562 



TENESSEE. 



many of their peaks are high. The valleys and the 

 alluvions of the large and numerous rivers are very 

 rich, and even the summits of some of the mountains 

 have extensive plateaux, which are traversed by 

 ro.ulr , are inhabited, and made to yield in abundance 

 the productions of the Northern States. " There 

 can be nothing/' says Mr Flint, " of grand and im- 

 posing in scenery, nothing striking and picturesque 

 in cascades and precipitous sides of mountains co- 

 vered with woods, nothing romantic and delightful 

 in deep and sheltered valleys, through which wind 

 still and clear streams, which is not found in this 

 state." There is more land in Tennessee that is 

 unfit for cultivation, than in some of the neighbour- 

 ing states : but as great a proportion of what is cul- 

 tivated is of the first quality. In East Tennessee, 

 the soil contains an uncommon quantity of dissolved 

 lime and nitrate of lime, which renders it very fer- 

 tile. The descending strata, in West Tennessee, 

 are arranged in the following order: first, loamy 

 soil, or a mixture of clay and sand ; second, yellow 

 clay ; third, a mixture of red sand and red clay : 

 fourth, white sand. White, red, and gray marble, 

 inexhaustible quarries of gypsum, burr millstones, 

 rock crystals, lead, iron ore in abundance, are 

 the minerals and fossils that are known. Salt 

 springs are common, and nitrous earth is found in 

 caves, sufficient to supply the whole country. 

 These caves themselves are among the most re- 

 markable curiosities in America. One of them was 

 descended, not long since, 400 feet below the sur- 

 face, and on the smooth limestone at the bottom 

 was found a stream of pure water, sufficient to turn 

 a mill. A cave on the Cumberland mountain has a 

 perpendicular descent, the bottom of which has not 

 yet been sounded. Some of these caves have been 

 explored for ten or twelve miles. They have 

 vaulted roofs of limestone, are frequently divided 

 into spacious apartments, and abound with nitrous 

 earth. They are so common that little attention 

 is paid to them. Caves, in comparison with which 

 the one so celebrated at Antiparos is but a slight 

 excavation, are too common, in Tennessee, to be 

 noticed. The climate of this state is generally de- 

 lightful. In West Tennessee, great quantities of 

 cotton are produced. In East Tennessee, the cli- 

 mate is well adapted to grazing, and produces all 

 kinds of grain and fruit which grow in the more 

 northern states. The outlets of commerce are the 

 noble rivers Cumberland and Tennessee ; and along 

 these the boats carry cotton, indigo, corn, whisky, 

 hogs, horses, cattle, flour, gunpowder, saltpetre, 

 poultry, bacon, lard, butter, apples, pork, coarse 

 linen, tobacco, and many other articles, which 

 are principally designed for the market of New Or- 

 leans. The southern parts of the state, adjoining 

 Alabama, will doubtless be connected by canals 

 with the rivers of Alabama, and thus save a great 

 extent of transportation. The principal rivers, the 

 Cumberland and Tennessee, are described in sepa- 

 rate articles. There are numerous others, which 

 flow into these or into the Mississippi. Nashville 

 and Knoxville are separately noticed. There are 

 numerous villages, which contain from 600 to 1800 

 inhabitants. A good description of the curiosities of 

 Tennessee would make a very interesting and useful 

 volume. " On some spurs of the Cumberland moun- 

 tains," says Mr Flint, " are marked, in solid lime- 

 stone, the footsteps of men, horses and other animals, 

 as fresh as if recently made, and as distinct as if im- 

 pressed upon clay mortar." Similar tracks were 

 found in a block of solid limestone, quarried on the 



margin of the Mississippi. Near the soutlu-in 

 boundary of the state are three trees entirely 

 petrified. One is a cypress, four feet in diameter ; 

 one a sycamore ; and the third a hickory. Prodi- 

 gious claws, teeth, and bones of animals are found 

 near the salines. Some of these bones are perfect, 

 and indicate an animal twenty feet high. A nest 

 of eggs of the wild turkey have been dug up in a 

 state of petrifaction. Walls of faced stone, and 

 even walled wells, have been found in many places, 

 which are undoubtedly the work of a remote 

 generation. In this state, as well as in Missouri, 

 are ancient burying grounds, where the skeletons 

 seem all to have been pigmies. Even the graves in 

 which the bodies are deposited are seldom more 

 than two, or two and a half feet long; and the 

 teeth show that these are skeletons of adults. 

 Jugs, vases, idols of clay, logs and coal, are dug 

 from great depths. Beautiful cascades, fulling from 

 200 to 400 feet, are seen in many places. On some 

 high and apparently inaccessible rocks, are numerous 

 paintings, the work of remote ages. They consist 

 of figures of the sun, moon, and various animals. 

 Some of the delineations are good, and the colours 

 are as fresh as if recently applied. The navigable 

 streams pass, for many miles, through chasms of lime- 

 stone, with perpendicular sides 300 or 400 feet high. 



There are three institutions in Tennessee that are 

 called colleges at Nashville, Marysville, and Knox- 

 ville. Only the first is flourishing, and of great im- 

 portance to the state. Academies and common 

 schools are increasing, but education is not yet in an 

 advanced state. 



The first permanent settlements of whites were 

 made in East Tennessee, in 1768 and 1769. The 

 settlers came from Virginia and North Carolina. 

 Most of the territory was then occupied by Chero- 

 kees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Shawnces; and 

 for many years the settlers were greatly annoyed 

 by them. The first permanent settlements in West 

 Tennessee were made in 1779. Here also the 

 Indians made a formidable resistance to the en- 

 croachments of the whites, and continued to annoy 

 them for many years. Very few, except of the 

 Chickaeaws, remain in Tennessee ; and their num- 

 bers have so diminished that they have ceased to 

 be formidable. The people of Tennessee are a 

 hardy, intelligent, and enterprising race, considering 

 the unsettled state in which their civil interests 

 were kept until the last twenty years. Though a 

 few scattering settlements preceded that period, 

 the building of fort Loudon, in East Tennessee 

 (1757), commenced the real colonization of the 

 country a colonization made in blood. A war 

 with the Cherokees broke out in 1759, and, in the 

 ensuing year, fort Loudon was taken, and the gar- 

 rison and inhabitants massacred. In 1761, colonel 

 Grant forced the Indians to a peace, and settlers 

 gradually entered Upper Tennessee. No real peace 

 could be maintained with the savages; nor were 

 the frontiers of Tennesse really safe until the close 

 of the revolutionary war. West Tennessee began 

 to be settled about the same period with East 

 Tennessee ; and the same causes of suffering and 

 retardation operated on both settlements. The 

 battle of King's mountain, October 7, 1780, gained 

 in great part, by the hardy riflemen of Tennessee 

 and Kentucky, gave them security against the 

 savages. Intestine violence, however, distracted 

 the country for several years. Between 1784 and 

 1789, attempts were made to form East Tennessee 

 into a separate state by the name of Frankland. In 



