HABERSHAM COUNTY. 301 



three churches, Methodist, Episcopal, and Presbyterian ; and 

 a Baptist church will soon be erected. The hotels are three 

 in number, and understand the art of making travellers com- 

 fortable. This town, named after Governor John Clarke, 

 was incorporated, and made the county site in 1823. Distant 

 136 miles N. of Milledgeville, 58 from Athens, 50 from Pen- 

 dleton, South Carolina; 12 from Tallulah Falls, 28 from Gaines- 

 ville, and 24 from Clayton. 



Loudsville is in the western part of the county, 13 miles 

 N. E. of Dahlonega, and 21 from Clarkesville, surrounded by 

 mountains, and amidst the gold region. The place has been 

 settled IG years, has one store, school, and a church belonging 

 to the Methodists. 



Mount Yonah is east of Dahlonega ; has three stores, one 

 blacksmith's shop, one tailor, one hotel, one distillery, one 

 school and church. Population about 70. 



Nacoochee Valley, situated 12 miles N. W. of Clarkesville, 

 has three stores, one hotel, one church, arid several mechanics' 

 shops. The valley is about eight miles long and about half a 

 mile wide. It is one among the most beautiful valleys in the 

 world. The land is productive, rewarding the farmer with 

 liberal crops of corn, wheat, &c. More than 1,200,000 dollars 

 worth of gold has been found in this valley. 



Mountains. — Yonah, Ellick's, Sail's, Skitt's, Tray, and Cur- 

 rahee. The latter deserves special notice. It rises gradually in 

 a conical form until it reaches an elevation of 900 feet. On 

 the east it sinks completely to the usual level of the land ; but, 

 on the western side, after descending for many hundred feet, 

 it blends with a ridge that unites it with the chain of the Al- 

 leghanies. 



Falls. — The celebrated falls of Tallulah are in this county, 

 and all who have visited them unite in saying that they merit 

 a high place among the natural curiosities of the United States. 

 The following account of these falls is from the pen of David P. 

 Hillhouse, Esq.: " The stream is, by the Cherokee Indians, called 

 in some places Tarrurah, at other places Tallulah. It is the 

 western branch of the Tugaloo river, and the rapids are situ- 

 ated about ten miles above its junction with the Chattooga, 

 which is the eastern branch of the Tugaloo. The rapids are 

 20 



