128 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
gifts he succeeded. A man of sterling worth and 
honorable methods he developed the resources 
within his reach, finally becoming one of the fore- 
most merchants in the little community where the 
merchant was the man of importance. We are told 
that "traffic over the new road was immense, vast 
droves of horses, mules, cattle, and hogs being driven 
from the rich pasture lands of Tennessee and Ken- 
tucky to South Carolina and Georgia," in conse- 
quence of which "a large trade grew up at Asheville." 
At that time the present site of the city was owned 
entirely by James Patton and James M. Smith, the 
latter distinguished as being the first white child 
born in North Carolina west of the Blue Ridge. 
Only the site was there, however, not the city, for 
though we are assured that between 1805 and 1844 
Asheville had nearly doubled in size, we know that 
even so it contained less than a score of buildings, 
notable among which was a frame store building in 
South Main Street, owned by Mr. Montreville 
Patton. 
The older frame house, built by the elder Patton, 
was not to be eclipsed, however, for it became en- 
larged into the once famous " Eagle Hotel," with the 
distinction of being the first three-story building 
erected in that county so dear to the early settlers, 
and whose name was to give a new w^ord to the dic- 
tionary, and a new phrase to the political and lit- 
erary worlds. For although the county was named 
after Colonel Edward Buncombe, a brave officer in 
the American army, its notoriety is due to one of its 
