3i6 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
foliage above your head as you wander along the 
woodland paths where brooks murmur among the 
ferns, and the rhododendrons are grown to trees. 
From Burnsville one can get to this fair, wild valley 
by following down the Little Crabtree Creek four or 
five miles to Micaville, a village that consists of a 
post-office and very little else. 
The Toe River throughout its course is famous 
for its floods, which may be why the South Toe Val- 
ley, which is quite wide in places, is so sparsely set- 
tled. But it is the North Toe that holds the prize 
record in this matter. After the memorable flood- 
year when Bakersville was so nearly washed away, 
one saw debris in the tree limbs some twenty-five or 
thirty feet above the level of the stream in the nar- 
row cut near Spruce Pine. Everything had given 
way before the fury of the waters, including the iron 
bridge that had recently been built across the 
troublesome stream. To have an iron bridge meant 
much to the people, you may be sure, and no doubt 
the story told was true of how they gathered to- 
gether on the riverbank and stood for hours watch- 
ing the bridge as the water rose and covered it, and 
how when at last it gave way and went with a crash 
downstream some of the watchers wrung their hands 
and wept. 
It is a memorable experience to cross the ford at 
Spruce Pine when the waters are up, as one dis- 
covered when, after waiting for days weather- 
bound at Marion, the chance came to ascend the 
mountains and attempt the ford. The road up the 
