valley. I pulled out my copy of Arthur’s history of western North Carolina, and dug out a few references.

February 8, 1835 - "The Cold Saturday"

pre-1850s - a big snow that "obliterated all evidence of fences and shrubbery..."

June 5, 1858 - a freeze occurred that "killed corn knee-high, and all fruits, vegetables, and white oak trees" between Boone and Jefferson

July 26, 1876 - frost in Blowing Rock

December 2-3, 1886 - snowed three feet in Buncombe "and surrounding counties."

June 10, 1913 - snowed in Haywood County

Of course, in our own time, there was the snow in the late 1960s, and the blizzard of 1993.
We had no good snows this year. Maybe five or six inches twice. I guess that is a good thing. Otherwise, someone would have needed to meet me at the bottom of Hawshaw Mountain to take me to the store.

Is it not interesting, of all of the big weather events that Arthur mentioned, no one remembers them today? They have passed out of out collective consciences and are but mere words on a page in a book that some may deem antiquated or quaint. Arthur’s book is a treasure trove of information, if you have the patience to dig out the material you need.

I just checked outside - there is a little skiff on my deck.

Ruins, pt 4

There is probably no better example of a place to talk about ruins than Lost Cove in Yancey County. No, I’ve never been there. I would like to visit one day.

This morning, I sat down and read a thesis written at the end of 2007 by Christy A. Smith. It’s entitled "Lost Cove, North Carolina: The Life and Death of a Thriving Community. (1864-1957) Avery County Historical Society chairman Cindy Peters informed me about the thesis not long ago. My past knowledge about the Lost Cove community had come from either Lloyd Bailey’s books, or from conversations with Jim Priestmeyer.

There are hundreds of topics that could be cover edabout what has been called "one of eastern America’s most legendary Ghost Towns." I’m sure, just like the railroad, we will return to many of them in the future. For now, let’s look at Lost Cove and how it become a ruin.

People lived In Lost Cove from the 1860s through the 1950s. The were many reason why they had to leave, the top few being a lack of employment and a lack of transportation. Once the timber in the area was depleted, there were no longer any jobs for local people. No jobs meant no way to purchased items not locally produced.

However, transportation was the biggest reason that Lost Cove became a ghost town. The rise of highways and automobiles brought an end to passenger service via railroads. The old Three C’s Railroad, the Clinchfield, was the main link between the outside world and Lost Cove. The residents of Lost Cove petitioned the governor to have a road built to Lost Cove, but the state government declined. Lost Cove was truly lost.

A fire in May 2007 destroyed all but three of the buildings in Lost Cove.

I found a web site recently called "Off the Beaten Path" There are photos of the Lost Cove area. Check it out.

McElroy House, yesterday

Ruins, pt. 3

Railroad history is probably my second love, behind Civil War history. The Toe River Valley has some great railroad history that I’m sure that I’ll spend a lot of time talking about.

This photograph was made in the Micaville area not long ago. In 1907, construction began on a branch line from Kona to Micaville, and then on to Bowditch. A separate branch line from Micaville reached Burnsville in 1912, and then Eskota, at the base of Mount Mitchell in 1913. I thought that I had read that a spur of the line from Eskota reached the top of Mt. Mitchell, linking up with the Mount Mitchell Railroad. The line running out of Kona was known as the Black Mountain Railroad, and was for all practicable purposes, a subsidiary of the Clinchfield.

The line was sold in 1955 to a group of investors and renamed the Yancey Railroad.

There is a lot of history to the little line. We will explore more of it later.

There were other railroads in the area. Probably the most famous was the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad. That ran to Cranberry. The Linville River Railroad ran from Cranberry, through Newland, and Montezuma, and then on to Boone. There was also the Caney River Railway, a short line running from Huntsdale to Bald Mountain. Add to that the Crabtree Creek Railroad, along with several other lines that only existed on paper, such as the Mica Belt Railroad (Cranberry to Altapass)and a Southern and Western project from Cranberry, through Montezuma, and down the mountains.

As I said before, lots of great railroading history in the area to explore.

Confederate executions

As many of you know, I’ve been working on a book about the 58th North Carolina Troops. About half of the men in this regiment came from the Toe River Valley area. On May 4, 1864, up to thirteen men from this regiment were executed for desertion. Here are some of my notes about these men.

I’ve been able to identify thirteen men from the 58th North Carolina who were court martialed and ordered to be executed for desertion on May 4, 1864. Those thirteen were as follows: Jacob Austin (Co. E); Alford Ball (Co. G); William R. Byers (Co. G); Reuben Dellinger (Co. A); Asa Dover (Co. F); Joseph Gibbs (Co. C); Jesse Hase (Co. A); Wright Hutchings (Co. F); George McFall (Co. K); Gordon Morrow (Co. H); Michael Ward (Co. D); Hiram Youngblood (Co. F); E. H. Younts (Co. H).

Of the thirteen, George Morrow was pardoned the day before the execution. William Byers’s fate is not exactly known, only that he died prior to September 1, 1864. The same is true for Dellinger and Hase. It is not clear that they were executed. Family history states that Dellinger died during the war.

The 58th NCT came from the counties of Ashe, Watauga, Mitchell, Yancey, Caldwell, and McDowell, with smaller groups of men from Wilkes, Yadkin, and Iredell Counties. Of the nine who were executed, one (Austin) appears to be from Union County; two were from Rutherford County (Hutchings and Youngblood, along with Byers); and one was from York County, South Carolina (Dover). Younts’s record simply states that he enlisted in Athens, Georgia. Hase’s record states that he enlisted in Hamilton or Greene County, Tennessee.

About half of the condemned men had joined the regiment recently. Austin - December 25, 1863; Byers - October 25, 1863; Dover - August 20, 1863; Hase - October 20, 186[3]; Hutchings - October 6, 1863; Youngblood - August 14, 1863; and, Younts - December 16, 1863. Morrow, who hailed from Caldwell County, had been in the service since May 15, 1862, joining Company I, 26th NCT, then joining Vance’s Legion on May 23, 1862.

Each of them had deserted just once, save Ball, who was a sergeant, and Ward, a private. They both deserted twice. Gibbs was the youngest - 19 or 20. Hutchings was the oldest - 44 or 45. Dellinger joined what would become the 58th North carolina Troops in late 1861. He transferred to the 5th Battalion, North Carolina in June 1862, went awol, then rejoined the 58th NCT. He deserted from the 58th NCT on August 20, 1863.

As of today, I only know that Ward, Hase, Gibbs, and maybe Byers had children.

There were probably two others executed that day. Christopher Ledford (Company C) and James M Randal (Company A), 60th North Carolina Troops.