PHYSIOGRAPHIC INFLUENCES IN TENNESSEE. 



45 



feet in parts of the course. From these ridges on the boundary line 

 numerous spurs project westward, in some places for a distance of 10 to 

 20 miles into the State of Tennessee. These spurs are separated usually 

 by steep, narrow valleys, many of which end in secluded coves well hid- 

 ren among the ridges. The region as a whole is a great barrier that 

 has always limited or prevented communication across it, save in certain 

 favorable places. 



History. The first whites to enter the State from North Carolina were 

 hunters who followed the buffalo and Indian trails across these mountains 

 into East Tennessee. Somewhat later, as settlers began to follow the 

 hunters and explorers, these trails became the routes by which they, with 



FIG. 1. Typical view across the Great Valley of East Tennessee near Jonesboro. 

 Unaka Mountains in the distance. 



their pack horses, crossed the mountains, and until near the close of the 

 eighteenth century they were the only lines of communication with North 

 Carolina. Just before the close of the eighteenth century a wagon road 

 was built down the French Broad River, which cuts across this wall of 

 mountains in a deep, narrow gorge. Since then a few other highways 

 have been constructed across these boundary ridges, but they are usually 

 steep and rough and difficult to travel, and are not greatly used. A num- 

 ber of rivers rise in western North Carolina and flow westward across 

 these high ridges in deep and narrow gorges that are usually so rough 

 and wild that they have generally been avoided by the few highways that 



