708 
FOREST AND: STREAM; 
[May 5, 1906. 

Rattlesnake Lodge represents what can be done 
with a few tools, patience and perseverance. The 
ax, cross-cut saw, broadax, level, chisel, throw, 
hammer, hand saw, hatchet and trowel were 
practically the only tools used. 
Land was cleared for garden, corn patch and 
grass land; trails are now building to the many 
scenic points in the neighborhood. 
The Lodge is now occupied for the second 
summer. Hot weather is unknown, the highest 
thermometer record being 78 degrees. Blankets 
are always needed at night, while few days go by 
that the large fireplace does not have a fire in it. 
Mosquitoes are unknown, and the elevation is too 
great for the other woods insects to be trouble- 
some. Wildcats and rattlesnakes are, however, 
abundant; chickens must be very carefully 
housed every night; wildcat tracks within a few 
hundred yards of the house are an every morning 
occurrence. One was trapped and kept a few 
weeks in confinement, a vicious, snarling brute, 
but eventually liberated. No hunting and no 
dogs are allowed, and as several thousand acres 
of adjoining property are also posted, the result 1s 
that small game is abundant. The idea is not to 
kill but to preserve. Wild turkeys, which a few 
years before were becoming scarce, are again ap- 
pearing. Streams are being restocked with trout. 
Rattlesnake Lodge was named from the pres- 
ence of the rattlers in the neighborhood. During 
the three years since the cabin was commenced, 
forty-one have been killed. The largest measured 
five feet eight inches, the average three feet four 
inches. Many of these snakes have been caught 
alive and kept for weeks, but of this another tale. 
The whole family ride horseback, even to the 
three and four-year-old babies. All ride astride, 
as is the only safe way to do in such a place, 
where the trails are narrow and frequently lo- 
cated on the precipitous sides of the steep moun- 
tains. 
Famed as she is for her beautiful scenery, 
Asheville has always looked to the Craggies for 
her best mountain views to be found within 
twenty miles of the city. Many visitors and 
campers have visited the top of Craggy, hereto- 
fore going either by the Weaverville or Bee Tree 
trail. The new route now building by Rattle- 
snake Lodge will shorten the distance from Ashe- 
ville to Craggy some five miles, and also open up 
what is recognized by all as the best views in this 
section. The trail has an abundance of water. At 
no place are springs over two miles apart. 
At Rattlesnake Lodge a good board shack with 
bunks and large fireplace has been built for the 
conveniences of trampers and campers. The pub- 
lic is always welcome to use this shack. 
The geological formation of the southern Ap- 
palachians is responsible for the fact that no nat- 
ural lakes exist in this entire section. While the 
White Mountains and Adirondacks have the ad- 
vantage over us there, we more than make up 

THE LITTLE SAVAGES AT RATTLESNAKE LODGE, i 
for the deficiency in the number of streams and 
variety of the flora. Beginning about the middle 
of May, when the large purple rhododendrons 
bloom, these mountains are a veritable flower 
garden the remainder of the summer, It is no 
uncommon sight from Rattlesnake Lodge, early 
in the summer, to see whole mountains appear 
purple and pink from the amount of rhododen- 
dron blooms upon them. “Pink beds” they are 
locally called. The azalea and kalmia abound 
everywhere, growing frequently to a remarkable 
size. As one ascends from the lower to the 
higher altitudes, he notices that the semi-tropical 
vegetation rapidly disappears, to be replaced by 
the growth which naturally thrives at about the 
latitude of Ohio and Pennsylvania. In western 
North Carolina an altitude of some 2,500 feet 
gives about the same season and forest growth 
as found in northern Ohio. At 4,000 feet the 
trees Giminish in size, new varieties, the hemlock, 
spruce, pine and smaller kinds taking the place 
of the oaks of the next lower group. Still higher 
the balsam fir occurs. 
The variety of bird life also changes con- 
stantly; the best point to study such being at 
4,000 or 4,500 feet. Last summer four pair of 
pewees built and reared their young in nests lo- 
cated on the logs under the porch roof of Rattle- 
snake Lodge. These birds frequently fly in one 
door and out at another. The robin redbreast, 
wood robin, jay, flicker, quail, ruffed grouse, wild 
turkey, cock of the woods, vireo, chewink, hawk, 
owl, buzzard, raven, crow, thrush, bullfinch, scar- 
let tanager, redbird, indigo bird, hummingbird, 

2 
\ “THE DEN, 
USED AS A SCHOOLROOM. 
wren, sparrow (but no English sparrows as yet) 
are all present in great numbers, while occasion- 
ally a mockingbird or some other straggler from 
either more northern or southern sections appears 
for a short time. 
At the elevation of 4,500 to 5,000 feet it is no 
uncommon thing in the southern Appalachian 
Mountains, for the clouds to envelop the moun- 
tain tops for days at a time. In this respect Rat- 
tlesnake Lodge is fortunately located, for, owing 
to the peculiar amphitheater-like formation of the 
location, or for some other reason unknown, it is 
very seldom that the clouds envelop the home 
site, although every morning the clouds boil up 
out of the valley like unto steam from a giant 
caldron. 
Much has been written of the people, who for 
generations have lived in these mountains, True, 
they are frequently illiterate, owing to the fact 
that their homes are remote and schools not 
available; great injustice has been done them, 
however, by many writers by comparing them 
with those who have had greater advantages in. 
the world, losing sight of the good qualities they 
possess and the fact that they are deserving of 
praise for what they do under the primitive and 
rugged life they live. In my experience they are 
honest and God-fearing and will always meet 
one more than half way. They are quick to re- 
sent an insult, sharp at a trade, appreciate a 
favor, and never forget a wrong. Treat them as 
man to man and no better friend could be found.. 
I have never hesitated, in any State in the Union, 
to approach a home in the backwoods, no matter 
how primitive it might be, expecting a welcome, 
good food and good beds if the premises indi- 
cated that the women folks loved flowers and 
the men loved dogs. This is peculiarly true in 
the mountains of western North Carolina. In- 
jure or abuse a mountain man’s dog and you 
might as well leave the country. Admire the flow- 
ers, and the best the house affords is yours. 
In the city we live and act as if our lives de- 
pended upon knowing what all the world is do- 
ing. If the mail is late we are cross, if our morn- 
ing Or evening paper does not appear, the day is 
started or ended wrong—we are after the al- 
mighty dollar and never at rest. But the woods! 
the woods! At Rattlesnake Lodge we forget that 
mail men exist; newspapers are good to wrap 
things in. but rarely have more than the head- 
lines read. It is early to bed and early to rise. 
We grow to know what is meant by that saying, 
“Our lives are full of troubles, most of which 
have never happened.” The woods! The woods! 
oh, that my children could grow up to combine 
the necessary knowledge of the world to be ac- 
quired only in cities and education, with the free- 
dom, the health, the strength, the self-reliance, 
the manhood and the knowledge of nature which 
can only be had in nature’s great university—for- 
est and stream. 
At Rattlesnake. Lodge our motto is: “Ride 
hard, shoot straight, strike from the shoulder, and 
tell the truth.” C. P. AMBLER, 
