TENoSTESSEE MAMMALS — KELLOGG 293 



delivered where troops wei-e stationed, was, according to the records 

 of Sumner County, accepted for taxes in 1787 at 9 pence a pound 

 (Putnam, 1859, p. 252). 



The first mention of deer in eastern Tennessee seems to be recorded 

 by James Needham (Williams, 1928, p. 27), who traveled in 1673 

 down the valley bounded by the Holston Kiver and Bays Mountains 

 to the Cherokee Indian town Chota [Monroe County]. From that 

 time onward Virginia and Carolina traders had posts in these Chero- 

 kee Indian villages, and large numbers of deer skins and other pelts 

 obtained by barter were transported on pack horses to Charleston 

 and to the Virginia stations. 



Lt. Henry Timberlake ("Williams, 1927, p. 47) was impressed in 

 December 1761 by the number of deer seen during his trip down the 

 Holston River from Kingsport, Sullivan County, to a large cave be- 

 low the present site of Three Springs Ford, Hamblen County. Tim- 

 berlake mentioned that there were an incredible number of deer 

 along the Little Tennessee River near the mouth of Tellico River 

 (Williams, 1927, p. 71). 



In Martin Schneider's report (Williams, 1928, p. 253) of his jour- 

 ney to the upper Cherokee towns there appears the statement under 

 date of January 1, 1784, that the traders on the French Broad River 

 had paid one quart of an inferior grade of brandy for two deer skins. 



After crossing the Holston River at Stonypoint, Hawkins County, 

 in April 1797, the Duke of Orleans and his party saw deer and wild 

 turkeys (Williams, 1928, p. 435). 



In middle Tennessee deer appear to have been even more abundant 

 than in the eastern part of the State. French traders and hunters 

 had posts and station camps on or near the present site of Nashville 

 at least as early as 1714. The "long hunters" of the Carolinas and 

 Virginia did not do much hunting in this general region until 1769. 

 Isaac Bledsoe mentions (Henderson, 1920, p. 125) that during the 

 winter of 1769-70 he shot two deer near the lick that has since been 

 known as Castalian Springs, Sumner County. In 1775, Timothe 

 de Monbreun, a French voyageur, had a cabin and depot for deer and 

 buffalo hides and tallow at a mound on the north side of Sulphur 

 Spring branch [Nashville] (Putnam, 1859, p. 65). 



When the settlers arrived at the Bluff [Nashville] in 1779-80, deer 

 were plentiful in the vicinity (Ramsey, 1853, p. 206), and large num- 

 bers came to the sulphur or salt spring [French Lick] near that set- 

 tlement. So abundant were deer and buffalo that Col. John Donel- 

 son, who settled in 1780 in a tract known as "Clover bottom" a few 

 miles up from the mouth of Stone River [Davidson County], was 

 obliged to keep close watch over his growing corn (Putnam, 1859, 

 p. 622) . One party of 20 hunters from Batons Station [Nashville] 



