USA > Georgia > Statistics of the state of Georgia : including an account of its natural, civil, and ecclesiastical history ; together with a particular description of each county, notices of the manners and customs of its aboriginal tribes, and a correct map of the state > Part 49
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Jack's creek is celebrated for a battle fought, 21st of Sept., 1787, between the Indians, commanded by McGilvary, a half breed, and the whites, commanded by Col. Elijah Clarke. The force of the Indians amounted to 800, the Americans 200. The attack was made on the hill, three miles east of the spot upon which Monroe now stands, by Clarke, in three divisions. The battle commenced at 10 o'clock, and continued until sunset. The Indians were defeated, The Americans carried their dead about a mile into a branch, and there buried them among the canes ; from which circumstance the place has since been known by the name of " Dead Man's Branch."
NUMBER OF BAGS OF COTTON. - Four thousand bags of cotton are annually produced in this county.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTICE .- R. M. Echolls, President of the Senate, lived in this county. He died in Mexico, and his re- mains were brought to Walton, and buried at his homestead, one mile from Broken Arrow.
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WALTON COUNTY.
NAME .- This county was named after George Walton, whose history is full of interest, and affords proof that talents, joined with industry, may overcome all difficulties. Like many illustrious men who have adorned the annals of this and other countries, Mr. Walton owed the distinction to which he attained, to his own efforts. He was born in Frederick coun- ty, Virginia, in 1740, and received no other education except that which he acquired during the intervals of labour. He was apprenticed to learn the trade of a carpenter ; and such was his thirst for knowledge, that he collected lightwood during the day, by the light of which he would pursue his studies, his master not allowing him the use of a candle. After his ap- prenticeship had expired he removed to Georgia, and com- menced the study of the law in the office of Henry Young, Esq. About the time that he commenced practice, the colo- nies were contending against the tyranny of Great Britain, and Walton did not hesitate to advocate the cause of his in- jured country. In the first call, published in the Georgia Ga- zette, for a meeting of the friends of liberty, to be held at Ton- dee's tavern, 27th July, 1774, Mr. Walton's name first appears in the history of Georgia. At this meeting he acted a conspicuous part, encouraging by his eloquence resistance to the encroach- ments of the mother country. On the 12th of January, 1775, another meeting was held, and with great earnestness he en- deavoured to convince those who doubted the propriety of the measures which the other colonies had adopted, that fur- ther efforts to obtain a redress of grievances were wholly use- less, and that the time had arrived for immediate action. At this period he acquired the reputation of a determined patriot, and upon most of the important committees we find his name. In February, 1776, his talents and patriotism were recognised by the Legislature, by appointing him a delegate to Congress, the duties of which he discharged with great fidelity. Between February and June of this year, he appears to have been in Virginia, exerting himself in behalf of his country. The following letter to Col. Lachlan McIntosh, dated Williams- burgh, 11th June, 1776, will give an idea of his determined spirit : " The time and place whence this letter is about to be wrote, I don't doubt will astonish you ; but know that I have
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been persecuted sorely with an inward fever, ever since I left the salubrious plains of Georgia. I can inform you, however, that I am not too late for the great American question. Vir- ginia is with one consent determined never to be reconciled to her cruel parent, and to this end all her preparations and pro- ceedings look forward to the latest posterity. Oh, America ! did this happy spirit equally animate all thy sons, the inhabit- ants of all Europe transformed into devils could not hurt thee. They have in this dominion nine regiments of as fine fellows as ever vaunted in the field of Mars, besides a number of row- galleys, and six troops of horse ; but I have not seen any troops equal in point of discipline to the Georgia battalion. May Heaven animate and direct the counsels of that infant State ! Desirous for the success of your recruiting officers, I found it eligible and necessary to wait on the Convention of this colony, as I found it customary to apply for leave to re- cruit men for any service here. Accordingly, I came to this place, and found the Convention sitting, to whom I made ap- plication to recruit 300 men for your battalion, which was readily granted, together with the loan of a sum of money. You may be assured, that the number of men you have order- ed will be enlisted, and on their march to Georgia in two months." Mr. Walton was six times elected a representative to Congress, and the journals of that body show his high standing. His name is affixed to the Declaration of American Independence. When Savannah was taken by the British troops under Col. Campbell, he commanded a battalion on the right of General Howe's army. In this battle he was wound- ed and taken prisoner. He was paroled until he recovered from his wound, and then transferred to Sunbury, as a prisoner of war. In 1779 he was exchanged, and in October, 1779, he was elected Governor of the State of Georgia. Many other important offices were conferred upon him, among which was that of Judge of the Superior Court, the duties of which he dis- charged for fifteen years, and until the day of his death, which took place in Augusta, February 2d, 1801. Mr. Walton, in a letter which he wrote from Congress, complains " that for want of information, the deeds of Georgia are given to others." He seriously contemplated writing the History of Georgia
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WALKER COUNTY.
In the prosperity of the State he took a great interest, and in his charges to the grand jurors, always dilated with consider- able emphasis upon the high destiny which awaited our State.
WALKER.
BOUNDARIES, EXTENT .- This county is bounded N. by Tennessee ; S. by Chattooga ; E. by Murray ; W. by Dade and Alabama. Laid out from Murray, and organized in 1833.
POST OFFICES .- La Fayette, Medicinal Springs, Chestnut Flat, Ringold, Frick's Gap, Rock Springs, Rossville, Snow Hill, Villanow, Wood's Station, Duck Creek.
POPULATION, TAXES, REPRESENTATION .-- The census of 1845 gave to this county 7,023 whites, 1,044 blacks ; total, 8,067. State tax returned for 1848, $1,939 82. Entitled to one representative.
RIVERS, CREEKS .- East and West Chicamauga rivers dis- charge their waters into the Tennessee. The creeks are Pea- vine, Rocky, Snake, &c.
MINERAL SPRINGS, PONDS .- No section is favoured with a greater variety of excellent springs than this county. The me- dicinal springs owned by Rev. Z. Gordon, are among the most celebrated. They are situated at the base of Taylor's Ridge. There are twenty springs within the space of half a mile, pos- sessing different properties ; but the main springs are twelve in number, in a space less than a quarter of an acre. Two of them are chalybeate, two sulphur, and two magnesia. The most astonishing cures have been effected by the use of the waters. Among the Indians, the reputation of these springs was very great, and from three to four hundred were annually in the habit of visiting them to partake of their healing virtues. About one mile from the springs, Mr. Gordon has cut down the trees from a beautiful eminence of Taylor's Ridge, and named it Buena Vista, from which the eye feasts itself with the most magnificent views of mountain scenery. On
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the east may be seen Lady's Peak, John's Mountain, Mill Creek Mountain, Cohuttah Mountains, Unicoy on the north, Frog Mountain, and Smoky Mountains in North Carolina. On the north and northwest, Cumberland Mountains, Walden's Ridge, Racoon and Great Lookout Mountain-and on the south- west, the Sand Mountains in Alabama. He who desires to study nature, can here do it to the greatest advantage. Mr. Gordon's establishment bids fair to be among the most fashion- able watering places in Georgia.
The Red Sulphur Springs, a mile and a half from the Western and Atlantic Railroad, are thus described by a cor- respondent of the Georgia Messenger and Journal, published at Macon :-
" Imagine to yourselves an elevated cove, or basin, in the Blue Ridge, surrounded almost entirely by towering eminences. From the eastern slope, a bold, clear brook comes tumbling into the valley, and passes rapidly westward until it escapes between two abrupt mountain peaks, and dashes for half a mile over rocky barriers, into a branch of the Chicamauga. On the borders of this brook, and in the centre of this basin, which I shall designate 'The Vale of Springs,' there is a level spot about two acres in extent, within the limits of which I have counted no less than fifty-two distinct, bold, and well defined springs. It is not unusual to find these springs pos- sessing entirely different mineral qualities, within a few feet of each other. The waters are strongly mineral-so much so as scarcely to require the trouble of an analysis to discover their distinctive characteristics. We have here the red, the white, and the black sulphur, iron, magnesia, and the salts, in all their various combinations. The deposits from the red sulphur are of the most beautiful bright carmine tinge, and those of the other springs are equally distinctive. On the north side of the valley, there is a large, bold, blue limestone spring, and within less than fifty yards of this, a fountain of the purest freestone water gushes forth. It is almost impossible for the mind to conceive a class of disease, or a condition of the hu- man system, to which some of these waters are not adapted.
" All these springs seem to issue either from the mountain side, upon a bed of hard, black slate, or boil up through the
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WALKER COUNTY.
slate. They are perennial; the most severe and continued droughts make no perceptible difference in the quantity of water which they discharge. The layers of slate seem to stand almost perpendicularly, and terminate abruptly near the west end of the valley, in a kind of barrier or dam, immediately adjoining which, may be found a formation of beautiful white sandstone. Upon the slate formation in the north side of the valley are found black and variegated marble, and blue limestone in small quantities. I cannot doubt that the curious and scientific will find much in this ' Vale of Springs' to attract their attention and elicit their investigations. To the seeker after pleasure and of health, they cannot fail to become a favourite resort. The approach from the railroad can be easily made over a level and delightfully shaded road, not more than a mile and three quarters in length. The scenery immediately around the springs is rather of the calm and quiet order, but a walk of half a mile up the mountain side, will afford the visiter a delightful view of a highly picturesque and romantic region, embracing many a mountain height and fer- tile valley.
" The location for the buildings is as beautiful and as con- venient as the most tasteful or the most fastidious could de- sire. The country around is protected by its native forests. The atmosphere is pure, dry, and bracing, and entirely free from disease, or from any cause which could produce it.
" Immediately in the rear of the springs there are two beautiful mountain peaks, from the summits of which visiters might enjoy an extensive prospect of the surrounding country. To the summit of the eastern peak a carriage road could be constructed at comparatively little expense. They are so convenient to the proposed building site, that the ascent to the top of either would not consume over twenty-five or thirty minutes.
The Sand Mountain on the north side, distant about a mile and a half, is well worth a visit, and its summit is destined to be the goal of many a pilgrimage from these springs in future days. It rises probably 1800 feet above the valley-is wholly isolated, nearly circular, and is entirely surrounded by Tiger
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WALKER COUNTY.
creek or its tributaries, which meander through a broad and very fertile valley. The ascent is easy on the south side, where a good road could be made. On all other sides, the brow is surrounded by a perpendicular wall of white sandstone, often 100 feet high. The summit, for nearly 200 acres in ex- tent, is nearly level, and heavily timbered with oak, hickory, pine, and the usual growth of the valleys. The soil is very rich and light, and nearly resembles the alluvial sands on a river bank. On the centre of this plain is another of about 12 acres in extent, and 200 feet high. This is also remarkable for the fertility of its soil, and is crowned with immense forest trees. Here, too, in places, may be seen immense walls of sandstone, which look as if they had for ages been washed by the ocean's surges. On the extreme summit, and near the eastern side, may be seen the 'Giant's Tomb.' It consists of an immense block of ' Pudding Stone,' which rests upon a smaller mass of ' White Sandstone.' 1 have no doubt that, at no very distant day, the enterprising proprietor of the springs will cause a carriage road to be constructed to the summit of this mountain, whither both the gallant and the fair will resort to catch the invigorating mountain breezes, and gaze over the vast expanse of field and forest, of valley and mountain, which will thus be brought within their view.
" Taking every thing into consideration, I know of no spot on the wide earth for which nature has done more than for this beautiful ' Vale of Springs.' The waters are indeed ' waters of life' -- life-restoring and life-preserving. They were the favourite resorts of the Indians, who upon leaving the country endeavoured to destroy them, by driving plugs of wood into the apertures in the slate. Some of these, in a re- cent examination of the springs, were found to be completely petrified. They cannot fail, with proper accommodations, to attract annually thousands of visiters.
Yates Springs, five miles from the Medicinal Springs, gush from a beautiful hill.
Crayfish Spring is twelve miles from the Medicinal Springs. Here is water as fine as ever gushed from rock. In depth it is 15 feet, and 200 feet wide.
There is a pond in Chattooga Valley, called the Round
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WALKER COUNTY.
Pond. It embraces four or five acres, 48 feet deep in the middle, of a sea-green colour. Distant from La Fayette four miles. ' Tradition says two Indians were drowned in this pond. There is no visible outlet, and the water never be- comes stagnant. Long Pond is a beautiful sheet of water, famous for excellent fish.
EARLY SETTLERS .- This county was first settled by per- sons from Tennessee and different parts of Georgia. Mr. Williams and Mr. Harlin were among the first settlers.
CLIMATE, DISEASES, LONGEVITY .- Walker may be put down as a healthy county, although chills and fevers prevail on the waters of Chicamauga. A curious disease, called Milk Sick, prevails in McAlmore's Cove, which embraces 10,000 acres, situated between Pigeon and Lookout mountains. The following account of this disease is taken from Dr. Samuel Henry Dickson's " Practice of Medicine :"-
"It is known exclusively in the southern and southwes- tern parts of our Union. The fertile coves, or deep valleys, among the mountains of South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia, are subject to this singular malady ; neither the nature nor the cause of which are clearly set forth in the few monographs which have appeared in the journals concerning it. Some attribute it to the ordinary malaria, which before and since the time of McCul- loch has been supposed capable of originating every malady in the long catalogue of nosologists. Others again have ascribed it to some unknown and undiscovered vegetable poison, con- fined in its growth to the spots above alluded to. Others still look upon it, reasoning from analogies of symptoms, upon which they found their opinion, as the effect of mineral exhalations ; perhaps of lead, antimony, or arsenic. Whatever be the cause which gives rise to it, in the lower classes of animals, it would seem that it never affects directly the human subject. Man is not attacked by the disease unless after eating the flesh of herbivorous animals exposed to receive it, or using the milk or butter obtained from them. Other carnivorous animals are liable to be attacked in the same way if they eat of the dis- eased flesh. The cow and horse are most frequently its vic- tims. It derives its name from the fact, that as occurring in
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the human subject, it is most frequently met with as the con- sequence of eating milk rendered poisonous by the diseased condition of the cow from which it was taken. Butter made from such milk is still more acrid, and the flesh of the animal, even when cooked, more strongly poisonous. It is fortunate that the localities in which it resides are capable of being defined accurately. Such places are carefully fenced in from the intrusion of cattle. If animals be kept within their enclo- sures until late in the forenoon, when the dew has entirely exhaled, and driven home again early in the evening, it is said they escape injury, even although allowed to feed within the known localities of this poison. It usually affects animals as a chronic disease, and they may not appear in any way to be suf- fering from ill-health ; but it sometimes attacks them with great violence, and rapidly proves fatal. Languor and lassitude are among the earliest symptoms of the attack, soon followed by nausea and vomiting, with great oppression at the epigas- trium, and pain with a sense of heat and burning in the sto- mach. The thirst is great, the skin soon becomes hot and dry, the eyes are red and suffused, and, as some say, a peculiar odour is exhaled from its surface. The pulse is little changed from its ordinary condition ; patients recover slowly and im- perfectly."
The instances of longevity, are Mr. Farris, over 90; Mrs. Tift, over 92; Mrs. Graham, over 80, and others.
RELIGIOUS SECTS, EDUCATION .- The principal sects are Baptists of both sorts, Methodists, Presbyterians, Reformed Presbyterians, Bible Christians, Universalists, and a few Ro- man Catholics. There are good schools in this county. The people generally are ambitious to have their children educated.
CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE, AMUSEMENTS .- The people are moral and industrious. They are remarkably attached to their home, and consider Walker county as the garden spot of Georgia. The amusements are hunting and fishing.
ROADS AND BRIDGES .- The roads in the valleys are fair, but generally much cannot be said in favour of the roads. There are two or three bridges over the Chicamauga river.
MINERALS .- Excellent marble and coal are found on the
38
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WALKER COUNTY.
western limits of the county ; quantities of lead, particularly near Ringold, and almost every mineral found in limestone for- mations. In the vicinity of Gordon's springs, near the Red Sulphur springs, and on Col. Ramsey's plantation, and indeed in almost every section of this county, the geologist will find much to interest him in the fossil remains which he meets with at almost every step. Very recently a bed of gypsum has been discovered near Ringold.
CAVES .- Walker has many caves. The most remarkable is Wilson's cave, of which the following description is taken from Sears's Wonders of the World :
" Upon the representation of the citizens of Lafayette, a small but growing village, in the county of Walker, Georgia, my attention was drawn to a subterranean cavern, five or six miles from the above-named village ; and being rather an ad- mirer of the works of nature, curiosity prompted me, accom- panied by five or six others, to visit it.
" The company being met, with lighted torches we entered the cave, through a small aperture, descending a flight of natural stairs almost perpendicularly, some ten or twelve feet. The company having all got down safe, I could not avoid, in an ecstasy of admiration and wonder, exclaiming, "O Lord God Almighty, how wonderful are all thy works !" for we were then shown the grandest and most magnificent room that I have ever beheld, formed on each side with the utmost regu- larity, and ceiled overhead with a perfectly smooth surface ; and being desirous of viewing as minutely as we could, from the amplitude of this anomaly of nature, its various curiosities, we raised a considerable light, and illuminated the room as far as we could by the means we had, when we discovered that an almost infinite number of stalactites had been formed by the almost continual dripping of the water, resembling in size and appearance various animal bodies.
" Being some what satisfied with our examination of this apartment, with our hearts glowing with wonder, love and praise to the Architect of Nature, we moved slowly and rather pensively along this solitary and hitherto unexplored mansion, through devious wiles of " incognita loca," in quest of new discoveries.
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" Having reached the extreme end of this spacious dome, we found that to proceed farther, we had to ascend stupendous and almost inaccessible heights, over craggy precipices and yawn- ing gulfs, to the height of some fifty or sixty feet, when, by the dim light of our tapers, we discovered through a small open- ing another room less spacious, but far more beautiful and picturesque ;- for there appeared to the astonished beholder not only the representation of a part of the animal creation, but a true delineation of a great number of inanimate objects, such as cones, altars, pyramids, tables, candle-stands, with a fac simile of some of nature's choicest productions ; and it really appeared as if she, in her wild and playful moments, had in- tended to mock the curiosities of art. While gazing in dumb astonishment upon this delightful scenery, I was roused from my agreeable revery by a hollow and reverberating sound, produced by one of the company, who being of a bold and adventurous spirit, had gone unobserved into a remote part of the room, and beat with a stick, or something else which he held in his hand, several tabular spars, which echoed through this solitary mansion with almost deafening reverberations, which, by the association of ideas, reminded me in some de- gree of the masticating clangour of the supper bell."
MOUNTAINS .- Walker is a region of mountains which ge- nerally run from northeast to southwest. Their names are Taylor's Ridge, John's, Pigeon, Lookout, and White Oak mountains.
VALLEYS .- Dogwood valley is between John's mountain and Taylor's ridge. Armucha valley is between John's moun- tain and two ridges of Taylor's mountain. Middle Chica- mauga is between Pea Vine ridge and Taylor's ridge. West Chicamauga is between Lookout and Pigeon mountain. Cray- fish valley is between Pigeon mountain and Crayfish ridge.
MARKETS .- Planters send their produce to Augusta and Macon.
MANUFACTURES, MILLS. - Although the water power of this county is excellent, the citizens have not yet turned their attention to cotton factories. Twelve months since there were in the county 12 saw-mills and 12 grist-mills ; and the pro- bability is great, that the number has been augmented since
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WALKER COUNTY.
that time. There are three or four excellent flour-mills, of which McCulloch's is the most celebrated. There are six dis- tilleries in the county.
VALUE OF TOWN LOTS, &c .- The value of town lots is $24,298. Value of stock in trade, $18,844. Money at in- terest, $6,960.
NATURE OF THE SOIL, VALUE OF LAND .- A great diver- sity of soil exists in this county. The first quality is alluvial, on the bottoms of the streams, of a dark chocolate colour, adapted to corn, wheat, rye, oats, and potatoes ; average value, $15 per acre. The second quality are the valley lands, gray and dark soil, adapted to corn and cotton ; average value $7 per acre. The third quality are the lands lying between the valleys, called ridge lands; average value $1 per acre. The fourth quality embrace the mountain lands, worth 25 cents per acre, fit for grazing, and finely timbered.
TOWNS. - Lafayette is the capital, beautifully situated, having a court-house built at the expense of $7,000 ; a jail, two churches, Baptist and Methodist, each having a bell; two hotels, six stores, four groceries, three tailors, two blacksmiths, one shoe shop, one saddlery, two cabinet-makers, six carpen- ters, two bricklayers, one tanner, six or seven lawyers, three doctors, and one academy. Distant from Milledgeville 210 miles, from Summerville 18, from Chattanooga 24, from the Medicinal Springs 10, from the nearest point on the State road 21; from Pigeon mountain 22, and 12 from the Lookout mountain. It is considered a healthy town. The water is excellent, and the scenery around it, is grand beyond descrip- tion. Several intelligent gentlemen reside in this town, and take much pleasure in showing visiters the curiosities of the country. This place was formerly called Chattooga, but in 1836 the name was changed to that of Lafayette.
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