The Depression in Letters

A few weeks ago, I took my children for a hike on the Kephart Prong Trail.  Beginning at a pull-off on the right about a mile past the Collins Creek picnic area, the trail is gorgeous, especially in the fall and spring.  On this day, our destination was the shelter that lies two miles up the trail.  But one of my favorite sections of the trail lies only about 0.2 miles from the trailhead.  The Kephart Prong Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp,  Company #411, was established on 25 May 1933 and operated continuously through 1942, at which time it was abandoned by the CCC but was subsequently used as a work camp for conscientious objectors during World War II. Several vestiges of the camp remain, including the signboard, boxwoods, the chimney for the barracks, and a water fountain. 

Chimney at Kephart Prong CCC Camp

The water fountain at Kephart Prong CCC Camp

The CCC, part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 'New Deal' program, offered hope for economic survival to the families of young men aged 18 - 25.  First begun in 1933 and operating until 1942, the CCC employed these young men in natural resources work throughout the country.  The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was but one of the many natural areas that benefitted from this program.  Workers were sheltered, clothed and fed and paid a wage of $30 a month, $25 of which was sent home to help support their families.  For families receiving these monetary fruits of their sons' labors, the $450 this equates to in 2013 currency meant the difference between having a home (however humble) versus living on the street, or eating beans and rice versus starvation.  

The Great Depression hit Swain County hard.  Though those of hardy stock in the mountains, who were used to 'making do or doing without' weathered the time better than those in the cities, it was still an era during which families barely scraped by.  With unemployment in 1933 hovering around 25%, the opportunities presented by the CCC must have seemed like a god-send to desperate families.  Many in Swain County applied for the precious few positions available to 'local men' for work in the Smokies, or for work elsewhere.

John T. Needham
GSMNP Superintendent
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

CCC Recruits in front of Park Offices in Bryson City, 1933
Courtesy:  www.nps.gov

 The park archives at Sugarlands contain page after page of names of our county's men, young and old, who applied.  Some were interviewed, and many were not.  Most were turned down.  Eighty years later, a few of the letters of application to John Needham (acting park superintendent at the time) can still be found in the park archives, and that is what I have chosen to share with you today.  For ease of reading, I have transcribed these letters, however, in order to stay true to history, I have left their grammar and syntax as they were written. They provide a poignant glimpse of life in Depression-era Swain County.
 

Granville Isaiah Calhoun 1875-1978

May 22 1933
Mr. John T. Needham
Bryson City N.C.
Dear Mr. Needham
I wish to file my application for a forman place to handle the men on the road up Forney Creek.  I have had a lot of experience in building all kinds of roads here in this part of the country building trails in the Smokey Mountains wagon Roads and R-Road work.  I built the first 5 miles of Railroad up Hazel Creek for the W.M. Ritter Lumber Co. whos head office is in Columbus Ohio.  I worked for N. Carolina Mining Co. for most of 2 years and worked for the North Carolina Copper Mining Company and _____ there agent there for 33 years and am agent here for them now.  I dun open cut work and under ground work.  I had charge of 125 men for them while the was ________________ for copper and I had 125 men working under me when I was building R-Road for the W.M. Ritter Lumber co. on Hazel Creek in this county.  I have had considerabl experience in __________ powder and hand drilling with common labor.  I can do nice tunnell work under ground.  I am 58 years old, way (sic) 220# and am in good health.  I have had Typhoid Fever in 1908 and bin vaxinated since several times.  I have had Small Pox in 1910.  I never have had any venereal diseases in my Life.  I have had measls mumps.  Never have had Pneumonia..
If any further information is desired would be glad to furnish it.
Yours Truly, 
G. I. Calhoun

Granville Calhoun's second CCC letter, pg 1
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

Granville Calhoun first CCC letter, pg 2
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

William Thomas Cole (1887 - 1965)

(Forney) Bushnell
June 14 1933
Mr. J.T. Needham
I understand you are going to have some carpenter work done at camp here at Forney.  I would like to help you out in that line if you are going to be in need of a carpenter are another Blacksmith.  If you don't need a carpenter I have had a quiet a lot of experence with a drilling crew in rock - and blasting if you would need a man like that.  I live here at church by side of Monteith.
Yours 
William T. Cole
P.S. When you was here getting names I was not thru my corns but am most done now.

William Thomas Cole CCC Letter
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

James Monroe Cole (1888 - 1961)

East La Port, NC
June 15 33
Mr. Needham;
Dear Sir,
I am sending in my application to get work with Smoky Mountains National Park as a road builder or any forest work.  I was borned and reared in Swain Co., Have wife one child, mother and invalid brother whom look to me for dependence.  If can't get in just now hope you will file my applications & remember me, if you are adding on more men. 
Very Truly,
J.M. Cole
East La Port
North Carolina

James Monroe Cole CCC Letter, pages 1 and 2
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

Silas Henry Greene:  1896 - 1995

Judson NC July 25th 1933
Mr. Needham Park Mgr.
Dear Mr. Needham,
I would be glad if you can furnish me employment in the Park as I am a world war veteran.  Was over sea with the 30th Div, and have never had any help from the Gov.  I am in hard luck financially and I have a family of 7 to support.  If you can place me on any kind of job to help support my family will certainly apprecate the position.  Thinking you in advance for anything you will do for me in obtaining a position, of any kind of labor. 
I am yours truly
Silas Greene
Judson, NC

Silas Greene CCC Letter
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

Granville Calhoun, follow-up letter

Bryson City NC
Oct 25th 1933
Mr J.T. Needingham
Bryson City NC
Dear Mr. Needingham
I was told today that the new camp on deep creek had no Superintendant yet and that the place was going to be given to a local man.  one who nows (sic) the mountains and who has had experience in these mountains and who nows how to build roads and lay out trails in the mountains.  I think I could fill the place and handle the men all right.  I would apreciate a chance at the place and if I failed I would wilingly step down and let some other man take my place.  I looked for you this evening and did not find you to talk to about this job.  I can do the work ______________________as has been dun at Forney Creek just as good as any man, I think and would like chance at the job as superentendant same as Mr. Greer has at Forney.  Please let me know if you think I would stand any chance at getting the place. 
Yours Very Truly
G. I. Calhoun

Granville Calhoun's second CCC letter, pg 2
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

Granville Calhoun's second CCC letter, pg 1
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives
















There can be little doubt that the simple prose contained in the letters these proud mountain men penned, imparts a much clearer depiction of the Depression in Swain County than mere statistics could ever hope to show.  Regrettably, I do not know whether these men were ever provided the opportunity to obtain the much-needed work they so desperately desired.  It is certain, though, that most every young man who had the opportunity to work for the CCC had a similar story to tell.

But with every trail these young men built, every road they constructed, and every seedling they planted, a ray of hope was borne into the lives of their families....who were impoverished not only of money but also of spirit during those bleak days of the 1930's.  These letters allow me to 'see' the Depression in Swain County and how it unwittingly helped to make the GSMNP the rare gem that it is today.  They make me appreciate our county and our park in a way that I never could have before.  I hope they will do the same for you.

CCC Camp 411 Enrollees in front of barracks
Courtesy:  www.nps.gov

________________________________________________________________________
Sources:
Annette Hartigan, Former GSMNP Librarian
GSMNP Archives
www.ancestry.com
www.nps.gov

A Goldmine Branch Childhood (A Story of the Cole Hyatt Family - Part I)

For those who are receiving this twice, I offer my apologies.  I appear to be having 'new blogger issues' and was having difficulty getting the feed to go through to subscribers.  I have taken out the troublesome issues, and will hope that this one will come through to you.

Lawrence Hyatt, a cousin to Christine Cole Proctor and Leonard Cole of last week's article, is another of those individuals who has contributed immeasurably to my study of the former families and communities of the North Shore of Fontana Lake.  I have spent countless hours with him, in-person, on the phone and through email, learning something new every time we speak.  When I originally set out to write about Lawrence and his family, I had intended to do it as a single article.  However, he has plied me with far too many good stories to limit his family to a single entry.  Therefore, I am publishing the story of the Cole Hyatt family's life until around 1940 in today's entry, and will finish Lawrence's tale next week.
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The Zach Beasley home place, modern-day.  Note the front
porch steps within the fence.

For me, there is something truly sacred about the area surrounding the Old NC 288 Boat Ramp just west of Bryson City.  I love to sit in the pavilion built on the foundation of the former Zach Beasley home place, look down at its stone steps, and drink from the spring just beyond it.  I enjoy sitting in quiet contemplation of the lives lived at this place, and of the lives of all the people who once called the land to the west of here, 'Home'.  I look down on 'Old 288' below and think of all the travelers who once hastened along this byway....tow town, to home, to work, to church and to other pastimes.  I also think of of the last trips people made along this road....some filled with eager anticipation of a new life ahead, and others filled with sadness and longing for the homes they would never see again.



Nathan Columbus and Effie Brendle
(Photo provided by Lawrence Hyatt)

Nathan Columbus Brendle built this home in the early 1900's on land which had been in his family for decades.  Together, he and his wife, Harriet Effie Sitton, raised 12 children here.

The former Nathan Brendle home, bought by Zach Beasley in
the 1920's.  (Photo placed by David Monteith)













One of these children was a daughter by the name of Fannie Olive, who was born in 1895.  She was a striking young woman, with olive skin and dark hair reflective of her family's Cherokee ancestry.  On a day sometime around 1911 or thereabouts, a tall, dark and handsome young man from Goldmine Branch happened to pass by on his way to town and spied the raven-locked beauty.  Thereafter, he decided that walking or riding his horse to town was far preferable to taking the train, and he began to make frequent trips to Bryson City to court the comely Fannie.  Abraham Cole Hyatt and Fannie Olive Brendle were married at the Brendle home place on September 16, 1912.

Cole and Fannie Hyatt Family, circa 1917/18
Photo provided by Lawrence Hyatt

They moved to Goldmine Branch, where they resided near Cole's parents, Elias David Brendle and Polly (Buchanan) Hyatt.  Their first home there was a tiny cabin, but as soon as he could, Cole set to building a new home for his wife and the children they began welcoming to the family in 1914.  Hand-planing  every board, and hand-riving every shingle while working full-time for the Norwood Lumber Company, he steadily built a four-room home for his growing family....a true labor of love.  On a visit to his old home place in 2011, I must admit to having a tear in my eye as I watched Lawrence holding one of those boards left behind when the house was torn down for its lumber in the late 1940's.  The board had been preserved in the water of the branch near the home, almost as if waiting for his return.  In this home, Cole and Fannie raised 7 children:  Walter (1913), Dillard (1916), Wade (1919), Gertrude (1923), Oliver (1925), Lawrence (1934), and Lucille (1936).
 

Left:  Cole Hyatt home on Goldmine  Branch (NARA);

Right: Lawrence Hyatt holding a board from the home.

(Photo by Don Casada)

 

During the week, Cole went to work and the children went to school once they were old enough.  They attended the Forney Creek School until it was closed in 1940; subsequently, the children attended school at Bushnell.  On Sundays, the family went to the Forney Creek Baptist Church, where Cole was a deacon and a trustee.  Afterward, they would frequently join the family of John and Emeline Cole for Sunday dinner.  John and Cole were second cousins and their families were (and remain) exceptionally close.

 

Life during that time was one of hard work for all members of the family, children included.  It was very much a subsistence lifestyle, with very little money to pay for even the most basic of necessities.  This became even more pronounced after Norwood burned in 1925 and Cole's occupation became primarily that of a farmer.  He hewed oak crossties off the property and sold them to the Southern Railway, worked as a local man with the CCC, and picked up odd jobs with local businesses and individuals to supplement the family's income when he could.  Lawrence recalls that even during these times, there was never any shortage of his mother's excellent food but does point out with a laugh that, even with little money to go around, Fannie still had her scruples about what would and would not be served at her table.  Possum was strictly forbidden, and she only cooked a raccoon once.  Frog legs were similarly verboten, as she claimed that on the one occasion she'd tried to fry them, the legs had started jumping around in the hot grease!


More than economic privation, the one shadow that loomed over the family for many years began in 1940, when 3 year-old Lucille began to stumble about the house and was subsequently diagnosed with infantile paralysis:  polio, as we now call it.  Fortunately for the Hyatt family, the local doctor sent Lucille to a polio specialist in Asheville who was able to bring the progression of her disease to a rapid halt.  Compared to other children afflicted with the condition who often died or became paralyzed, Lucille was fortunate.  Her disease created weakness in the left arm and leg and a left foot that turned inward, forcing her to limp.  Despite a series of corrective surgeries, Lucille never experienced a full recovery and today, at the age of 76, continues to experience sequelae from her disease.

 A poster from the 40's / 50's, spreading
awareness of polio.

In spite of difficult times, life was one of happy and oft-amusing memories for a young Lawrence.  He recalls panning for gold with his father on Hyatt Branch after the fields had been tended.  He is also reminded of taking corn for grinding at the mill of his neighbor and local schoolteacher Evion Hall, and seeing what new invention or plaything the inventive Evion had created.  However, many of his stories tend to center around memorable interactions with animals.  He can remember many a day that a truck would pass by the home on the way to Will Jenkins's home, loaded with some new form of livestock.  Due to Will's extensive livestock hobby, this was a constant and entertaining show.  Lawrence also had his own share of entertainment with the family's animals. 

Push the "Play" button on the link below to listen to Lawrence describe a particularly interesting encounter with a member of the family's cattle herd.  This was recorded during the previously-mentioned trip to Lawrence's home site.

 



 

 

Aside from battles with domestic animals, the Hyatt family often encountered problems with wild animals, bears being one of the most difficult to deal with.  Near the present-day tunnel at the end of the Road to Nowhere, Cole Hyatt had a large apple orchard in which he also planted corn.  Despite the presence of a nine-rail fence about 5 feet in height, a particularly troublesome bear was laying waste to the apple trees.  Cole was forced to set a large bear trap there, which he hid in some bramble to catch the unsuspecting beast.  Every morning, he would walk a mile and a half from home to cover the trap with a large chestnut board so that passers-by would not be seriously injured by inadvertent springing of the trap.  Every evening, he would walk back to uncover it.  This continued on for quite some time, with the bear continually evading the trap.  On a July morning in 1940, Cole and Fannie had to take young Lucille to Asheville for the first of several corrective surgeries on her foot.  As Oliver was not the oldest boy in the home, care of the trap fell to him for the day while Cole was gone.  Feeling certain that this day would be as equally uneventful as recent ones had been, an unarmed and unsuspecting Oliver came through the gate into the orchard and headed toward the trap.  Suddenly the bramble in which the trap lay began to shake violently and something large began to put up a terrible commotion. 

 

Black bear in an apple tree
Photo at httyp://gallery.usgs.gov

Strongly motivated by fear and a desire for self-preservation, Oliver made it back to the house in record time to get his father's shotgun and pistol. The level-headed Gertie directed Oliver to go and fetch Will Jenkins so that he would not be alone in dealing with the bruin.  Oliver did, and passed the pistol to Will.  Upon reaching the orchard and hearing the ruckus the bear was putting up, a nervous and excited Will began shooting wildly into the air, creating quite a commotion but not managing to land a single shot where it counted.  Despite some weakness in his knees, 15 year-old Oliver dispatched the bear, and he and Will managed to bring it back to the Hyatt barn.  That evening, when Cole returned home and heard the news, he asked Oliver, "Son, how did you make it over the fence?"  Oliver's reply?  "Dad, he said, "I jumped it!"  The next morning, Cole went up to the orchard to assess the prior day's events and found that Oliver's footprints could only be found in every other corn row - seven feet apart!

 

1940 would be marked not only by Lucille's polio and Oliver's adventures with bears, but would prove to be a turning point in the life of the Hyatt family.  A wealthy Delaware businessman, an estate on Noland Creek, a World War, and a dam named Fontana would converge during the following six years to create a period in their lives punctuated by intense happiness and economic prosperity, but which would end in an agonizing loss that they would carry with them for the rest of their lives.

 

Their story will conclude next week.

____________________________________________________________________________

 

Acknowledgements and Sources:

 

Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com)

David Monteith

http://www.elvisinfonet.com

http://www.gallery.usgs.gov

Interviews with Lawrence Hyatt, Christine Proctor, and Leonard Cole

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) - Atlanta

Photos courtesy of Lawrence Hyatt, Don Casada, and above-noted websites

Swain County Marriage Records

Swain County Register of Deeds office (http://www.swaincorod.org)

The Swain County Heritage Book

 



A Forney Creek Love Story

On a day three years ago, while attending Decoration Day at the Conner Cemetery, I plucked up my courage and told Christine Proctor (whom I had never met, yet knew of) that I wanted to write a book about the families and communities of the North Shore.  The project has expanded over time,  yet ever since that day, Christine has been a constant source of encouragement, information, and knowledge of all things related to Swain County history.  This first official post is written in her honor, and in memory of her parents:   John and Emeline Cole.

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The Joseph Cole Family
John stands to the far right on the front row, beside his father.

 The story of a 69-year marriage that began on the present-day North Shore of Fontana Lake was begun by a young lady who went out calling for the family's pigs and caught a husband instead.

 

The two young lovers grew up in families who had lived in the greater Forney Creek area for decades.  John (1901 - 1991) lived on a small creek that the family called 'Cole Branch', which has since been re-named Brewer Branch by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  He was the son of Joseph S. and Cynthia Elvira (Hoyle) Cole, and the second youngest of a family of nine children, one of whom had died at the age of three.  Emeline (1901 - 1990) grew up on nearby Woody Branch, the daughter of Julius Lloyd 'Mack' and Theodosia (Shook) Woody.  Her family was also large, consisting of six 'full' siblings and three half-siblings.  Their lives were very similar; in addition to their large families, both had disabled older siblings whom they helped to care for, both were pupils at the Woody Branch School and both attended the Forney Creek Baptist Church.  They certainly would have known one another growing up.

The Mack Woody Family
Emeline stands in the center, behind her parents

  

But on one most auspicious day whilst John was out hunting with his brothers, everything changed.  He happened to spy the lovely Emeline and her sister Anne, out searching for their free-ranging pigs to bring them in for the fall fattening.  Something must have been different about Emeline on that day, for John was instantly smitten, and the rest, as they say, is history.  On Sunday, April 24, 1921, they were married by the Reverend Henry Hogue on a bridge over Forney Creek.  In the practical manner of most mountain folk of the time, they then proceeded to church and to the home of John's family, where a combined wedding and Sunday dinner was served.  They were just 19 years of age. 

John and Emeline Cole on their wedding day

John worked for the Norwood Lumber Company on Forney Creek, where his wages were between 10 and 20 cents an hour and the workweeks were long - six days a week and 10 - 12 hours a day.  After a short period of residence with his parents, he and his new bride set up housekeeping in a small home overlooking Norwood's mill.  Here they brought their first children into the world on September 10th, 1922 - twin daughters whom they named Stella and Elizabeth.  Stella was a tiny baby, so small that a teacup fit over her head and was sadly not strong enough to survive.  She died just three days later.  Elizabeth was joined by a brother, Gene, in 1924.  On a terrible day in 1925, Norwood's lumber complex erupted in an immense fire, destroying not only the mill but also the homes of their workers.

Norwood Lumber Company mill. 
John and Emeline Cole's first home is on the bank to the right.

The young Cole family instantly lost not only their home, but John's livelihood as well.  Several of his brothers subsequently chose to move to East LaPorte to work for the Blackwood Lumber Company.  John, however, chose to stay in Swain County and to move his family to the Alarka area, where he worked at the Brooks sawmill.  Here, children Robert (1926), J.C. (1928), Leonard (1931), Keith (1933) and Christine (1935) were born.  Christine and Leonard have been invaluable contributors to this article.



Shortly after Christine's birth, John and Emeline moved their family back to the home of John's childhood on Cole Branch, in order to take care of his aging mother.  With no work in the area, John picked up odd jobs as he could, and cut jack pine in order to pay for his mother's medicine.  The children attended the Bushnell School, and the family returned to the Forney Creek Church for worship.  After his mother's death, John and family remained in the home; for all the care and devotion they had given to Cynthia in her last years, she bequeathed the house and land to he and Emeline.

Life was not easy for the Cole family, despite the home they had been provided.  The 1940 census records John as making an income of $300 for the year 1939, which is the equivalent of just under

The John Cole home on Cole Branch
It was built by Joseph Cole around 1900.

$5000 in 2013 currency.  They raised and hunted for nearly all of their food, with squirrel being a frequent entrée on their long, hand-built table.  The family had no automobile and walked to church and work.  They used a sled when any hauling was required, and on rare trips to Bryson
City, paid 10 cents to ride the train.  Leonard recalls one winter's arrival that saw the family unable to afford shoes for some of the children. 
His mother had to shelve her pride and write to
Sears Roebuck to request credit, which she was denied.  Bryson City merchant Solomon Maloof was kind enough to extend credit, and the children received their shoes.

Despite such economic hardship, Christine and Leonard remember always having food on the table, never being cold, and always having an open home and table for members of the community and those in need.  Simple joys.....blackberry cobbler....chicken and dumplings.....a holly tree for a Christmas tree.... were cherished.  Visiting their old homeplace almost two years ago, Christine had tears in her eyes as she recalled to me the joy of seeing her mother carried in a chair up the road to home after being hospitalized for two weeks with a serious illness. 

In 1941, the Cole family began to be aware of the imminent loss of their home and lands for the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) construction of Fontana Dam.  Their only access to the outside world, NC 288, would now lie under the waters of Fontana Lake.  In 1943, they moved out, one of the last families to leave the greater Forney area.  They moved their belongings by sled to NC 288, where they were transported away in a truck owned by cousin Walter Hyatt.  The home and its 125 acres were purchased by TVA for $4225, and the proceeds were split equally between Joseph Cole's six surviving children, as Cynthia Cole's will had never been notarized.  This provided John and Emeline just over $700 with which to start their new life. Being unable to buy a home or farm with such a small amount of money, they found a home to rent on Shoal Creek Road in Whittier.  John found a job with Carolina Woodturning in Bryson City, and the family purchased their first vehicle so that he could drive to work.  The children attended the old Qualla School, which once stood near the current intersection of Shoal Creek Road and US-441.

The Old Qualla School, Jackson County (Sylva Herald)

 In 1945, the Coles were able to purchase a small log cabin and barn on land in the Franklin Grove area of Swain County.  Here they raised their children to adulthood, moving only once more - to a home just up the road, which now belongs to Christine.  John and Emeline grew old as they proudly watched four of their sons join the military, and as their children married and raised families of their own.  They suffered heartache as well, losing two of their sons, Keith and Robert at the ages of 22 and 35.  Throughout good and bad, they maintained the love, hospitality, and generosity of spirit that they were so well-known for during their time on Cole Branch.

John Cole Family
Front Row, L - R:  Christine, John, Emeline, Keith
Back Row, L - R:  J.C., Gene, Elizabeth, Robert, Leonard



Christine recalls them being especially devoted to one another in their last years, often sitting together for hours simply holding hands.  Their marriage endured for 69 years, broken only by Emeline's death in 1990 at the age of 89.  After nearly seven decades together, John had difficulty comprehending her passing, and daily reminded the children that he needed to get up to the hospital to check on their mother.  He followed her in death less than 3 months later.

Today, the Coles lie buried at the Lauada Cemetery, on a windy hilltop with a beautiful view of the mountains.  Christine, Leonard and J.C. are faithful visitors there both on Decoration Day and throughout the year.  It seems fitting that in their final resting place, John and Emeline are once again surrounded by the family members and old friends who once gathered around their table on the North Shore of Fontana Lake.

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Acknowledgements and Sources:
Interviews with Christine Proctor, Leonard Cole, and Lawrence Hyatt
The Bone Rattler, Volume 11, No. 3
The Swain County Heritage Book
The Sylva Herald online
Ancestry.com:  Census data and Death records
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) - Atlanta
Carol Cochran
Don Casada