46 RESOURCES OF TENNESSEE. 



also cross them. The road down the Nolichucky River leaves the river 

 before it enters the gorge in the Unaka Mountains, and crosses through 

 Indian Grave Gap at an elevation of over 3,200 feet. The roads down the 

 Big Pigeon, the Little Tennessee and the Hiwassee, likewise leave the 

 rivers and climb across the high ridges on the State line. The only ave- 

 nues for railway communication from North Carolina to Tennessee are 

 along the river gorges that are cut through the mountains. The first 

 railway to cross this eastern boundary \vas the one down the French 

 Broad River from Asheville to Morristown, and for years it was the only 

 railway that made the crossing. More recently a railway has been built 

 along the Doe River into, but not entirely across, the western North Caro- 

 lina mountain belt ; another has been built through the gorge of the Noli- 

 chucky ; another up the Big Pigeon ; and another is slowly building up the 

 Little Tennessee. In addition to these, a number of lumber lines have 

 crept from the Great Valley eastward up into the coves. These must 

 either be abandoned when the timber is removed or must remain as local 

 spurlines, since none of them can possibly cross the mountains, except by 

 constructing tunnels whose length and cost would be prohibitive for the 

 amount of traffic they would probably develop. 



Barrier effect. The effect of these mountains has been and must always 

 be to separate the people on either side. They are a very effective barrier 

 and in the early days lead to isolation and neglect on the part of the North 

 Carolina government, for the people who had settled in what was then 

 its western portion. This condition culminated in the virtual secession of 

 the East Tennessee settlers and the formation by them of the short-lived, 

 independent state of Franklin. Today while the few roads and several 

 railroads that cross the region permit a certain amount of communication, 

 it is still true that the main line of travel and of trade is not east and 

 west across these mountains, but is northeast and southwest in a direction 

 parallel to them. The Southern Railway, that formerly ran its best trains 

 from Knoxville east to Washington by way of Asheville, now runs them 

 north by Bristol, even though it has to use the tracks of another railway 

 system from Bristol to Lynchburg in order to utilize this better route. 



These mountains exert a very definite and positive influence upon the 

 few settlers who are living among them. Those in the more remote coves 

 are isolated, enjoy few opportunities for schools and churches, mingle 

 but little with the rest of the world, and in general have a greatly nar- 

 rowed horizon, Under such circumstances old social customs and forms 

 of speech, as well as old political and religious beliefs, are preserved long 

 after they have passed away in more progressive communities. Indeed,. 



