ELISHA MITCHELL. 285 



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

 est, after which the ridge descends." This verbal account tal- 

 lies exactly 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 ob- 

 servation 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 ar- 

 rived 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 observations. 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 Ba- 

 kersville, including geological and botanical observations, were 

 published in the Raleigh Register of November 3, 1835. The 

 height of the mountain was calculated as compared with that 

 of Morganton, 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 allega- 

 tion 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 depot is really 1,169 

 feet high. This would make Prof. Mitchell's real measurement 

 6,677 f eet > nearly what he obtained (6,672 feet) in 1844. Prof. 

 Guyot, in 1856, obtained a height of 6,701 feet. 



Doubts afterward rose in Prof. Mitchell's mind whether the 

 peak he climbed in 1835 was tne true summit of the mountain. 

 A new measurement of Mount Washington had been made, 

 which seemed to add to its reported height and lift it above 

 Mitchell's Peak. Dr. Mitchell revisited the mountain in 1838, 

 and determined in 1844 to make a new survey and measure- 

 ment. He obtained a Gay Lussac mountain barometer from 

 Paris, took William Riddle as his guide, and, making Asheville 

 his base for comparison, found the height 6,672 feet. The 

 identity of the peak visited this time was afterward called in 



