SKETCH OF ELISHA MITCHELL. 403 



mony of witnesses in an article which Prof. Charles Phillips con- 

 tributed to the North Carolina University Magazine for March, 

 1858. Having made some observations of the geological forma- 

 tions of the Grandfather Mountain, and measured some heights 

 near Morganton, Prof. Mitchell crossed the Blue Ridge and fixed 

 his headquarters at Bakersville, in Yancey County, near the foot 

 of Roan Mountain. Hence he made several excursions in a coun- 

 try which was then nearly in the condition of the primitive wil- 

 derness. Being told that Yeates's Mountain was the highest of the 

 group, he climbed it, accompanied by two guides, on the 27th of 

 July, 1835 a day so clear and serene " that all the main emi- 

 nences of the Black were clearly visible." He found that this 

 mountain was overtopped by several of the peaks around it, the 

 most of which confronted him in an arc so curved that it was 

 easy to decide which of them was the highest. He made the 

 entry : " Top of Yeates's knob ; N. E. knob of Black bore N. 46f E. 

 Counting from Young's knob : one low one ; one low one ; two 

 in one, the southernmost pointed ; a round knob, same height ; a 

 double knob ; then the highest ; then a long, low place with a 

 knob in it ; then a round three-knobby knob, equal to the highest, 

 after which the ridge descends." This verbal account tallies ex- 

 actly with a profile of the range drawn by Prof. Guyot when 

 standing on the same Yeates's Peak in 1856. On the next day, 

 July 28th, Prof. Mitchell and his guides visited the peak which 

 had been determined by the Yeates's Mountain observation to be 

 the highest; according to the testimony of the guide, William 

 Wilson, they " came to the top at a small glade, not more than a 

 quarter of an acre in extent, and, turning to the right, not more 

 than one hundred and fifty yards, we arrived on the top of the 

 main highest peak, being the same one as we thought that we had 

 selected from Yeates's knob the day before. Then Dr. Mitchell 

 climbed into the highest balsam he could find, and took his obser- 

 vations. After consulting his barometer, he said that it was the 

 highest point that he had found yet." 



Some of the immediate results of the excursions from Bakers- 

 ville, including geological and botanical observations, were pub- 

 lished in the Raleigh Register of November 3, 1835. The height 

 of the mountain was calculated as compared with that of Morgan- 

 ton, which was then supposed to be 968 feet above the sea. The 

 mountain being found to be 5,508 feet above that point, its height 

 was given as 6,476 feet, or 200 feet less than the real height. The 

 discrepancy became afterward a source of confusion, and has been 

 used to support the allegation that the peak Dr. Mitchell climbed 

 that day was not the real highest peak. But it was explained and 

 vanished when the railroad surveys showed that Morganton de- 

 pot is really 1,169 feet high. This would make Prof. Mitchell's 



