The Things I’ve Seen

“I did not tell half of what I saw, for I knew I would not be believed.” - Marco Polo on his deathbed, 1324, apparently? Uncharted said so.

“I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of this, which this margin is too narrow to contain.” Pierre de Fermat, though that was about maths.

I have been writing here and there about the things I’ve seen. Recently I dug deeper into a topic and found there’s more to the things than the things themselves. They all exist somewhere, living in some context, which may very well hold quite important information. The thing I saw was Hales Bar Dam, an abandoned dam on the Tennessee River. I also saw something else: geography feared for its dangers, land surrendered under duress by Cherokee and others who were later forcibly marched away, a place cursed by the famous war chief Dragging Canoe. A curse whose prophecy was seen through by many agents, even self-fulfilling for the ambitious Hales Bar Dam project. I saw the dam’s bones, but more than that, I saw the skeletal system, the connective tissue, sinew anchoring it, to the world around. I saw the shadows its ancestors cast.

This week is part 1 of Hales Bar Dam, though I’m not sure how much of the Dam, if any, will make it into this part. This week is about the things I saw around the dam, the things I couldn't see because of how the landscape was altered by Man, the things I never knew were there until I took a deeper look.

I did my best to learn more about the history of the region, and to be fair to all parties. What I won’t do is get this all “right”. While I try my best to take a deeper look before I write, take all of this with the big ol’ pile of salt spelling out “this is a hobbyist doodler, not a historian” it deserves. I’ll include references to some sources I had to track down throughout, in case you want to (and are able to) chase them down for more information.

A fair land, become dark and bloody

It all started about 4.5 billion years ago, when a bunch of rocks decided to move in together. It’s a story much older than that, even. Self-destructive supermassive stars, fusing silicon to iron and ripping themselves to shreds seeded our world with the necessary rocks to make this story possible. Maybe this isn’t the right place to start, though. Let’s regroup.

Ahem.

About 20,000 years ago, give or take a few thousand in either direction, the glaciers were sheetmaxxing¹ and ocean levels were way lower, over 100m below today’s levels. The Bering land bridge, now the Bering straight, let people from what is now Asia cross to what is now North America. The journey was mostly dry, but probably pretty cold² . The Americas saw a, relatively speaking, rapid expansion of human population. This is particularly well evidenced southward towards Central and South America, though part of the explanation may be that a geography with more diverse ways to support life also had its remains preserved from the effects of rising sea levels. Some of it may just be a friendlier climate, as I have to image that snowbirds were a thing too, then³ .

Such places include the Tennessee River Valley. We have strong evidence that humans settled there (and east to the Atlantic coast) 10,000-12,000 years ago. When the Spanish arrived, they introduced all kinds of things, such as guns and novel illnesses, and many folks decided to move inwards to join other indigenous people in and around the area. When the British arrived, enough was enough, and while Europeans explored much of the area, they did so at a notable human cost. The region became so well noted for its hostility to settlers that the British, in awe of the Cherokee nation and licking its wounds from the French and Indian War, declared that no settlement would be recognized west of the Appalachian Mountains.

That didn’t deter some Europeans from trying, though. Those that came in peace found at least some level of harmony with most of the nations of Americans who preceded them. It turns out if you are pretty chill and don’t come in with an attitude, there was plenty of beautiful land to give everyone a pleasant life. I don’t want to paint this as perfect and unproblematic, but it stood in stark contrast to the wars that were fought before and after.

Power can’t leave well enough alone, of course, and as some Europeans mingled with good ol’, classic Americans⁴ , the British were convinced that the territory couldn’t be that dangerous and they just needed another tactic. People like Richard Henderson bought sweeping tracts of land from the American nations, which really rankled some folks, particularly in the Cherokee nation. The British, stomping around like they owned the place⁵ found themselves back in former quagmires. This time was a bit different, though: marriages between Europeans and Americans were common, and mixed families now occupied settlements. America was becoming a melting pot, and it changed the face of war. Warriors from American nations, such as the Cherokee, would raid settlements only to find them empty—their cousins would warn the townspeople of an impending attack and many would leave for long enough so more vulnerable people would avoid the ravages of battle. It’s complicated, and I simply didn’t have enough time to really dig into this part of the story. I was fascinated to see how relatively well indigenous Americans and the less powerful and more practically-minded⁶ European migrants worked together, and how both could be opposed (sometimes violently) to aggressive settlement and occupation.

And deep this story goes—the Cherokee were generally pretty open to working with the British. One faction, the Chickamauga, broke ranks with the purchase of regions that covered much land, including that around Chattanooga. Chief Dragging Canoe⁷ railed hard against the sale of more land, pointing out that Europeans just didn’t look at treaties the same way and this was doomed to ruin the American nations. The Chickamauga were no strangers to conflict: Chief Dragging Canoe led several raids against European settlements, and his cousin Nancy Ward was one of the folks who would warn settlers ahead of time. When this treaty closed March 17, 1775, and 20 million acres including much of the Tennessee River Valley was sold for 10,000 pounds sterling⁸ , Chief Dragging Canoe issued his curse:

Europeans, woefully unprepared

The stops were pulled. Europeans were back in open war with the indigenous Americans who knew the territory far better. This was going to be very important, because this particular territory was not friendly. The river valley was treacherous, more on that to come, and there were plenty of ways for knowledgeable people to take advantage of it. Dragging Canoe was incensed, and arranged to settle and fortify key locations around Nickajack and what would become Hales Bar through 1779:

• Lookout Mountain village, Stecoyee, with its long sight lines along much of the river.

• Running Water, Chief Dragging Canoe’s headquarters, 3 miles upstream of Nickajack and in the same area as where Hale Town would eventually be. It was a treacherous area just downstream of tricky rapids, with narrow passages and plenty of rush to hide ambushing canoes. You wouldn’t recognize it today, as it’s now under Nickajack Lake, created by the Nickajack Dam by the TVA at the end of our story.

• Nick-O-Jack town, sited on Nickajack Cave (now flooded by the TVA Nickajack Dam as well). They made extensive use of the cave system, free and natural hardened terrain.

• Long Island Town, on a long island in what is now Alabama. That’s all I have.

• Crow Town, a fortress also built in what is now Alabama along the river.

You can see a map of the area and pick out some of these names.

Robertson and Henderson planned a “Cumberland Settlement”, which required navigating the treacherous Tennessee River. That was considered risky enough, and the 1700s being what they were, it took a while to plan. As Chief Dragging Canoe prepared to assure his curse afflicted anyone brave enough to set foot in the territory, Robertson and Henderson retained John Donelson to lead the “fleet” deep into the frontier along the Tennessee River.

Through December 1779, John Donelson and his fleet were attacked at several points along their journey. The fortified towns, in full wartime mode, inflicted many casualties and losses on the fleet. One ship in the fleet, as chance would have it, had become full of smallpox-infested settlers. This boat delivered the strongest return blow from the settlers. Tradition holds that several hundred warriors suffered from the highly contagious disease, with many deaths (KM 30). This journey affected both the indigenous Americans and settlers for years to come—future settlers would go through Cumberland Gap and what is now Kentucky to avoid this area⁹ . Dragging Canoe, despite heavy casualties to illness, was the undisputed victor in his mission at this point.

This was the start of a campaign that effected the curse, driving fear into settlers so great few would travel through the area. Biology always wins in the end, though, and this story is no different. On 22 February 1792 Chief Dragging Canoe took a party from Lookout Mountain to Running Water and held a big bash to celebrate a recent victory. He danced hard, he danced passionately, he danced into a frenzy which opened an old war wound. The injury was severe, and he succumbed the next day. He is now buried with his pipe, tobacco, gun, and bow at Running Water, likely under what is now Nickajack Lake.

His nephew, John Watts, bravely continued the war with mixed results. He was defeated and treated peace in a conference in what is now Rome, Georgia on 7-8 November 1974. (KM 50). While it ultimately ended in defeat and tragedy, leading to horrifying U.S. actions against the Americans who had lived on the land for over 10,000 years, this campaign left an indelible imprint on history. In addition to changing settlement patterns, it also had an impact on other parts of life. Sending a letter from Knoxville to Nashville cost $50 during this war time. I could not normalize that to other postage costs, but it was described from what I could tell as not merely prohibitively expensive, not ridiculously expensive, but eye-wateringly, maniacally laughingly expensive. There’s no real way to say, as the entire concept of a dollar was completely different at this point. Hamilton’s Bank of the United States opened its doors around this time, December 12, 1791, and we’re something like 130 years before the Federal Reserve and another 50 years from breaking with the Gold Standard. Still, estimates in purchasing power that I grab from random places on the Internet say this is $1700-ish today¹⁰ .

Fighting the Environment

The nascent Tennessee State government derived its name from the Cherokee town of Tanasi (and the Little Tennessee River of the same name). Various folks from the counties and territories in the Southwest Territory, convened in Knoxville on 28 March 1796, electing John Sevier the first Governor of the State of Tennessee. On 1 June 1796, Tennessee became the 16th State of the United States.

I won’t recount the horrible treatment of the American people who had been here through history. Suffice it to say, treaties were brazenly lopsided, and even so, went flagrantly disrespected even before folks were forcibly marched from their homes.

Even forced removal would not be enough to make the area safe, and Chief Dragging Canoe’s curse still effused the territory. Webb writes that “It would be another 110 years after the Nick-a-Jack expedition before the great natural obstacles would finally be conquered” (KM 56). While war parties would no longer threaten settlers, the river and natural environment itself would cause many troubles and take many lives. Described in later years as “the Grand Canyon of the East”, the Tennessee River around Chattanooga held many challenges. Rapids, narrow channels, and whirlpools prevented larger boats from navigating and presented a significant and grave risk of sundering those boats that could. Several challenging sections of the river had shore support to drag boats by rope to avoid the most dangerous and nearly invisible threats. Sometimes even with these measures, boats would simply have to wait as the river would be otherwise impassable, punishing attempts with destruction and death.

Notably amongst these areas is The Suck. Cherokee legend holds that the whirlpools in this area can open a hole to, well, somewhere else, where people who may be ancestors will beckon you to join them. One man reported that as he was stuck in the whirlpool, edging closer, the people beneath reached out to grab him. Their intent to drag him down was foiled when the current grabbed him, pulling him free of The Suck and delivering him to the bank. I don’t know if there are any reports from European settlers of similar experiences, but I know they quickly learned to either hug the banks and wait for particularly dangerous bouts to pass …

… or find their boats and their lives dashed against the riverbed.

Until Part 2

Sorry! This one is going to be at least a two-parter. I wanted to lay out just how dangerous this territory was, both in nature and in driving indigenous people to defend themselves and cursing the very land itself (with the meting of its tragic dividends). I think the point is made, though: you don’t mess around with this land. You don’t mess around with the water moving through it. The TVA project would finally bring some measure of peace to the river, but at massive cost, and Hales Bar Dam lives squarely in the danger zone.

Where did this come from?

I'm glad you asked! My plan was to go to Hales Bar Dam, because the current occupant offers tours. I'm a sucker for a tour of an abandoned building, and if you have any good ones to recommend for my next trip, let me know¹¹ ! It didn't hurt in this case that the current occupant is a distillery, but distilleries are everywhere—where can you find one in an abandoned dam? I mean, one of this scale? Sure, along rivers, but that's already constraining you, right? There’s a lot of places that aren’t on a river.

In one of those moments that you won’t forget, the staff was training a new tour guide. They pointed out a reference book, spiral-bound by a local printer. They had few in hand and none for sale, which was of course the only souvenir I really wanted. That book was Hales Bar Lock & Dam History by Nonie Webb, and flipping through it was wild. This was a love project which pulled together all kinds of hyper-local sources and interviews. There’s reference like this all over the place if you know where to look, but they’re also distressingly easy to miss because most end up relegated to a small print run. Well, thanks to a friend, I was able to find one of what I understand to be around a few hundred copies through a library. You can thank the late Nonie Webb who did the incredible labor of putting together a series of excellent references for the area around Hales Bar. We’re only scratching the surface here, but sometimes when you have an itch a scratch is appropriate.

Until next time

I think part II is next! That is, unless you want some palate cleanser in the middle. I’m open to ideas! Let me know what works, and the reality is I’ll ship whatever it is that I end up shipping.

References

• (KM) Volume II “Keepsake Memories” of Marion Co., Tennessee by Nonie Webb

• Hales Bar Lock & Dam History, by Nonie Webb

• Here maps, we’re trying something new.

• Wikipedia as always.

Thanks for joining me, where I’m one of today’s lucky 10,000! I hope you enjoyed it. Here’s all the beehiiv stuff that is required to be here.

— Lou

1  No ragret.

2  Maybe not as much as you might think. I was curious so I checked the Glacial Maximum stats, and it looks like it was 5-6° C, 10-11° F, colder than now. Nome, Alaska has good data and is not too far from there. It averages -1° F to 58° F, with about a 20 degree swing either way, over the past decade. So we’re talking -12° F in the dead of winter to 46° F in the warmest days of summer (-25ish to 8ish ° C) and given the climate was less energetic, that may have been less variable as well. Cold…but it’s not like it was perpetually -40 ° (both F and C)

3  I can’t blame anyone for wanting a little fun in the sun. It’s not like they could just hop on a plane and fly down for the weekend—for one thing, money hadn’t been invented yet.

4  Probably a bit too early for NASCAR and football, even though money has been invented at this point. Let’s assume the more general concept of sport was available though.

5  Which they thought they did now.

6  Practically in this case being can I feed my family, and do I really need this rich royalty to tell me what to do or can I just go live my life?

7  Tsiyu Gansini, pronounced like Tsu-Gun-Sini if Keepsake Memories, Volume II (KM 11) is accurate. As a young boy he wanted to go to war with his father, who told him that he could not possibly go to war until he could carry his own canoe. The rivers are treacherous, and portage is necessary in places. So the story goes, the young boy grabbed a canoe and dragged it as far as he could along the sandy banks of the river. Apparently the name he carried with him his whole life was a childhood nickname - look at the boy so dedicated to war that he spent his days dragging a canoe. (KM 6)

8  I told you money had been invented. The pound sterling is one of the longest consistently used currencies in history, if not the longest, and still a popular currency to trade on international currency markets. London (good old Londinium) is still one of the major banking cities in the world.

9  Funny enough, John Donelson’s voyage took him well past the cursed valley and up other rivers to the area that is now Nashville, where they founded Fort Nashborough. Amongst his passengers was his tenth and youngest daughter, Rachel Donelson, who later went on to marry Andrew Jackson. Jackson’s Hermitage is also something I’ve Seen, though I don’t know how much I have to say about that. (KM 32)

10  If you haven’t thanked a U.S. Post Office worker, a service assured to us under Article I of the U.S. Constitution, you really should.

11  Doesn't matter where. I drive, fly, train, whatever is available anywhere I have business or pleasure travel. I don't know when I'll get there, but when I get the opportunity, I want a list of things to see ready at hand.