On To Canasoga

After a few days spent at Guaxule De Soto departed for Chiaha. He chose to follow the "rivers that flowed through Guaxule downstream" according to the Inca. This would be the Pigeon River, which flows northwest from Garden Creek toward its junction with the French Broad through the Great Smoky Mountains. This is the route followed by Interstate 40 today. The first day's march was through gentle rolling hills of the Pigeon River Valley, through today's Clyde and on to Jonathan's Creek.

In the days of my 5th Great Grandfather, Jacob Shook, who settled in Clyde 250 years after De Soto passed by, this was known as the "Pigeon River Cut Off". By that it was meant that the Rutherford Trace departed the path and went on westward at Garden Creek, toward today's Waynesville and beyond, while the old Indian path followed the river northwest, and on to Tennessee.

At Jonathan's Creek the Pigeon (and Interstate 40) enter a narrow gorge, and the old Indian Path, as such trails almost always do under such circumstances (including the Indian trails down the Nolichucky and the French Broad) turned away from the river, continuing to follow the river's route across the high shoulders of its' gorge, the southeastern side of the gorge in this case. This was later known as the Cataloochee Trail, and even gained somewhat of a reputation through the diaries of a later day missionary and "explorer", Bishop Asbury, a founder of the Methodist Church, in his travels through the area in 1810.

Just before the ridge the army set up camp, 14 miles from Guaxule, at the junction of Jonathan's Creek and the Pigeon River. Rangel said it was an Oak Grove next to the river. Early the next morning the army was rousted out on the road again, and began the climb up along the trail.

The track through the Smoky Mountains which Asbury called "an ancient aboriginal trail" was difficult even in 1810, it must have been not much different in 1540. It leads up Right Branch and on up and over the Cataloochee Divide. This is a high and difficult ridge to cross, and probably shortened the day's march considerably. Struggling upward on the worst incline since the climb up and across the Blue Ridge, the army pressed forward, until finally, 4 torturous miles from the start they crossed the knife edge of the ridge into the Cataloochee Valley. Now they struggled down the steep incline of the other side of the divide, until probably shortly after noon De Soto with his vanguard came upon Cataloochee Creek, 8 miles from the start. Here the principal men of Canasoga had gathered to welcome them, bringing them baskets of Mulberries.

The trail itself didn't go to Canasoga proper, it continued west across Cataloochee Creek and upstream following Little Cataloochee Creek. It seems likely that word was left for the army to continue on the trail while De Soto and the vanguard were treated to a side trip, a visit to Canasoga. The town was about 2 miles up the main creek, Big Cataloochee, and the town itself wasn't very large, as indicated by the embassy of only twenty men. But it was an impressive location then, as it is today.

The accounts describe the passage through Canasoga,

"The governor left Guaxulle and after a march of two days reached a town called Canasagua. Twenty Indians came out to meet him each carrying his basket of mulberries which grow in abundance and good from Cutifachiqui thither and also on into other provinces, as well as walnuts and plums. The trees grow wild in the fields without being planted or manured and are as large and as vigorous as if they were cultivated and irrigated in gardens. "

-Elvas

"Monday, which was the last day of May, the Governor left from Guasili and went with his army to an oak grove alongside a river, and the next day they passed through Canasoga and spent the night in the open. "

- Rangel

The army crossed Catloochee Creek, a fast running rocky stream, and continued on up the relatively flat valley of Little Cataloochee for a mile or so, then began the climb up Mount Sterling. Here they entered into an area known in 1810 as the "Balds". This name indicates a peculiar condition once prevalent in the Southern Appalachians that has progressively disappeared over the years. Debate has gone on for years as to the cause of the Balds, whether it was a man made phenomenon or a situation caused by climatic change. Most, but not all, agree the wide stretches of mountaintops and long ridgetops that existed as grasslands when the settlers arrived were the result of uncontrolled fires over the centuries, fires caused by either natural causes such as lightening or intentionally by man.

The largest "Bald" areas that remain today are used for cattle pasturage, and were maintained by continuing burns up until such things were outlawed in the last century. Today the fringes of these areas are "growing in". Smaller, so called "natural" balds exist along the crests as well, places that long have been without fires. Those are more closely like the conditions in the Pioneer days, areas of small brush interspersed with alpine prairie grasses. Many of these have grown in completely, surviving in name only. The general trend for the historical period is a great lessening of the acreage of these Balds throughout the area. One of the most impressive remnants of this condition is directly across the Pigeon River from Mount Sterling, the area is called Max Patch Mountain. Here on its summit, and those of all the surrounding ridges, thousand of acres of open grassland survive. From that vantage point you can understand the account's description of the place the army stopped for the night, on the shoulder of Mount Sterling, as "open country". It's not that way today, except for the limited pasturage at the very top of the ridge.

The army stopped in the open, here at the top of the ridge that drops to the Pigeon from Mount Sterling. They had covered a difficult 12 miles that day over this rugged country.

Morning saw the army on the move again, this time negotiating about 4 rugged miles, over into the watershed of Big Creek. Now, finally they could go downhill, back to the Pigeon River far below. They once again reached the Pigeon at the mouth of Big Creek, where the NC / TN State Line is located today. The trail followed the river for a few miles before it again climbed away, up a small valley and turned west. On across a low divide they marched, and down a creek leading to today's town of Cosby, TN. Here they encountered a natural bog, the type that occurs often in the narrow, wet valleys of the Smoky's along the streams. After 14 or 15 miles of this tortuous travel the horses were worn out, and so were the people. The ridges they had crossed in the last two days had been worse than the initial climb up and across the Blue Ridge.

This was the end of their third day from Guaxule, and they had covered only a little over 40 miles. It was here at Canton's Grove above Cosby that Asbury, traveling east in 1810, had encountered the toll gate for the Cataloochee Trail. An enterprising pioneer had set the small fort and trading establishment up on the old pathway, and charged a fee to cover his "improvements". At one time this route was promoted as the best way from Knoxville to Asheville, and in the years before the Civil War there was talk of building a "turnpike" along the route. The failing fortunes of the South after the war ended that talk, but in the 1920s the issue of such a road was again revived. The Great Depression ended that effort. Then in the Eisenhour years the Interstate highway system began looking at a Pigeon River route for Interstate 40. Because of advancements in roadbuilding, and the huge amounts of money the Federal Government planned to spend, it wasn't deemed necessary to use the old roadway, and so the route of the Interstate was blasted through the high cliffs and tunneled through the sharp ridges on the opposite side of the Pigeon Gorge from the Cataloochee Trail. It took 11 years to build that stretch of I 40, and it opened in 1969. It is an impressive piece of modern engineering for anyone who ventures down it. The old road still survives as a single lane dirt road for most of its length, a winding reminder of times gone by.

On Thursday the army pushed on across Cosby Creek. Here they became aware of the French Broad River, their Espirito Sancto, running parallel to their course about eight miles to the north east. Rangel points out that this was the River they had crossed back in the savannah where the Lady of Cofetechi escaped. After the had last turned away from the Pigeon River it continued north to join the French Broad River five or six miles north of Newport, TN, and then shortly, as the French Broad turns southwest, the Nolichucky flows in from the north. That is where today's Douglas Lake begins.

Obviously, by what Rangel said, they had not followed the Espirito Sancto out of the mountains, but instead, as the Inca says, the river from Guaxule joined that river and formed a huge river by the time it reached Chiaha.

After leaving Cosby the army crossed the low hills into the watershed of the East Fork of the Little Pigeon River. All day they pushed westward along the creek. Thursday night they spent in the general area East Fork, TN, after covering about 15 miles, and Friday they continued west along that creek (roughly following the route of today's TN 339) to about today's Harrisonburg, TN where they turned north toward Chiaha. Having covered about 14 miles they set up camp somewhere near Flat Creek or Red Oak Knobs. They were now 67 miles from Guaxule, and just a few miles south of Chiaha. Here large numbers of Indians from Chiaha came "in peace" and brought the hungry men corn.

The accounts say :

"And on Wednesday they spent the night alongside a swamp, and this day they ate a very great number of mulberries. The next day, Thursday, they went alongside a large creek next to the river that they had crossed in the savannah (where the cacica went away), and now it was large. The next day, Friday, they went to a pine forest and a creek, where Indians from Chiaha came in peace and brought corn. And the next day, Saturday, in the morning, the Spaniards crossed the very broad river, across a branch of it, and entered in Chiaha, which is on an island of the same river.

Saturday, the fifth of June, was the day that they entered in Chiaha; and since from Xuala all their travel had been through a mountain range and the horses were tired and thin, and the Christians likewise fatigued, it was advisable to halt and rest there."

-Rangel

"After the governor left Canasagua, he marched five days through an uninhabited region. Two leagues before reaching Chiaha, fifteen Indians, bearing maize, whom the cacique sent, met him and told him in behalf of the cacique that the latter was awaiting him with twenty barbacoas full, and [that] he with all the rest, including his person, land, and vassals, were all at his service. On [June] 5, 1540 the governor entered Chiaha."

-Elvas

" .. from there [Gauxule] he went in six daily journeys of five leagues each to another pueblo and province called Ychiaha, whose lord had same name. The route he followed on this six days' march was downstream along the many rivers that flowed through Guaxule. All of them joined together within a short distance to form a large river of such volume that at Ychiaha, which was thirty leagues from Guaxule, it was larger than the Guadalquivir at Seville."

- Inca

The army was finally at rest. The horses couldn't carry a load they were so distressed. Rangel says the route from Xuala had been all the way through mountainous country. De Soto had sought to avoid the route directly to Chisca from Cutifachiqui, and he must have reflected that had the more direct route been worse than this one he had taken, then he had surely made the right decision. Now he could look back to the Northeast, up the valleys of East Tennessee, toward Chisca, and if he determined to go there he could much more easily. He sent a patrol in that direction to see what was there, but in the end, after several weeks at Chiaha, he determined he needed to begin moving back south, toward his projected winter camp on the Gulf Coast, and a rendezvous with his ships from Cuba.

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