Western Carolina University WCU University of North Carolina Asheville UNCA

Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (21) View all
University of North Carolina Asheville (6) View all
WCU - Great Smoky Mountains - A Park for America

Kephart's address before Bryson City Women's Club

items 4 of 6 items
  • wcu_great_smoky_mtns-10442.jpg
Copyright Download
Item 1 - Kephart's address before Bryson City Women's Club
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-10439.jpg

Kephart's address before Bryson City Women's Club

GSMNP_13150_30_01
Item 2 - Kephart's address before Bryson City Women's Club
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-10440.jpg

Kephart's address before Bryson City Women's Club

GSMNP_13150_30_02
Item 3 - Kephart's address before Bryson City Women's Club
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-10441.jpg

Kephart's address before Bryson City Women's Club

GSMNP_13150_30_03
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-10442.jpg

Kephart's address before Bryson City Women's Club

GSMNP_13150_30_04
Item 5 - Kephart's address before Bryson City Women's Club
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-10443.jpg

Kephart's address before Bryson City Women's Club

GSMNP_13150_30_05
Item 6 - Kephart's address before Bryson City Women's Club
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-10444.jpg

Kephart's address before Bryson City Women's Club

GSMNP_13150_30_06
Item
?

Item’s are ‘child’ level descriptions to ‘parent’ objects, (e.g. one page of a whole book).

  • _4_ h,,r*Xl 'it... De Soto's secretary, Ranjel, states that the same day after leaving Xuala they crossed "una sierra muy alta" (a very high mountain ridge), and that t.ie next day they descended U. a "sewana" (wide meadow bottom)_ through which a river flowed, .n tie. c _ osite direction from those they had previously followed. From Ain d.an^e of course, they guessed that teiey were on a branch of the great river Espiritu Santo as they called the Mississippi. /■°v^ ' This sounds as though tney'crassed the Blue Ridge through Htckorynut 3ap, went down the Cane Creek savannah to the French Bread, and here TbeireJ a river running "in the oppo3_ ■Qfe. direction." fc*v«, Rough Mountains Their way up the French Broad would! be comparatively easy as far as Rosman, but from that point onward they we** in a misze of wild and exceedingly rough mountains, where there could have been no trail fit for horses. In fact, ou>r early Indian traders, from 1670 to 1740, in Western North Carolina, had to_ transport their goods on the backs of Indian porters. It was not until 174U, exactly two centuries after De Soto's xaspek, '.hat the first trading path or Jo ■'■■ sisn was trimmed out by the Cherokees. j^.j The crossing of, the Balsam and Cowee mountains must have been a back_breaking, if not heart_breaking, task. And here the kidnapped Indian "queen," having led them into this trap, ran away, herself, leaving the white men to get out of the mess by their own wits, if they could. Well,, De Soto had come seeking j adventure, and now he was surel;, ^v/""_^ [finding it. \/\ ^(pW^ *There is an alternative route, thai |De Soto may have taken, provided Xuala was located on the headwaters of the Second Broad River or the Catawba, as may well have been the case. One of the main arteries of travel for the mountain Cherokees was the old Suwaii trail, which ran from the Kituwha country up the Swo.nnanoa River, through Swannanoa Gsp, and down to the Suwaii country (Xuala). The name Swannanoa, by the way, is simply tnfe. ! whit s' orounciation of Suwali_ ■ __■ . :, \WM I,: :_</':,/.. 7 «?_*« ., , ,_•<•_' , X* "__,. Nunna (Soo_wah_lee Nun_naw), meaning Suwaii trail. The chroniclers' account of their passage of the mountains corresponds exactly with the topography irom the head of the Broad or the Catawba, in the neighborhood of Marion, west through the Swan_ lianoa Gap, along tne "savana" or wide bottom from Black Mountain to cwannanoa station, and out to the jptfrfioto Jiioad, It. really fits this country better than it does around i.ienderscnvilie or Brevard,, where the river runs north. , The Swannanoa fiver does run toward the Mississippi and would naturally suggest it to Mb (Spaniards, who knew that their •lssipiritu Santo was not north, but west of them. The Main Trail As far back as we have any knowledge, there was a main trail from the mouth of Swannanoa up xiominy Creek, westward to tne present Waynesvilie, up through tne Balsam Gap, down sfeott's Creek, thence to Yvebster, to the_ Cowet Village (West's Mill), and South up the Tennessee river to Franklin and the Rabun Gap . This was the route taken in 1776, oy the first American expedition against the Cherokees, that of General Griffith Rutherford, who chose it because it was the best way for an army to go. Thenceforth it waa .mown as "■Rutherford's War Trace." It is shown on Royce's map. it iJe Soto followed this course, he came within tour miles of the present Swain county boundary, on Cowee Creek. < It is a more roundabout way than the one past Brevard and Highlands; but it may have b^en "the shortest way home" for him, because, oeing a regular r^u^e of travel, h:s men and horses could make better *ime over it. < ****** ^vti*i<t *_**** Jj aMvru&t, j
Object
?

Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).

Related items

Part of Collection

Great Smoky Mountains - A Park for America

This digital collection was created to contribute to the public's understanding of the forces and ideas that led to the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934. The most vi...

View collection Read introduction
panzoom image
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-10442.jpg