Departure from Jonesborough for Morganton in North Carolina.—Journey over Iron Mountains.—Sojourn on the mountains.—Journey over the Blue Ridges and Linneville Mountains.—Arrival at Morganton.
On the 21st of September 1802 I set out from Jonesborough to cross the Alleghanies for North Carolina. About nine miles from Jonesborough the road divides into two branches, which unite again fifty-six miles beyond the mountains. The left, which is principally for carriages, cuts through Yellow Mountain, and the other through Iron {252} Mountain. I took the latter, as I had been informed it was much the shortest. I only made nineteen miles that day, and put up at one Cayerd's at the Limestone Cove, where I arrived benumbed with cold by the thick fog that reigns almost habitually in the vallies of these enormous mountains.
Seven miles on this side Cayerd's plantation, the road, or rather the path, begins to be so little cut that one can scarce discern the track for plants of all kinds that cover the superficies of it; it is also encumbered by forests of rhododendrum, shrubs from eighteen to twenty feet in height, the branches of which, twisting and interwoven with each other, impede the traveller every moment, insomuch that he is obliged to use an axe to clear his way. The torrents that we had continually to cross added to the difficulty and danger of the journey, the horses being exposed to fall on account of the loose round flints, concealed by the ebullition of the waters with which the bottom of these torrents are filled.
I had the day following twenty-three miles to {253} make without meeting with the least kind of a plantation.
