48 



RESOURCES OF TENNESSEE. 



ton, or the Louisville and Nashville from Knoxville to Dossett, either 

 make extensive detours in threading their way through the gaps of suc- 

 cessive ridges, or resort to long and expensive tunnels where they attempt 

 to go direct. 



FIG. 2. View from the east side of Missionary Ridge. From one mile sout 

 the Southern Railway tunnel, looking north. 



Early settlement. The first settlers in the Great Valley entered it from 

 Virginia and settled along the main streams, such as the Watauga, the 

 Holston and the Clinch, possibly because the river flood plains were con- 

 sidered more fertile than the uplands. Fish and game may have been 

 additional inducements. The early towns in the region were built on the 

 uplands away from the streams where these were too small for navigation, 

 but on the streams where they were large enough to float the flat-bottomed 

 boats then in use. Greeneville and Jonesboro, for example, were founded 

 on interstream areas, while Kingsport, Knoxville and Kingston, not to 

 mention others, were built on rivers where navigation was possible. 



In the larger valleys, farms of large size were possible, and in some 

 places slave owning became profitable. In most places, however, the 

 ridge and valley topography was unfavorable to the development of large 

 land, holdings and of plantation life, and smaller farms became the rule. 



