SwANTON] INDIANS OP THE SOUTHEASTEiRN UNITED STATES 47 



as one of those which flowed "into the Bay of Chuse," i. e., Mobile Bay 

 or Pensacola. Now, the only head stream of the Tennessee which 

 lay squarely in the path of the Spaniards was the Little Tennessee. 

 Ranjel's language makes it clear that they crossed this at some point 

 where it appeared to be a considerable river and this would not be 

 the case far above Franklin, N. C. The sensible thing for them to 

 do would have been to travel west from Towns Hill to Stekoa Creek and 

 then north through Rabun Gap, but in that case there would have 

 been no occasion to cross the Little Tennessee at all except near its 

 head where they could almost have jumped it. Nor would they in 

 passing up War Woman Creek have been obliged to cross "a very 

 high range." It is evident, therefore, that they must have crossed to 

 the neighborhood of Franklin by what is called the Winding Stair 

 Trail, which crosses the Chattooga at Burrells Ford and passes through 

 Victoria or Horse Cove and Highlands and down along Cullasaja 

 Creek. However, it seems that there was another trail passing Chat- 

 tooga Eiver at Nicholas Ford, ascending the West Branch of that 

 river and going down to the Little Tennessee by way of the Tessuntee. 

 Near the Little Tennessee their royal hostage gave them the slip, 

 and, to their still greater regret, carried off with her a box of un- 

 bored pearls. On May 28 they left this river and spent the night in 

 an oak wood, and the night following by "a large stream which 

 they crossed many times." Early on the following day they reached 

 a town of considerable importance called Guasili. Next morning. 

 May 31, they set out from Guasili and again spent the night in an 

 oak wood. The day after, June 1, they passed a place called Cana- 

 soga and slept in the open country beyond. The fact that for 

 much of this time they were following a river and presently camped 

 near a town called Canasoga gives a clue to the course they were 

 pursuing, for the Hiwassee, flowing west into the Tennessee, lies di- 

 rectly west of Franklin, and just below the point where it emerges 

 from the mountains into the Tennessee Valley it receives a stream 

 called Cannasauga. It seems evident that the Spaniards climbed the 

 mountains west of Franklin along the valley of Cartogechaye 

 Creek on what was afterward known as the Macon Trail, and de- 

 scended into the valley of Shooting Creek, which they followed to 

 the Hiwassee. The well-known town site at the mouth of Peachtree 

 Creek, where a mound of considerable size was excavated under the 

 Civil Works Administration, between December 21, 1933, and April 

 1, 1934,2 corresponds excellently with the location of Guasili. The 

 canyon of Hiwassee River would have presented some difficulties to 

 the progress of the army, but none greater than those they had 

 already encountered. It is furthermore significant that there is no 



2 The report of the results of this work is contained in Setzler and Jennings (1941). 



