- J II - MWJ VfcJrf.X
rV. J. Morgan, Native of
' Llaccn, UnsartHcd Val
uable klnfonnaticn Harv:
ard Scat Professor to
" Investigate.
More than 3400 years ago, when
Rsmeses JII was the Egyptian fhai
aohi before the exothis of Israel from
lEgypt, more, than 300' years before
;the Trojan War, and at. a time, an-
tedating the laying of the foun
dations of Thebes or Ilium of Greece;
an aboriginal, tribe is believed to have1
i occupied the:. valley of , the Little Ten-
i nessee river ' in Macon county , and in
Rabun county, Georgia. ,
Tins is according to W. ' J. ?Morgaj
Btqdeot pf Archeology and lndiaij
1 lore, who -.suits that he hs unearth?
edifvidcnce that human lief existed
iini4ftis region Ibe-tweerr J3200 nd 480Q
, yeTS-.a;go. The r tribe was idistinaly
; pigmkivc; had never 'learned to make
ev-Vthc . crudest pottery, .and 'instead
thtjpX, shaped the yellow quartz of
; ttp? t region into the few crude .weapons
it-4jja learned to. make.
yWt Morgan, who bas written a
sqries of . Indian .articles .appearing
in n"he Press states that on the
Nantahala river he dug out -a cliff
shelter 15 years ago that showed ev
idence of having . been occupied by
three different races. The shelter-was
:2436 feet. At a depth of three
! feet indications of occupancy by mem
bcrs 4i the oldest of the three races
were found. These had left -yellow
quartz implements but no pottery. .
The second layer revealed stone im
iplements and thin pottery. From this
layer Mr. Morgan removed- a .stone
'tortoise, the sire of a silver dollar,
which was sent -'to the department
of archeology at Harvard. It was al
most perfect in detail andj proportion,
and is believed by Mr. Morgan to
' have been a totem.
The tojj layer was not more than
"two inches below the. surface of . the
dirt. In it were the, .'usual 'imple
ments used by the. Chtrokees, inrlud-
mg a great amount , ot stamped , pot
tery, The Chcrokees, stated "Mr."
Morgan, always, baked their pottery
StampWn'T'rrt'Tt'n vxatvrk
A great miny bones - were found id
- eluding the - bones of deer, tortoise
and drum fish.
A report of this i finding was sent
: to the ..Harvard department ; of arch
eology, but :'the information was not
. rrpfHtnd an . rrliable . bv -the Harvard
professors. Accordingly, 1 Jr. , Charley
F.-PeabodyJ: head of the department,
. was sent - to , Macon county to in
vestigate. He accompanied Mr. Mor-1
gan to the cliff shelter where the re
ports were rhecked and found Ao be
authentic. J r. Peabody spent some
time here with Mr. Morgan during
3916 - in archcological research in the
fascinating Nantahala country.
' It ha bc"i more than ' forty years
-since Mr. Morgan first became in
terested in Th- study of Indian ' relics
: and the hirtory of 'the native Cher
okee.
""Befn-c ! v;as 10 years old, any
kind of , pretty rock or Indian im
plement fasrinrtcd me," he stated.
"I read evervthintr on the Indian that
II -could obtain. Since beginning the
work, which I have merely followed
.as an avorn?ir:i. I ' have spent time
and many hundreds of dollars on "in
vestigntion in his section. Nonr rf
'the work ha been profitable, but is
"fascinating nnd delightful.
'"The Indian mound at' 'Franklin,
lor insiam c.is miv oi -.
known of the Cherokee remains
is at let (M) vcars dd, ossibiy
1200 or 1500 vears old. It .was com
meneed in a small wav. and to this
small beeinninjr the Indians adde(
from time to time. It was probably
a long while in the course of con
struction. The Cherokee could be
come highly, enthusiastic, but his ardor
did not last over a long period. For
; this reason, it is not probable that
thi mound was constructed without
interruption."
- 5The mound at Franklin, . Mr. Morg
:an believes, should be taken over
by the town or state for care and
.preservation. A person could come
i i t r-
; to Aiacon, re poinrea om, purcnasc
i the mound and have it leveled to the
ground in search; of Indian relics and
remains before any steps jcould be
taker! " to have him stopped.
IThe state forester, J. S Holmes, re-
eently asked Mr. Morgan what he
? thought of the plan of the state
'taking over the mounds in the coun
ties of Western North Carolina for
rthe. creation of little parks. Mr,
.'Morgan believes it would be - an ex
4 e Oftit i nif thod - of in sn rine the nres-
entation of " these remains.
ADMINISTRATOR'S NOTICE
. Having qqualified as administrator
of :S. 'C. Conley, deceased, late -of
'Macon county, N. C, this is to notify
all persons i having claims .against the
estate of said deceased to exhibit
them to the undersigned on or; before
tthe 28th - day of July, 3929, or this
rnotice will be i plead in ' bar of their
rrecovery. All persons indebted to
si hi CMiic win picasc iiihkc iiiuiicuiic
erf lenient. This 28th day of July,
;-i;j8. ( C. R. CABE, Administrator.
" "" -4tA2J
WJL at dfc M AAA
As indicated earlier in this article,
Western North Carolina has not al
ways been the home of the-Cherokee
with his comparatively advanced forms
of living. AV. K. Morchead of the
Phillips Academy at Andover, Mass.,
in 1914 advanced the theory 'that'
some branch of the human race
might have originated' here. It was
Mr. Morehead's ( plan .to' make in
vestigations to, prove his theory, and
in 'addition to make an archcological
survey of every state in the union,
tbe information to form . the contents
of a book. Mr. 'Morgan was ionh
ed expense money arid . a promise of
the proceeds from the sale of , the
rbook 'provided , be would , make a sur
voir i lf " Wpttprn 'Wnrtti 'Tnrnlina ' 'Hi
was - to work .alongAll;:jthe principal
streams of this section
The , information gathered ;by "M.r,.
Morgan,- did not. sb.QTKiibat " Western
North Carolina -was 'the cradle-of -any
branch of the human race.'but in
dications , of.:tbje.vjuisteace. of., aborig
ijnes 'here rprobaMy -4000 -years ago
were ; found..:- ,'The.,;iJjheory tof Mr.
Morebead was upst,, along with oXh
er ideas t. upon -which ihe,; had been
working, neceswting the rewriting of
portions of the- book - which was plan?
Add. The .war came on, delaying
plans, and later Mr. Morchead died
with the ..result ' that the book .never
went to , press. -
' Since then Mr. Morgan, has worked
on Miis own initiative. rIn ,SJ7
Meyer, who made the- nroy,4.f t the
Cumberland valley in Tennessee for
Mr.' Morehead's book, came to Macon
" - 'iv--:',-;J o m
- i J. "$7 m SrWi s
. :
r . - .w - jmfammmmzz - v- jmmtmmpm
. : , A .i ..My .& ' V " ' w0im
J -r y"" ., .u......... - " y----'-.- -i
JOaM 192Aha8oathtahitpMit
tUUMa.C3U for w quipnwnt
and other inpvovanMAta. Tk
and with Mr. Morgan visited and in
vestigated the "track rocks" near
Prentiss. At that point rocks have
solidified leaving - the : tracks of birds
and animals impressed in the , stone,'
This summer Mr. Morgan made in"-
vestigations in ' Clay and Cherokee
counties, where he located lndiaij
camping grounds and unearthed in
formation similar to that which he
has previously gathered. Previously,
Mr. Morgan has worked along the
French Broad, Little Tennessee and
Pigeon rivers. A ''number of small
mounds 'have been located -by 'him
in Transylvania county. In this 'Couu-
ty ihere are': five other mounds, he.
states, besides the one at Franklin;
Theer are six other mounds' in West
ern North Carolina v and jone near
DiUard, Xa.. ,. F.rom . tbis.,,it -be
jeeit thtW-Maeoncoatrty.. .faautli-
greater number
. Asked if he had ever . found ! Ir ;vn
skeletons in Macon, Mr. Morga it-)
ported ..hat !he 'had unearthed two!
One of tihese he found.' in 'the .road
bank' below - Jim ' Moore' shortly r afte
the ; road had been -completed. '114
was attracted bv the 'teeth of the
skullwyi jcwaft'y-! expWedrtibv5
tW leacijn ZTbkj other skeleton 'was
found .beyond t ht- home of Jibe Cal;
loway, wbese thg skuJI was . parjjy
exposed .above .the . ground.
Mr. "Mprgan.'.has ':40 of "50 volumes
jon. : the f subject of j the . Indian. "lThese
include volnnpes. on the .various 'tribe's
of :ihe :Unite4 'States - as. well . asr-bn
the Indians of Central and SootH
America. '
It . is ..not surprising that '.Mr. Morg
an, who is a native of Macon I but
who now lives in "'Brevard, keenly
-decites '.to -arouse the, inter efitifef
people :'iff the- matter' lef'he-preserval
tion of the mounds, historical sites,
and T Cherokee history. (During t the
wit
GROUPED together, the workers cf the
Southern Railway System and their
families woulS make up a city larger than At
lanta, Binriingham, Richmond, Memphis,
Jacksonville, Knoxville or Chattanooga. Only
25 cities in the United States would be as big.
But almost every city and town in the South
the hundreids of communities served t?y: the
Soutliai nliave a part in SouthemGityw'
In these communities : the 0,fXX) Southern
men end women who operate the .Southern
Railway iSystrm live and work. To ;the up
building of thecs communities, stimulating
Sou
. . . ' . i .
;From the Northern Guawvys st
LOuirynje . Vfpine Wewefn
Gateways fit SU Louis and Main
BJkiB. '. .'to jtba .Ocaan'J'pris of ;
Norfolkr ChirledD; 'SaVfiTOBB,
Brunswick and Jacksonville ...
and the Golf Ports of Mobile and
New "Orleans ... the Southern
Serves the Sooth.
"THE SOUTHERN SERVES
years he his been . in the work, he
has handled thousands of, .icifs, in
cluding as many as 5,000 arrowheads
Mr. Morgan desires thatv.cach county
1ST
IHiii'- - i J
-.-( '
business and prosperity,rgoes tthe 90,CC0,000
they earn each , year, as well as.the.Uxes paid
by ithe Southern and 'the Uarga lamounts of
money, it spends in the South formaterials and
The Sou them is always striving to build up
the Suutli by bringing i in msw people, ;new'
-jcapital,inew;.industry;.by icoTr.'iintlv working
wim ths; to agricultural con-
diticnsantl i byfproviding xafe, swift, econom
ical trarportation. Thcce eflcrts era .xiictated
by ound business considerations. The
-Ujsrnxaripiipcrjcr
end develops.
, . yvy t-;- .; -
THE
. . i
ers . and that' the morel rare ot the
relics be kept in county museums.
i .mi JL
Si: A
iaC sieps to preserve wc un:.... n
and historical sites found in its bord
SOUTH