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Eastern Band of
Cherokee Industries
The main occupation of the Eastern Band of Cherokees of North Carolina is
that of fanning. The acreage is very limited in each tract, but crops more than
sufficient for home necessities are generally realized. Seed sowing is mainly
done by hand, because the use of machinery is impracticable on their hillside
farms. Hand sowing is also practiced among the white people upon adjoining
lands, and the growing crops indicate very sparse and unequal spread of the
seed. The mountain soil and occasional sand levels need a fertilizer in order to
replace the waste of annual tillage, but the steep declivities, where patience
has secured a good planting, are often swept by storm torrents, so that
fertilizers retain only a slight hold. It is impossible to visit the different
sections without the conviction that the people of both sexes, children
included, are domestic and industrious. With the exception of blacksmithing,
some cobbling, and plain harness work, mechanical trades have few followers. The
men are expert with the ax, however, hewing out thick planks for wagon beds, and
the timber of the blockhouses is well shaped and well fitted. Ingenuity and
skill are exhibited in pottery, but as a business it has ceased to be
profitable. Plain ironwork is done by a few, and Sololah makes a good knife,
with well-tempered blades, Davis Welch, a wagon maker, runs his forge bellows by
convenient water power. Wooden spoons, both beautiful and useful, are made from
the laurel, and there are those who can manufacture "ancient relies" as well as
white men, and can at short notice produce the "genuine old furniture of
colonial times". Baskets are also made from oak splints and the cane for
household and farm uses, but this is no longer followed as a general industry.
The material for an expansive industrial development of this people is at hand.
Already, by their contact with the progressive civilization which is
reconstructing society and all external home surroundings, they are hinting that
frame houses with glass windows are better fitted for home comforts than those
now in use; but the cost of lumber and hauling is an obstacle to the
construction of this class of houses, for little returns in money come from the
small farm surplus. The oak, pine, holly, laurel, walnut, chestnut, sourwood,
service, mulberry, hemlock, spruce, and sassafras woods cost practically only
the felling and hauling, and the supply, which is abundant, will continue for
years. A single sawmill established near the government agency would soon
revolutionize the building system and bring cash returns, which could be used in
the cultivation of the freshly cleared lands. Trespassers have already commenced
systematic robbery, and the federal courts are handling the offenders. The whole
system of hitherto crude bridge making will be changed when heavy lumber is
within reach, and ready communication, almost wholly suspended during several
months by high waters, will break up the isolation of many farmers and stimulate
the entire people to a higher plane of living. Access to schools and to
neighboring markets will be quickened in proportion as the secluded trails for
the foot traveler or single steer give place to good roads, which are only
possible in that mountain region when bridges, well built above high-water mark,
become frequent. Suitable clay for the manufacture of brick is accessible, as
well as kaolin, which is rapidly making the village of Dillsboro a beautiful and
flourishing commercial center.
Cherokee Training School "Home" Swain
County, North Carolina
Additional Resources
Notes About the Book:
Source: Indians, Eastern Band of Cherokees of North Carolina, by Thomas
Donaldson, 1892, 11th Census of the United States, Robert P. Porter,
Superintendent, US Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and
then ocr'd. Minimal editing has been done, and readers can and should expect
some errors in the textual output.
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