Murphy Ready-Mix Coacrefe Ctmpmy
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837-3506
Hoopers' Bald Refuge Brought First fWild Hogs'
(EDITOR'S NOTE: LU
week's story about the Lasi
Sund of the Buffalo in OMro*
kee County told the tale of thi
Hooper* Bald refuge bulb bj
George Gordon Moore. Hilt
article tells more oo the sum
story. Most of the story heri
came from an article wrtttei
by Buss Walker, Outdoor Edi
?RSJSg^w
14 m I A ml 1
A L I La '
ll L L ^ L W
M 1 ^ ^ ^
Avg. Turkeys
10 to 14-lb. OH? 16 to 22-LB. j
mi.. 37c T Ati 2 StC
SMALL . 43c ' VP
TOP OUALITY 4 TO 7- LB AVG. ARMOUR STAR FULLY 47Q
CHICKEN HENS ib.35( COOKED PICNICS
"SUPER-RIGHT" 12 TO 16-LB. SMOKED
HAM
WHOLE
OR SHANK
HALF
?lb.
MORRELL'S PRIDE FULLY C nftllun Qcq
COOKED
Prices
EH. TKur.
Dac. 28th
? FLORIDA CROWN, JUICY
JANE PARKER
FRUIT CAKES
5 LB. Q 99
RING O.
WORTHMORE
Vanilla Cream Filled
CHOC. DROPS
X 29 <
WARWICK CHOCOLATE
CHERRIES X 49C
ORANGES
All Purpose Russet
POTATOES >o bo9 49$
Florida White Meat LB
G-FRUIT 59$ B BAC IT
Large Size
CELERY 2 25$ .
? ^ ? A i D BrimH C rATAn C 1 X
MARVEL ICE
MILK 1/2
GAL CTN # #V
CREAM
.1/2 GAL ?|yC
? CTN
? v. r w. ? ? . www~ I ??? I'
STRAWBERRIES
Ann Page l-lb-3oz. M W*k
CAKE MIXES 2 ?45?
A & P F ruit jm x
COCKTAIL 2'?=-45
Sultana Small Stuffed M 4^ .
OLIVES . 49c
SlL'Sckles "" - 19
n'r'm a ? ? ? w
tor of tlM Chattanooga (Tlbj
rimes In Juij of 19tt cover
ing the origin of the Wild Hog*
In this area. K mi latar re
printed In the Trm?iar Con
servationist magaxlne, which
Furnished copies of the story
tod pictures to the Seoul for
but use. Included in this story
are several changes and addi
tions prepared by Bob Barker
of ML Ranler.Md., the Scout's
WNC historical adviser. All
the pictures were originally
made available by Capt. Frank
W. Swan of Andrews. Our
thanks to all these people.)
For several years we've
been trying to run down facts
on the Importation of the ori
ginal Russian' boars in the
Cherokee National Forest,
said to have comefrom George
Gordon Moore's wildlife re
fuge on Hoopers' Bald on the
North Carolina side of the line.
Facts were difficult to cotne
by, for most of the things you
could learn were hear-say,
passed down by word of mouth,
none of the stories exactly the
same.
Ted Davis had a pretty true
slant because of his personal
Knowledge of Cotton McGulre,
Mr. Moore's general manager
of the original refuge and later
owner when the entire project
was deeded to him by Mr.
Moore.
Recently while talking with
Capt. Frank W. Swan of And
rews, who was honorary wagon
master of the wagon train from
Telllco Plains, we mentioned
that years ago we'd had a
standing invitation from Bank
er John H. Christy of Andrews
to go on their club's annual
bear hum with them, and that
Christy had told of being a
member of a group that had
moved five buffalo from the
Moore refuge over mountain
trails to the ball park in
Andrews.
Asked if he knew anything
about the buffalo. Captain Swan
said that he was master of the
ox-wagon train that had moved
all the animals into the Hooper
Bald refuge originally and had
worked for several years with
Mr. Moore in getting it es
tablished. And there it was,
simple as that.
An older brother of Capt.
Swan, Dave Swan of Andrews
(dec.) was General Superin
tendent of the entire job for
George Gordon Moore in the
building of the Lodge, roads,
trails, fences, etc. Dave Swan
was also Agent for the Whit
ing interests, anEngllsh Com
pany known as Graham County
Land & Transport Corp. of
Delaware, owners of large
tracts of timber.
Last week we met Captain
Swan, a retired cavalry officer
and once a member of old Bat
tery B of Chattanooga, at his
home in Andrews and went
over the entire mountain area
on the North Carolina side,
just below the clouds that take
in Jeffreys Hell, Stratton Mea
dows, Whig Cabin, and Haw
Knob.
I lie uitiuucu m uivuii
tain peak visit to the old Swan
home place at Swan Meadows,
4,500 feet up between the high
places and just below the 5,400
foot top of Stratton Bald. Swan
Meadows was the original Bob
Stratton home before and dur
ing the Civil War. Bob Strat
ton was a son of original John
Stratton (1799-1862) for whom
the John Place or Stratton
Meadows was named. Bob
Creek and the Bob Stratton
Bald were named for Bob
Stratton who was the first set
tler who entered 100 acres in
1852, same being surveyed by
J. W. C. Piercy, but it was
several years after the death
of Robert B. Stratton, or Jan
uary 4, 1872, before the State
of North Carolina, for $9.40,
mailed Stratton his pant. Bob
Stratton was bushwhacked on
Sept. 2, 1864, while cow hunt
ing on Ball Play Creek, in
Monroe County and was bur
led In die side of the road
where he fell. A companion.
Jack Roberts, tho severely
wounded, crawled into a pile
of driftwood and escaped, but
died two days later of his
wounds and is buried in Old
Rafter Cemetery. Narcissus
Stratton, widow of Bob and her
children, except the oldest
son, John, who was also killed
during die war, lived at the
Bob Place until about 1871.
The Stratton lands were sold
at a Special Master's sale in
Robbinsville on June 4, 1893,
to the last and highest bidder,
John Swan, father of Cspt.
Swan. John Swan, a Pennsyl
vania native and experienced
lumberman, moved his family
from Citlco in Monroe County
to the Old Bob Stratton place
over Little Fodderstack, Big
Fodder stack and the Boo
Stratton Bald in 1896 and lived
there until 1900. On April 37,
1889, during a late snow
storm, the Swan family lost 28
heed of cattle, froze to death.
That is, we visited every
Interesting place up among the
peaks with exception of the
Hoopers' Bald area where
Moore's refuge was estab
lished. Happens it can be
reached now only Jeep or on
horsAadu A recent cloud -
burst washed out the old log
ging road, Including bridges,
snd we were told at Robbins
ville that we couldn't make
the last two miles in s car.
We ww* as far as the car
could make It, which was with
in an air-line mile? straight
CAPT. FRANK W. SWAN of Andrews posed with three bear cubs from the Hoopers Bald
refuge at the time he was master of the ox wagon train that moved the Russian Boar and
western buffalo from Murphy and Andrews into the area.
George Gordon Moore's original lodge at Hoopers Bald slowly fell into a state of disrepair
after 'Cotton' McGuire left the bald. This picture was taken in later years.
up ? of Stratton Meadows,
then had to turn back and
spent the rest of the day rid
ing out logging trails beneath
the sky-line.
About the refuge here are
Captain Swan's own words:
The game refuge at Hoop
ers' Bald (he said) was es
tablished in 1912 by George
Cordon Moore, an American
who at that time lived at St.
Clair, Mich.
The lodge was 90 feet long ?
by 40 feet wide, built out of
logs. It had 10 bedrooms, two
baths and a kitchen and dining
room. The lobby was 45 by
20 feet.
The lower house was a ?
caretaker's home ? a four
room cabin with a porch all the
way around it.
A game fence was built of
double strand woven wire a- >
round approximately 1,500 J
acres to put animals in. The
first animals were moved in
from Murphy by wagon train,
pulled by oxen. The animals
included 14 young wild boar
that weighed about 50 pounds
each, and eight buffalo (bi
son) that weighed between 400
and 500 pounds each.
The rest of the animals were
moved in later from Andrews
over the Snowbird Valley Rail
way, ? narrow guage railroad
from Andrews to Snowbird
Mills (present Cherokee Ind
ian settlement in Graham
County, but then known as the
John Teesateska Fields).
The animals were then
transported by the ox wagon
train from there to Hoopers'
Bald. This shipment included
four additional buffalo, six
Colorado mule deer, M elk,
and 34 bear. And that was the
number of animals that were
turned loose at that time.
The wild boar were put in
an enclosure built out of rich
chestnut rails, nine rails high,
taking in about 1,200 acres.
One of die things I can say
about this Is that the rail
fences dUfci't hold the wild boar
any longer than It took us to
put them in there. And as for
the fence arorod the big en
closure, the beer got out of
there as fast as we put them ,
in.
Mr. Moore was mistakenly
identified (continued Captain
Swan) bv a lot of sports writ
ers as being an Englishman.
This probably was due ? the
fact that he was American Ad
viser for some English cap
talists. He kept the rcfiwe on
Hoopers" Bald and at Ms big
ranch in the Wen for the
purpose at entertaining these
English people.
Mr. Moore now lives at
Monterey, Calif. A number of
years ago his manager at
Hoopers' Bald, Cotton Mc -
Guire, sent him a number of
Russian boar and I understand
they have established a pretty
good herd of them out there.
Cotton McGuire was at the
Hooper's Bald until April 24,
1939, when his house burned
down, his family and some
guests escaping just in time
but with only their night clo
thes. Nothing was saved.
Cotton and his wife, Mabel
Hooper McGuire, and their
children, rollowing tne oe -
structlon of their homp, moved
down on West Buffalo Creek to
the original homestead of Dr.
Enos C. Hooper, first settler
on West Buffalo in 1838 and
for whom the Hooper Bald was
named. Mrs. McGuirewasDr.
Hooper's great-granddaugh
ter. Cotton, who was born Sept.
(Continued on back page)
Cherokee Scout & Clay County
Pr ess, Thurs., Dec. 26, 1963
RC ..smart way to say
VIerryChrisTmas
GIVE
THE
HANDY
GIFT
CARTON
f. irUfut* k fi*n>tilnn ?nW
Wt$n y-.iuf fff^nos a '?'^esr'.ng ana
sp?rkHng He?i<J?y by givtag the
Christm*! c?ften ol Ro**i Crown Cot?.
Irtciud* RC m your pi*rt? to? home en
tertainment too
NOW AT TOUR FAVORITt ?TMI
Look f or e?rtoni o< Royal Own Cob
bMutNulhr d#t*n? omm*
d! frierxrt ?i? tp