Appalachian Summit

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35. The Professor and the Congressman

 

 

 

 

Following his 1828 geological survey through western North Carolina, University of North Carolina Professor Elisha Mitchell visited the area again in 1835 and 1844 at which time he attempted to locate and measure the highest peak in the Black Mountains.  In 1855 Thomas Clingman, now a United States Congressman, climbed and measured a peak he claimed not only to be the highest, but also, not to have been climbed by Mitchell.  Clingman had been a student of Mitchell’s and, though the two men were friends, they became embroiled in a bitter dispute over who had been the first to ascend the highest mountain in the eastern United States.

 

 

 

 

Raleigh Register

November 3, 1835

 

The Black Mountain is a long ridge at a medium distance of about thirty miles from Morganton.  It has some peaks of greater elevation than any point that has hitherto been measured in North-America, east of the Rocky Mountains, and is believed to be the highest mountain in the United States.  The Black mountain cost nearly a week’s labor in fixing upon the peak to be measured and the measurement.

Professor Elisha Mitchell

 

 

Moses Ashley Curtis to his wife –

1839

Thus was accomplished a feat which for hardship toil & real fatigue far surpassed any labor of [my] life. . . . The tremendous height of the [Black] Mt. cannot be realized til it is ascended. There the whole world seems spread below . . . & even old Grandfather & Roan are looked down upon as small things. Nor mountain[s] previously ascended [by] me are worth naming in the comparison, either for ruggedness or height.  [1]

 

Elisha Mitchell to his wife –

July 5, 1844

To morrow I am expecting to ascend the Black Mountain I hope for the last time. I shall probably now reach the highest summit.

 

July 14, 1844

That dreadful journey to the top of the mountain. Caney River drains a basin partly encircled by the mountain. I went up the main stream—then up a fork and over the spruce pine mountain ridge to another fork—then over another high mountain ridge to a third for[k] by which time it was between 12 and 1.  and all the way through laurels, and I had still the whole Black mountain before me.  I could not help thinking as I crawled along over the leaves under a shelving rock what a comfortable place it would be to die in. Reached the top at 4. . . .

Descended to the river by about sundown—Jumped along the rocks down the bed of the river, got some dreadful falls and soused in till it was dark—a heavy rain which further aided in wetting me through and through—then turned up into the woods— made three unsuccessful trials before we could get fire—finally fired a poplar stump and slept by the side of it on the wet ground and some wet moss we collected in my wet clothes—and seem now to be none the worse for it.  [2]

 

Mitchell’s guide, William Riddle –

[We] went from [my] house on Caney River, by way of the Green ponds, and there took up a ridge to a place called the beach nursery, and from thence turned to the right and went in a southerly direction as direct a course as possible to that part of the [Black] Mountain since called Mount Gibbes, near Mount Mitchell.  [3]

 

 

 

Asheville Highland Messenger

January 24, 1845

 

A Letter from Elisha Mitchell to Thomas Clingman

 

The Black Mountain, as you well know, is a long curved ridge, 15 or 20 miles in length, its base having somewhat the form of a common fishhook, of which the extremity of the shank is near Thomas Young’s in Yancey: it sweeps around by the heads of the South fork of the Swannanoa, Rim’s Creek and Ivy, and ends at the Big Butt, or Yate’s Knob—Caney river drains by a number of forks the hollow of the curve: The summit of the ridge is depressed at some points, and rises at others into peaks or knobs, 2, 3 or 400 feet higher than the rest, and it is a matter of considerable difficulty to determine before ascending which is the highest, as we cannot tell how much the apparent elevation is affected by the distance of the different points: . . . 

Dr Dickson having undertaken to observe the barometer at Asheville, and knowing that in his hands it would afford results in which confidence could be placed, I determined to try the Black once more in which mountain I was well satisfied that the highest points are to be found, as I was, also, that I had never yet been upon the highest. . . .

 

 

 

 

Asheville News

1854 Advertisement

 

THERMOMETER RANGES FROM 56 TO 70, AND BLANKETS NECESSARY AT NIGHT IN THE HOTTEST OF SUMMER

        

Mrs. GARENFLO informs her friends and the public, that she has made arrangements with Mr. Wm. Patton, of Charleston—the owner of this property, to open the BLACK MOUNTAIN HOUSE, on Thursday, 13th July, 1854, and will do the best she can to make visiters and boarders comfortable. The house is on the top of the mountain, and 11/2 to two miles from the highest peaks, which are 261 feet higher than Mount Washington—the highest of the White Mountains in New Hampshire—and consequently the highest mountain in the United States East of the Mississippi.

This mountain is 20 miles N.E. of Asheville, N.C. The road to it winds up the Swannanoa river—of which the Spring at the House is the head source. There are several good farm Houses for accommodation on the Road and near the base of the mountain; and at the foot, particularly, Mr. Jesse Stapp has put up new buildings, and prepared to accommodate a large number of visiters. Mountain Trout fishing, bear, deer, and other hunting can be enjoyed here in season. Carriages can go safely as far as Mr. Stapp’s at the foot of the mountain, where guides and saddle horses can be procured for the 4 miles to the Mountain House and the 1 to 2 miles to the main peaks. The excursion can be made in three days from Asheville. A regular hack will leave Asheville on Tuesday at 8 o’clock A.M., and returning leave Stapp’s on Friday morning at 8 o’clock. Prices on the mountain, 50 cts each for supper and Breakfast; $1 for dinner, 35 to 37 1/2 cts for double or single beds; $2 per day or $10 a week for board; Horse feed 50 cts and all night $1. These rates are about double what is charged in the settlement. Those who ascend the mountain will learn the necessity for the increased charges.

 

 

 

Asheville News

November 19, 1855

 

[From the Washington Spectator]

 

CLINGMAN’S PEAK

 

Washington, Nov. 13, 1855

Dear Sir: - The following communication has been received from the Hon. Mr. Clingman, relative to the mountain region of North Carolina, which you will oblige the Smithsonian Institution by publishing in your valuable paper.  It contains information of an interesting character relative to the topography of a portion of our country but little known.  The highest point of the Black Mountain, now known by the name of “Clingman’s Peak” is probably the most elevated point east of the Rocky Mountains.

JOSEPH HENRY

Sec. Smithsonian Inst.

 

__________

 

 

Asheville, N.C., Oct 20, 1855

My Dear Sir – The interest you manifested, a year or two since, with reference to one of the mountains in our region induces me to address this letter to you.  From time to time, there have been discussions of where the highest point of land is to be found east of the Mississippi river.  You doubtless recollect a controversy as to the relative height of the White Mountain of New Hampshire and the Black Mountain of North Carolina.  Prof. Mitchel succeeded, I think, in making it appear, that that portion of the Black Mountain since called “Mitchel’s Peak” or “Mount Mitchel” was higher than “Mount Washington”, the most elevated point of the White Mountain range.

But even at the time of [Mitchell’s] measurement, I was of the opinion that he had not succeeded in getting upon the highest point of the Black Mountain. In our frequent conversations, both before and since that time, he did not appear to feel at all confident on the subject. It is with reference to the fact that another peak of the mountain is higher than any ascended, or measured by him, that I propose now to speak. . . .  When, some twenty years ago, Dr. Mitchel began his observations with reference to the height of the mountain, it was much more inaccessible, than it has since become, by reason of the progress of the settlements around its base; so that he was liable to be misled, and thwarted by unforeseen obstacles in his efforts to reach particular points of the chain. . . . It has happened that in his several attempts both from the north and the south, he never succeeded in reaching the highest portion of the range. . . .

That point which I am satisfied is the highest of the range, is situated about three miles to the north east of “Mt. Mitchel.”  Having lately visited it with a view of determining as nearly as possible the circumstances, its altitude, I now propose to give the results of my observations.

 

 

 

Mitchell to Joseph Henry –

My main object in making this communication is to prevent, if I can, the belief that, after having taken so much pains about this mountain, I blundered about the highest peak in it, after all. . . .

On the following day, July 28 [1835], I started with two guides. . . . I did not like the course they took, and was not disappointed when I found that they had led me wrong, to a peak too far north, and covered all about its summit with the balsam fir. We could not penetrate farther south that day, and the vacation being just about to close, I was obliged to return to my duties at the University, knowing very well that I had not set my foot upon the highest point in the Black Mountain[s].  [4]

 

 

 

Asheville Spectator

1856

 

My own name is mentioned there and it is represented that in my measurements of the mountain, I failed to discover and ascend the highest peak. This is a total mistake of Mr. Clingman’s. . . . If his errors are permitted to stand, they will have the effect of throwing the heights that have been ascertained around this mountain into inextricable confusion, and may bring all the measurements made, by me into discredit. It may therefore be expected, with some reason, that I shall state what the facts really are.

Elisha Mitchell

 

 

 

Mitchell’s Pamphlet

August 1856

 

But he [Clingman] says that my own different accounts of the high peak, do not agree with each other, nor with the peak itself, and that there are errors in my statements of what occurred in connexion with the first measurements of the mountain. . . . I saw the high peak times enough to fix its position, and the course to be pursued in reaching it, tolerably well; but was less to be trusted at any considerable distance of time with regard to its appearance. . . .

Do not, sir, issue another foolish and detestable pamphlet. It will do me some injury, but greater mischief to your own character, not only as a politician, but also as a man; especially when I take up the pen, and expose its untruth, its injustice, its weakness, and its wickedness. You put an instrument of torture into the hands of your enemies, of every name, with which they may annoy you to any extent. . . .   [5]

 

 

 

Thomas Clingman –

Fall 1856

William Riddle states that many years ago, he thinks in 1844, he went with Prof. Mitchell to the top of the Black Mountain— that they went from his house on Caney River, by way of the Green ponds, and there took up a ridge to a place called the beach nursery, and from thence turned to the right and went in a southerly direction as direct a course as possible to that part of the Mountain since called Mount Gibbes, near Mount Mitchell. . . . He says further that he knows the point of the mountain well, which has since been called Clingman’s Peak  and that he never did go on it with Prof. Mitchell. He says further that if he had intended to have gone on it, he would have kept up the ridge from the beach nursery, and on reaching the top of the Black he would have turned to the left hand to get on the highest point. . . .  [6]

 

 

 

Asheville News

July 24, 1856

 

Letter from Hon. T.L. Clingman

 

. . . It must appear to every impartial mind, that in the publications of Prof. M. (two only in number) made in 1835 and 1844, he has furnished nothing by which I or any other person could be expected to GUESS that he ever was on the highest point as designated by me.  It is equally manifest from what he has since written, that, taking his own statements to be true, he has not been there.

 

 

 

Patton’s Mountain House, Saturday Morning

Some day in June 1857

    My Dear Mary

I have your letter enclosing the checks.  We are here two thirds of the way from the base of the mountain to the top.  Charles and myself with William keeping bachelor’s hall, getting on very well – in excellent health – living mostly on corn bread and bacon. . . .

Yours affectionately,

E. Mitchell  [7]

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE SEARCH FOR PROFESSOR MITCHELL’S BODY.

        

From the Asheville Spectator.

        

Messrs. Editors—Having spent a week at the scene of this memorable         calamity, in search of the body of Dr. Mitchell, and assisting in its removal after it was found, I have been requested by sundry citizens to give to the public a sketch of the deplorable event. In accordance with their request, I now take my pen to give you all I know of the accident, which has caused so much sorrowful excitement in this region, and which I doubt not will unnerve the public feeling to its centre throughout the State when the sad tidings shall be generally known.

It is known to all who have felt interested in our State Geography, that there lately sprung up a dispute between the Hon. T. L Clingman and Dr. Mitchell, in regard to one of the high peaks of the Black Mountain put down in Cook’s map as Mt. Clingman. The former alledging that he was first to measure and ascertain its superior height to any other point on the range, until the latter gentleman asserting that he was on that same peak and measured it in the year 1844. After several letters, pro and con, through the newspapers, Dr. Mitchell announced last fall his intention of visiting the mountains again for the purpose of re-measuring the peak in dispute, taking the statements of some gentlemen who had acted as his guides on his former visits, &c. Sometime since, about the middle of June, I think, he came up, in company with his son Chas. A Mitchell, his daughter, and a servant boy, established his headquarters at Jesse Stepp’s, at the foot of the mountain, and began the laborious task of ascertaining the height of the highest peak by an instrumental survey, which as the former ad-measurements were only barometrical, would fix its altitude with perfect accuracy, he had proceeded with his work near two weeks, and had reached to some quarter of a mile above Mr. Wm. Patton’s Mountain House, by Saturday evening, 2 o’clock, the 27th of June, at which time he quit work and told his son that he was going to cross the mountain to the settlement on Caney River for the purpose of seeing Mr. Thomas Wilson, Wm. Riddle, and I believe another Mr. Wilson, who had guided him up to the top on a former visit. He promised to return to the Mountain House on Monday at noon. There was no one with him. This was the last time he was ever seen alive. On Monday his son repaired to the Mountain House to meet his father, but he did not come. Tuesday the same thing occurred, and though considerable uneasiness was felt for his safety, yet there were so many ways to account for his delay that it was scarcely thought necessary to alarm the neighborhood; but when Wednesday night came and brought no token of him, his son and Mr. John Stepp  immediately started on Thursday morning to Caney River in search of him. On arriving at Mr. Thos. Wilson’s, what was their astonishment and dismay to learn that he had neither been seen nor heard of in that settlement! They immediately returned to Mr. Stepp’s, the alarm was given, and before sundown on Friday evening companies of the hardy mountaineers from the North Fork of the Swannanoa were on their way up the mountain. The writer, happening to be present on a visit to the Black, joined the first company that went up. About eighteen persons camped at the Mountain House that evening, and continued accessions were made to our party during the night, by the good citizens of that neighborhood, who turned out at the call of humanity as fast as they heard the alarm some from their fields, some from working on the road, and all without a moment’s hesitation. Early on Saturday morning our party under the command of Mr. Fred Burnett and his sons, all experienced hunters, and Jesse Stepp and others who were familiar with the mountains, struck out for the main top, and began the search by scouring the woods on the left hand or Caney River side of the trail that runs along the top. We continued on this way to the highest peak without discovering any traces whatever of his passage, when our company became so scattered into small parties that no further systematic search could he made that day. But directly in our rear as we came up the mountain was Mr. Eldridge Burnett with some more of his neighbors, who had come from their houses that morning; and hearing a report that Dr. Mitchell had expressed his intention of striking a bee line from the top for the settlements without following the blazed trail way to Caney River, they searched for signs in that direction, and soon found a trail in the soft moss and fern that was believed to have been made by him, and followed it until it came to the first fork of Caney, where it was lost. Nothing doubting but they were on his track, and that he had continued down the stream, they went several miles along the beat of the river, over inconceivably rough and dangerous ground, until dark, then they threw themselves upon the earth and rested till morning. Mr. Stepp, Mr. Fred Burnett and others made their way to Wilson’s on Caney River to join the company that was coming up from the Yancey side, and the writer and many others returned, gloomy and disappointed to the Mountain House. Thus ended the first day’s search. During almost the entire day the rain had poured down steadily, the air was cold and chilling, the thermometer indicating about 44 degrees at noon, whilst the heavy clouds wrapped the whole mountain in such a dense fog that it was impossible to see any distance before us. It seemed as if the genii of those vast mountain solitudes were angered at our unwanted intrusion and had invoked the Storm-God to enshroud in deeper gloom the sad and mysterious fate of their noble victim.

Sabbath morning came, but its holy stillness and sacred associations were all unregarded. and the party camping in the Mountain House, now largely augmented by constant arrivals from the settlements, plunged again into the gloomy forest of gigantic firs, and filing through the dark and deep gorges struck far down into the wilds of Caney River. Mr. Eldridge Burnett’s party returned about 2 o’clock, bringing no tidings and seeing no further trace whatever of the wanderer’s footsteps. Still later in the day Messrs. Fred. Burnett and Jesse Stepp and party returned with some twelve or fifteen of the citizens of Caney River, having traversed a large scope of country and finding still no trace of the lost one. The rain still continued to pour down, and the gloomy and ill-omened fog still continued to wrap the mountain’s brow in its rayless and opaque shroud. Just before dark the remaining party came in, unsuccessful, tired, hungry and soaking with water. A general gloom now overspread the countenanses of all, as the awful and almost undeniable fact was proclaimed, that Dr. Mitchell was surely dead, and our only object in making the search, would lie to rescue his mortal remains from the wild beasts and give them a Christian sepulture! It could not be possible, we thought, that he was alive, for cold, and hunger, and fatigue, if nothing worse had happened to him, would ere this have destroyed him. Alas we reasoned too well. By this time the alarm had spread far and near, and many citizens of Asheville and other parts of the country were flocking to the mountains to assist in the search for one so universally beloved and respected. On Monday the company numbered some sixty men. New routes were projected, new ground of search proposed, and the hunt conducted throughout the day with renewed energy and determination, but still without avail. On Tuesday the company of Buncombe men separated into three squads and took different routes, whilst Mr. Thomas Wilson and his neighbors from Caney River, took a still more distant route, by going to the top of the highest peak and searching down towards the Cat-tail fork of the River. They were led to take this route by the suggestion of Mr. Wilson, that Dr. M. had gone up that way in his visit to the high peak in 1844; and that perhaps he had undertaken to go down by the same route. They accordingly struck out for that point, and turning to the left to strike down the mountain in the prairie near the top, at the very spot where it is alleged that the Doctor entered it thirteen years ago, they instantly perceived the impression of feet upon the yielding turf pointing down the mountain in the direction of his former route. After tracing it some distance with that unerring’ woodcraft which is so wonderful to all but the close observing hunter, they became convinced that it was his trail and sent a messenger back some five miles to inform the Buncombe men, and telling them to hurry on as fast as they could. The writer with Mr. Charles Mitchell and many others were in a deep valley on the head waters of another fork of the river, when the blast of a horn and the firing of guns on a distant peak, made us aware that some discovery was made. Hurrying with breathless haste up the steep mountain side in the direction of the guns we soon came up and found the greater part of our company watching for us, with the news that the Yancey company were upon the trail we had been so earnestly seeking so many days. After a brief consultation, two or three of our party returned to the Mountain House for provisions, and the balance of us started as fast as we could travel along the main top towards our Yancey friends, and reached the highs peak just before dark. Here we camped in a small cabin built by Mr. Jesse Stepp, ate a hasty supper and threw ourselves upon the floor without covering, to rest.

About 1 o’clock in the night, just as the writer was about closing his eyes in troubled and uneasy slumber, a loud halloo was heard from the high bluff that looms over the cabin. It was answered from within and in a moment every sleeper was upon his feet. Mr. Jesse Stepp, Capt. Robert Patton and others, then came down and told us that the body was found. . . .

It was as they expected. The deceased had undertaken to go the same route to the settlements which he had formerly gone. They traced him rapidly down the precipices of the mountain, until they reached the stream (the Cat-tail fork), found his traces going down it—following on a hundred yards or so, they came to a rushing cataract some forty feet high, saw his foot-prints trying to climb around the edge of the yawning precipice, saw the moss torn up by the outstretched hand, and then the solid, impressionless granite refused to tell more of his fate. But clambering hastily to the bottom of the roaring abyss, they found a basin worn out of the solid rock by the frenzied torrent, at least fourteen feet deep, filled with clear and crystal waters cold and pure as the winter snow that generates them. At the bottom of this basin, quietly reposing, with outstretched arms, lay the mortal remains of the Rev. Elisha Mitchell; D. D., the good, the great, the wise, the simple minded, the pure of heart, the instructor of youth, the disciple of knowledge and the preacher of Christianity! . . .

Upon consultation it was thought best to let the body remain in the water until all arrangements were completed for its removal and interment; judging rightly that the cold and pure waters would better preserve it, than it could be kept in any other way. At day light a number of hands went to cutting out a trail from the top of the mountain to where the body lay, a distance of three miles, whilst others went to Asheville to make the necessary arrangements. Word was also sent to the coroner of Yancey, and to the citizens generally to come and assist us in raising the body on Wednesday morning. At that time a large number of persons assembled at Mr. Jesse Stepp’s and set out for the spot, bearing the coffin upon our shoulders up the dreary steeps. We had gone near ten miles in this way and had just turned down from the high peak towards the river, when we were met by Mr. Coroner Ayers, and about fifty of the citizens of Yancey, coming up with the body. They had got impatient at our delay, and enveloping the body in a sheet and fastening it securely upon a long pole, laid it upon the shoulders of ten men and started up the mountain. And now became manifest the strength and hardihood of those noble mountaineers. For three miles above them the precipitous granites and steep mountain sides forbade almost the ascent of an unencumbered man, which was rendered doubly difficult by great trunks of trees, and the thick and tangled laurel which blocked up the way. The load was near two hundred and fifty pounds and only two men could carry at once. But nothing daunted by the fearful exertion before them, they step boldly up the way, fresh hands stepped in every few moments, all struggling without intermission and eager to assist in the work of humanity. Anon they would come to a place at which it was impossible for the bearers to proceed, and then they would form a line by taking each others hands the uppermost man grasping a tree and with shouts of encouragement heave up by main strength. In this way, after indescribably toiling for some hours they reached the spot. Here was afforded another instance of the great affection and regard in which the deceased was held by all. These bold and hardy men desired to have the body buried there and contended for it long and earnestly. They said that he had first made known the superior height of their glorious mountain and noised their fame almost throughout the Union, that he had died whilst contending for his right, to that loftiest of all the Atlantic mountains, on which we then stood, and they desired to place his remains right there, and at no other spot. It would indeed have been an  appropriate resting place for him, and greatly was it wished for by the whole country, before its being told them that his family wanted his remains brought down. They reluctantly yielded, and the Buncombe men proceeded to bring the body slowly down the valley of the Swannanoa. . .

This ends my brief sketch of this melancholy affair. As to any eulogy upon Dr. Mitchell’s character I feel myself unequal to the task. I trust that it will be  appropriately pronounced  by some one of his learned and devoted fellow laborers of the University. My feeble pen could add nothing to his moral and intellectual stature. I will only say, that I loved him as sincerely as any one in the State. I am gratified to be able to state that unusual kindness and respect was exhibited by every citizen of the Country throughout the whole transaction.

 

                      Yours truly,                        Z.B. VANCE  [8]

 

 

 

 

 

Asheville News

 1859

 

TURNPIKE TO THE TOP OF THE BLACK!

 

A few years ago it was considered, and not without reason, a proud feat to ascend to the top of the celebrated Black Mountain. We shall never forget the labor it cost us in the spring of 1850. There was nothing in the shape of a road, unless a serpentine trail may be honored with that title. We rode part of the way, walked part, and crawled the remainder.

Things have changed since the time of which we write; and the route to the highest peak . . . has been so much improved that even ladies have passed over the greater portion of it on horseback; and the end is not yet. We publish today a Charter. . . for a TURNPIKE ROAD TO THE HIGHEST PEAK OF THE BLACK MOUNTAIN! Think of that!—Henceforth visitors may drive to that lofty eminence with ease, comfort and perfect safety. No more break neck horseback rides, nor painful foot journeys, but over a smooth and excellent turnpike road you may gain the proud eminence, and look out upon the world beneath your feet. We shall make one more excursion to the Black, if for no other purpose than to enjoy the contrast it will present to our former laborious ascent.