,chief carver ,roy ,faulkner at work on the ,stone ,mountain ,memorial ,carving1 face of ,general ,robert ,e4 ,lee4 ,georgia's ,stone ,mountain by ,willard ,neal #b4jj ,illustration3 ,this is a view of ,stone ,mountain before the carving4 ,,foreword ,every traveler1 on first viewing ,stone ,mountain1 has stood in awe at the foot of the looming monolith4 ,seasoned tourists and ,georgia school children are affected just as pioneer explorers were4 ,the towering rock is so impressive that each individual feels he is making the great discovery4 ,questions arise4 ,how did ,stone ,mountain come to be8 ,how old is it1 and how high8 ,exactly how large is this biggest carving in the world4 ,how was it done8 ,who did it8 ,who first saw ,stone ,mountain8 ,what effects has it had on the development of our country8 ,thus1 this book4 ,it is dedicated to those who care enough to see and study the wonders of their country1 and who1 in their travels1 have had the unexplainable and unexpected thrill of discovering ,stone ,mountain4 ,,carving ,illustration3 ,confederate ,president ,jefferson ,davis and ,generals ,robert ,e4 ,lee and ,stonewall ,jackson ride forever on ,stone ,mountain4 ,stone ,mountain's ,confederate ,memorial is the world's largest piece of sculpture1 cut into the side of the world's biggest exposed mass of granite4 ,the carving is #ij feet tall and #aij feet wide1 stands eleven and a half feet out from the side of the mountain1 and towers #djj feet above the ground in a frame that is #cfj feet square1 or three acres4 ,fifty-five years elapsed from the time of the original concept in #aiae until completion of the three figures in #aigj4 ,not a blow of the hammer was struck for #cf years1 from #aibh to #aifd4 ,at ,stone ,mountain things have a way of coming out quite differently than planned4 ,history is a little hazy on who first envisioned a ,confederate ,memorial on ,stone ,mountain4 ,mrs4 ,helen ,plane1 charter member of the ,united ,daughters of the ,confederacy1 was quoted in #aiji as thinking it would be a fine place for a monument4 ,in #aiab ,john ,temple ,graves1 editor of the ,new ,york ,american1 after a visit back home wrote a rousing editorial for the ,atlanta ,georgian urging that the world's greatest monument be carved on the world's finest piece of stone4 ,actual movement began in #aiae when ,mrs4 ,plane1 then president of the ,atlanta chapter of ,,udc1 suggested having a #gj-;foot statue of ,general ,robert ,e4 ,lee carved on the steep side of the mountain4 ,the ,,udc consulted ,gutzon ,borglum1 who just then was being acclaimed for his statue of ,abraham ,lincoln4 ,the first look at ,stone ,mountain set ,borglum's imagination afire4 ,here was the biggest1 finest solid block of granite any sculptor ever had an opportunity to carve4 ,a small figure in its center1 he pointed out1 would be like a postage stamp stuck on a barn4 ,the sculptor stayed several weeks at the nearby home of ,samuel ,h4 ,venable1 head of the family that owned the mountain1 while he studied the great stone4 ,then he drew up sketches of ,confederate leaders riding around the mountain1 which he submitted to a meeting of the ,,udc4 ,in #aiae women were not even permitted to vote4 ,their principal commercial experience was as salesladies1 telephone girls and seamstresses4 ,when ,borglum said the monument would require ten years and cost three million dollars1 the ladies were terrified4 ,they wanted no part of such an undertaking4 ,on ,march #bj1 #aiaf1 ,sam ,venable1 ,mrs4 ,coribel ,venable ,kellogg and ,mrs4 ,robert ,venable ,roper deeded the face of ,stone ,mountain and ten adjoining acres to the ,,udc1 with the proviso that the property would be turned back to the original owners if a suitable monument was not completed in twelve years4 ,at their ,chattanooga convention in #aiag the ,,udc ladies founded an independent chartered organization known as the ,stone ,mountain ,confederate ,monumental ,association to manage the project4 ,world ,war ,i stopped non-essential activities4 ,in #aibc ,borglum announced that his designs were complete and he was ready to start carving4 ,the world's largest sculpture presented many unprecedented problems4 ,a difficult one was how to get a sketch of the monument on the mountainside4 ,borglum announced that he would pour chemicals from above to coat the stone with photographic emulsion1 flash an image of his model through a giant enlarger1 and develop the picture by pouring down more chemicals4 ,by the time photographers explained to him that it could not be done1 his plan had been described in magazines and newspapers around the world1 and the ,stone ,mountain ,memorial was news everywhere4 ,borglum devised a method for using the idea1 anyway4 ,there was not even a precedent for determining the size of the carving4 ,the nearest thing was the rule that decreed the diameter of court house clocks4 ,by this scale the statues should be #ce feet high for viewing from the studio #a1cjj feet away4 ,a crowd collected the evening the projector was set up4 ,borglum computed the lens setting to give a #ce-;foot-tall image1 inserted the plate bearing a photograph of his model1 and switched on the light4 ,there was a gasp from the spectators4 ,horses and men looked like midgets4 ,borglum enlarged the image until it assumed an impressive size1 then called to two men1 swinging down the mountain in bos'n's chairs1 to measure it4 ,one dangled a tape from the top4 ,the other1 reading the figure at the bottom1 called out1 8,one hundred and sixty-eight feet60 ,illustration3 ,gutzon ,borglum with his famous projector1 and in the studio with his model4 ,illustration3 444 and in the studio4 ,illustration3 ,oxen hauled timbers up the mountain for the stairway4 ,illustration3 ,visitors arriving the day carving was begun in ,june1 #aibc4 ,the men carried buckets of paint and brushes for outlining the picture2 but when they started to work they could not tell men from horses nor heads from feet1 or where one figure ended and another began4 ,the next day ,borglum traced the picture of his model as a line drawing on another plate and that night his aides were able to outline the sketch4 ,motor trucks of that period were not powerful enough to climb ,stone ,mountain4 ,materials needed to construct a stairway from the top down to the carving site were hauled up the foot trail by ox cart4 ,after the stairs were finished1 cable1 pulley and winch were installed to bring up materials for stairs down to the ground1 scaffolding and tools4 ,on ,june #bc1 #aibc1 ,borglum led a group of dignitaries over the top of the mountain and down to the platform above the carving site4 ,gov4 ,e4 ,lee ,trinkle of ,virginia made a dedicatory speech through a megaphone to throngs below4 ,then ,borglum had himself lowered by bos'n's chair and1 with a pneumatic drill1 punched several holes into the mountain as the official beginning of the carving4 ,illustration3 ,notables at lunch the day before ,lee's birthday in #aibd4 ,illustration3 ,borglum's carvers at work4 ,illustration3 ,smoke descends with rock after a powder blast4 ,from the time he started1 ,borglum had five years to complete the monument before the end of the #ab-year deadline4 ,on ,january #ai1 #aibd1 anniversary of ,lee's birth1 #bj1jjj gathered for the unveiling of ,general ,lee's head4 ,on the previous day a select party1 including the governors of ,virginia1 ,texas and ,alabama1 had climbed over the mountain and descended the stairs for a dinner at a table set up on the granite shelf in front of the statue4 ,a few months later work on the carving began to slow down4 ,personality rifts between ,borglum and members of the ,association widened1 and in ,march1 #aibe1 the sculptor destroyed his models and sketches1 and left ,georgia4 ,other artists said the real reason for his tantrums was distortion in the carving--he never could have finished it1 and he was trying to hide the blame4 ,taking a short cut in projecting his sketch onto the mountain had been a fatal mistake4 ,he went to ,south ,dakota and gained lasting fame by carving the ,mount ,rushmore masterpiece4 ,no sign of ,borglum's work remains at ,stone ,mountain4 ,however1 he made a vital contribution4 ,it is doubtful if any other artist would have had the imagination to visualize such a stupendous monument in such an inaccessible place1 or have had the nerve to start carving it4 ,and he accomplished one thing that lasts4 ,he designed the ,confederate half-dollar4 ,congress agreed for the mint to produce five million of these coins1 which1 with the ,association selling them for a dollar apiece1 could have financed the carving of the memorial4 ,the next sculptor selected1 ,augustus ,lukeman1 was the exact antithesis of his predecessor--a man of few words and apparently no temperament whatever4 ,illustration3 ,augustus ,lukeman inspecting work on ,lee's face4 ,note white model at left4 ,starting ,april #a1 #aibe1 ,lukeman knew he could never complete the memorial before the #ab-year contract would expire in #aibh4 ,his hope was to get enough done to show that he could and would finish it4 ,so he worked at top speed4 ,lukeman made a new design in classic style showing ,president ,jefferson ,davis1 ,general ,robert ,e4 ,lee and ,lieutenant ,general ,stonewall ,jackson on horseback as the central figures1 followed by an army apparently marching out of the solid rock4 ,his master model was on a scale of #ab-to-#a--one inch on the model corresponded to a foot on the mountain4 ,lukeman had the curving face of the mountain blasted off to a vertical wall #cje feet wide by #aij feet high4 ,although the steep area looks almost straight up1 the bottom of the cut made a shelf extending outward #db feet4 ,to get his men up against the wall where they could work1 ,lukeman had twenty-one #aj-;inch steel beams placed along the top of the cut1 so they extended #cj feet out into space4 ,workmen's scaffolds were suspended from these by steel cables1 with winches to raise and lower them4 ,a dozen men usually were on the job1 although #db crowded the scaffolds during one rush period4 ,only eight were carvers1 the rest helpers4 ,the sketch of ,lukeman's model was painted onto the mountain by painstakingly measuring all the component points1 so there could be no distortions in the figures4 ,illustration3 ,four men directing a pneumatic drill4 ,illustration3 ,lukeman's original master model4 ,cutting into ,stone ,mountain had to be done mechanically since explosives can start a crack in granite that may run on for many feet4 ,if an area four feet high by two feet wide needed to be gouged out two feet deep a jackhammer crew would drill a row of holes almost touching each other down the sides and across the bottom1 then a row slanting downward across the top4 ,wedges were hammered into the slanting holes until the block broke loose and plummeted earthward4 ,a drill was good for only a few minutes in the hard granite before its point was dulled1 and a fresh one had to be inserted4 ,the dull drills were sent by cable and pulley down to the shop on the ground just out of range of falling rock1 where two blacksmiths were kept busy sharpening and repairing tools4 ,whereas one man can hold a pneumatic drill straight up and down to break up the paving in a street1 it took four men per hammer to drill horizontal holes into the face of the mountain4 ,one guided the drill and held it in place4 ,two helped lift the heavy hammer4 ,the operator did his share of lifting and worked the trigger4 ,all exerted what force they could to press the drill into the mountain4 ,after a figure was blocked out in this manner1 skilled carvers with hand and air-powered tools completed the job4 ,lukeman blocked out the figures of ,lee and ,davis and finished their faces and also roughly outlined ,lee's horse1 ,traveler1 before the deadline of ,march #bj1 #aibh4 ,it was evident that he was capable of completing the monument4 ,the ,confederate ,commemorative half-dollars were arriving from the mint1 and the way they were being bought up by the public indicated that financing the carving would be no problem4 ,altogether1 #b1cad1jjj of these coins were struck4 ,a million were melted back into bullion1 and the rest eventually were put into circulation4 ,incidentally1 the coins had about as much material as could be stamped into that small a piece of silver4 ,on one side were ,lee and ,jackson on horseback4 ,thirteen stars for the thirteen ,confederate ,states showed above them1 and over this firmament was the slogan1 8,in ,god ,we ,trust40 ,at the bottom was 8,stone ,mountain1 #aibe40 ,on the back side were #dh stars1 the raised image of ,stone ,mountain with an eagle above it and ,miss ,liberty1 and printed below1 8,united ,states of ,america ,half ,dollar4 ,memorial to the ,valor of the ,soldiers of the ,south40 ,illustration3 ,mayor ,jimmy ,walker of ,new ,york was guest of honor when ,lukeman's ,lee was unveiled4 ,the deadline date of ,march #bj came and went with no word from the ,venables about extending the contract4 ,on ,april #i1 the #fcrd anniversary of ,lee's surrender at ,appomattox1 ,atlanta's ,gate ,city ,guards militia unit hosted an unveiling of the ,lee and ,davis features4 ,the extremely popular ,mayor ,jimmy ,walker of ,new ,york was guest of honor4 ,on ,may #bj1 #aibh1 the ,venables reclaimed their property1 ending the ,,udc's chance to complete the memorial4 ,in #aieh the ,georgia ,legislature finally got around to developing the state's greatest tourist attraction4 ,it named a ,stone ,mountain ,memorial ,association1 with authority to purchase the mountain and surrounding land1 #c1bjj acres in all1 for a state park1 and to complete a satisfactory ,confederate monument4 ,nine of the nation's leading sculptors were invited to visit ,stone ,mountain and submit plans for the memorial4 ,the ,association approved a suggestion by ,walker ,kirtland ,hancook of ,gloucester1 ,mass1 for making ,lukeman's uncompleted design appear intentional by carrying the carving to a point that would be aesthetically satisfying1 a device used effectively by ,michelangelo4 ,mr4 ,hancock was engaged in #aifc and charged with responsibility for finishing the design according to his plan1 for serving as a direct consultant for the carving1 and for developing the memorial area4 ,the ,association employed ,george ,weiblen1 whose family had operated the quarry at ,stone ,mountain1 to assemble a crew and get the mountain ready4 ,in #cg years the steel supports for the stairway had rusted out and required replacing1 as did the steel cables and scaffolding4 ,bids were asked for a #djj-;foot elevator up to the carving1 and when the costs seemed entirely too high1 a prefabricated elevator was ordered1 and the work crew put it up in #bh days4 ,it was the world's highest outside elevator4 ,a skilled carver was hired to begin the carving4 ,he rode up on the new elevator and studied from arm's length the acre of granite which he was expected to fashion into three horsemen4 ,he found that he simply could not visualize such gigantic figures at such close range4 ,the foreman of the working crew1 ,roy ,faulkner1 a young ,marine veteran from nearby ,covington1 experimented with the new carving tool to be used1 and discovered he had a knack for it4 ,although the foreman had never had an art lesson1 and his only previous experience with stones was throwing them1 he was assigned some smoothing tasks by sculptor ,hancock while the search continued for an experienced carver4 ,soon the search was forgotten4 ,roy ,faulkner stayed on the face of the mountain for more than six years1 to complete the world's largest carving4 ,the new tool was the thermo-jet torch developed for use in granite quarries4 ,it consisted of an eight-foot pipe fed by three hose lines4 ,one hose carried kerosene1 another oxygen1 and the third water to be sprayed through the jet nozzle to keep it cool4 ,the operator could adjust the flame to any temperature up to #d1jjj degrees4 ,when such intense heat strikes granite the moisture between molecules is suddenly converted into steam1 literally exploding the surface crystals1 or flaking them off1 as quarrymen say4 ,flakes fell away in a continuous stream4 ,in coarse1 deep gouging1 slivers as big as dinner plates and half an inch thick1 sailed off the mountain like miniature red-hot flying saucers4 ,one thermo-jet torch could remove several tons of stone in a day2 more than #dh men could do in a week with drills and wedges4 ,carving with it was a one-man job4 ,two men trying to work in the same area would have bombarded each other with hot rocks4 ,even one could expect some lumps4 ,exploding flakes popped out in many directions1 sometimes straight back1 or ricochetting off the mountain or steel cables4 ,the operator wore a plastic shield over his face1 as well as muffs to protect his ears from the roar of the torch1 which was the dominant sound in the north end of the ,park for six years4 ,the torch acted like a miniature jet engine1 developing about as much backward thrust as an automatic shotgun4 ,the carver had to keep his body braced against this force as long as the flame was lit4 ,fine carving was done with a tool half as large4 ,with the flame adjusted as thin as an acetylene torch's1 it could cut along a pencil mark4 ,the carving was continued from ,lukeman's master model1 with several important changes made by ,hancock4 ,he stopped the monument below the riders' knees1 creating an illusion that the horsemen were just emerging from the rough stone4 ,this saved months of carving that would have produced no more than a view of horses' legs and hooves4 ,the army that ,lukeman planned to have following behind was left off entirely1 making the three leaders the entire monument4 ,the sculptor lowered the head and neck of ,general ,lee's horse so that more of ,president ,davis and his horse could be seen1 and he gave ,davis a civilian hat instead of the campaign hat ,lukeman modeled4 ,and1 ,hancock modeled a new head of ,stonewall ,jackson to make him look more like the photographs taken just before the ,general's death4 ,looking at the finished work1 it seems amazing that a man could get his first lesson in carving on the world's biggest monument1 and go on to complete it4 ,in explaining how he carved1 ,faulkner said that mostly he measured4 ,if he was to start a new feature1 like the knuckle of ,general ,lee's first finger1 he measured the distance to it from his center line on the master model4 ,then he checked to get the distance to the knuckle from ,lee's ear1 his nose1 ,davis' eye1 the ear tips of the horses1 and other spots4 ,interpolating inches on the model to feet for the mountainside1 he measured from corresponding points on the carving4 ,when all the measurements came out at the same place1 he drilled a hole there to the exact depth corresponding to the distance from the knuckle to the plumb line at the front of the model4 ,to insure against cutting away too much of the adjoining stone1 he measured and drilled depth holes for all of the features nearby4 ,after making certain that all the measurements were correct1 he fired up the large torch and cut down to within half an inch of the bottom of the holes1 then switched to the smaller torch to carve the rest of the way4 ,he said he always tried to keep in mind the first fundamental of sculpture--never cut too deep nor in the wrong place4 ,he thoroughly understood that carvers cannot erase mistakes nor paint over them nor sew them up4 ,the only way is not to make them4 ,illustration3 ,stonewall ,jackson's cap4 ,illustration3 ,carving ,jackson's arm4 ,illustration3 ,an interesting portrait of ,sculptor ,walker ,kirtland ,hancock4 ,illustration3 ,roy ,faulkner's torch sends out slabs of hot granite like flying saucers4 ,illustration3 ,ray ,faulkner's torch4 ,illustration3 ,sculptor ,hancock lowering head of ,lee's horse on the master model4 ,the jet flames glazed the surface of the remaining stone1 leaving a grayish glassy effect4 ,this was removed and the whiteness of the live granite restored by going over it lightly with a surfacing machine1 a vibrating tool driving a four-point tip4 ,roy ,faulkner figures that in six years he drilled thousands of holes in the acre of granite--more than ants ever dug in an acre of meadow4 ,experience did not speed up the work much4 ,he was just as careful measuring the last points to be carved as the first4 ,there were special models of the heads of men and horses1 on a scale of four-to-one4 ,when working on a head ,faulkner took the corresponding model up on the scaffold for ready and frequent references4 ,incidentally1 errors in the harness showed that ,mr4 ,lukeman's experience with horses had been purely academic4 ,he had all the harness buckles backward1 so that a hard pull on the reins would have made the bridles come apart4 ,the buckles are turned around right on the mountain4 ,the sheer side of ,stone ,mountain would seem a lonely place to spend six years1 but the man who was up there never found it lonesome4 ,he had a couple of aides to stretch the opposite end of the tape measure1 help raise and lower scaffolding and do other jobs1 but conversations could not be heard over the roar of the torch4 8,the entire job was one of the most satisfying experiences anyone could have10 ,faulkner declared4 8,in the first place1 it was a privilege to be associated with such a great man as ,mr4 ,hancock4 8,everything about the work was a challenge4 ,the danger was very real4 ,i was aware every minute ,i was up there that a misstep1 or a little carelessness1 could drop me to my death4 ,the wind helped keep me on my toes4 ,when you hardly noticed a breeze on the ground1 it could be gusting at #ej miles an hour1 first into your back1 then bouncing off the mountain into your face4 8,the work was hard enough to keep a man in trim4 ,after leaning against the thrust of that jet for an hour or two or three1 when ,i turned off the flame1 ,i felt like taking a rest4 ,there was enough climbing up and down ladders to keep legs and lungs in good order4 8,for six years ,i worried that ,i might make a mistake4 ,after coming down in the evenings ,i checked over the day's figures in the studio to make sure they were right4 ,then ,i drove home with them in my head1 ate with them1 and often slept with them4 ,the worst dream ,i ever had was the time ,i saw ,general ,lee's head lying in the ditch at the base of the mountain4 8,among my greatest experiences was1 on several occasions1 to look into the stone and visualize the full outline of the feature ,i was about to carve4 ,then ,i often got the opposite reaction just before ,i finished with a component such as a horse's eye or nostril4 ,from the close-up view it seemed to be the wrong shape or in the wrong place1 and up there on the mountain you don't step back for a better look4 ,it was a relief1 on coming down1 to see that it fit4 8,i realized at all times that ,i was carving the largest piece of sculpture that man ever attempted1 one that would last through eternity4 8,you could hardly do anything more satisfying than that40 ,,history ,illustration3 ,magazine artist's view of ,stone ,mountain in ante-bellum times4 ,the earliest history of the mountain was literally dug up by ,lewis ,larson1 ,jr41 assistant professor of anthropology at ,georgia ,state ,college in ,atlanta4 ,he explored the present bottom of the lake around the western side while the dam was being built4 ,along with more recent artifacts1 ,mr4 ,larson and his helpers collected shards of soapstone bowls and dishes1 carved and used by ,stone ,age people possibly five thousand years ago1 long before early ,americans learned to shape and bake pottery4 ,local historians have tried hard to find evidence that ,hernando de ,soto visited ,stone ,mountain4 ,actually1 if that old conquistador had set out to touch all the points his name has been associated with1 his iron-clad ghost would still be riding hard and only half way through its itinerary4 ,de ,soto certainly did not see this rock1 or his chroniclers would have described it in detail as a large-scale replica of the ,gibraltar they left behind4 ,the first white man to see ,stone ,mountain seems to have been ,captain ,juan ,pardo1 sent by the ,spaniards in #aefg to encircle ,georgia with forts4 ,he followed somewhat the route taken by de ,soto's ill-fated expedition4 ,pardo fared some better4 ,he got back to ,st4 ,augustine with his life1 but he did little fortifying4 ,pardo regarded as his most important achievement the discovery of what he called ,crystal ,mountain1 a great mountain that glistened in the sun and was surrounded with diamonds and rubies and other precious stones lying on the ground for the picking up4 ,unfortunately1 ,indians kept him and his men too busy for gem collecting at that time4 ,the captain spent the rest of his life at ,st4 ,augustine trying to raise a force of #ejj men for another trip to ,crystal ,mountain1 promising to make every one of them rich1 as well as any who would help finance the expedition4 ,since he had failed in his fort-building mission and had not been able to pick up a pocketful of gems1 even when he was walking--or running--over them1 he was unable to find #ejj men willing to risk life and fortune on the venture4 ,pardo's diamonds and rubies are still to be found on top of the ground at the base of the mountain4 ,they are crystals of quartz1 fully as beautiful as gem stones1 but not so rare1 and therefore not so valuable4 ,many of today's visitors1 less hurried than the captain and his men1 pick up a few for souvenirs4 ,the first eye-witness description of ,stone ,mountain in ,english appears to have been an account written by a ,british officer and published in ,london in #aghh4 ,the ,britisher almost certainly came into the area to incite ,indians to fight against the colonists in the ,revolutionary ,war4 ,unlettered traders probably viewed it earlier than that1 but seeing no profit1 dismissed it as being of no consequence to themselves4 ,the mountain enacted its first role in modern history on ,june #i1 #agij4 ,president ,george ,washington had sent ,colonel ,marinus ,willet to confer with chiefs of the ,creek ,nation and arrange for an emissary to visit him at the capitol in ,new ,york4 ,in that era of few addresses in the wilderness the meeting was scheduled for ,stone ,mountain as a spot familiar to all the ,indians4 ,the colonel reported in his ,narration of the ,military ,acts of ,col4 ,marinas ,willet3 8,here we found the ,cowetas and ,curates to the number of eleven waiting for us4 ,while ,i was at ,stony ,mountain1 ,i ascended the summit4 ,it is one solid rock of a circular form about one mile across4 ,many strange tales are told by the ,indians of the mountain4 ,i have now passed all ,indian settlements and shall only observe that the inhabitants of these countries appear very happy40 ,illustration3 ,elias ,nour and ,willard ,neal near the top of ,stone ,mountain ,the colonel could have made us all happier by setting down some of the stories he was told4 ,by his failure to do so1 those strange tales are lost forever4 ,incidentally1 even in #agij the southern ,indians were no longer savage aborigines4 ,they had been trading with the ,spanish1 ,british and ,french for more than two hundred years1 had adopted many of the white men's ways and utterly forgotten much of their tribal lore4 ,their extensive farms had grown up in trees and their elaborate system of trade had been abandoned1 while they depended largely for their living on hunting for furs or hiring out in the white men's wars4 ,head of the ,indian delegation at ,stone ,mountain was ,alexander ,mc,gillivray1 son of a ,scotch trader and a half-breed ,indian princess4 ,after completing his education in ,baltimore1 ,mc,gillivray worked in a counting house in ,savannah until the start of the ,revolution1 then returned to his mother's tribe in ,alabama where he quickly rose to chief of the ,united ,creeks1 and the ,seminoles and ,chicamaugas as well4 ,he also became a colonel in the ,british ,army1 in return for inciting his tribesmen to harass settlers in ,georgia and ,tennessee4 ,after the war ended and the ,british left1 ,mc,gillivray accepted a similar role with the ,spanish in ,florida4 ,president ,washington sent for him1 hoping to placate him and stop the depredations along the frontier4 ,illustration3 ,the assassination of ,chief ,william ,mc,intosh4 ,twelve more chiefs arrived for the meeting at ,stone ,mountain1 making twenty-three1 with a lot of braves1 most of whom were relatives of the chiefs1 and ,willet started with them on the long and colorful procession to ,new ,york4 ,mc,gillivray accepted payment for his property in ,savannah that had been confiscated4 ,the ,georgia colony already had twice bought and paid for the land east of the ,oconee ,river1 but ,mc,gillivray sold the same land again1 and signed a third treaty for #ajj1jjj4 ,for assurance against further ,indian troubles1 ,washington commissioned him brigadier general in the ,united ,states ,army and awarded him a pension of #a1bjj a year4 ,mc,gillivray went immediately to ,pensacola1 where the ,spaniards proclaimed him emperor of the ,creeks and ,seminoles and paid him #c1ejj a year to continue harassing ,georgia settlers4 ,he died in #agic of 8gout of the stomach10 which may have been an unidentified poison4 ,in #ahjb the ,creeks signed a treaty giving up their lands west of the ,oconee ,river to the state line4 ,georgia then ceded the ,alabama and ,mississippi territories to the ,united ,states government in exchange for a promise to remove all the ,indians from within the state's borders1 a pledge that was not carried out4 ,the state began distributing the land by lottery in #ahjc4 ,reports of the rock that was as big as a mountain continued to arouse wide interest1 but they were descriptions given by ,indians4 ,few white men still had seen it4 ,m4 ,f4 ,stephenson1 the famous gold assayer of ,dahlonega1 wrote that in #ahjh an ,englishman returned to ,london with the story1 but the location of the mountain was so far from the ,blue ,ridge peaks that he thought it was man-made4 ,the president of the ,academy of ,arts and ,sciences in ,paris addressed a letter to the ,hon4 ,r4 ,w4 ,habersham of ,savannah asking for the dimensions and other data concerning this vast relic of architectural grandeur4 ,the frontier continued in turmoil1 which reached a climax through incitement of the ,indians by the ,british in the ,war of #ahab4 ,in #ahad ,andrew ,jackson1 with #b1ejj militiamen and a lot of ,cherokees1 cornered and practically annihilated the militant branch of the ,creeks at ,horseshoe ,bend of the ,coosa ,river in ,alabama4 ,during the years several more treaties concerning the ,stone ,mountain area were signed and ignored4 ,the ,creeks enacted the death penalty for any chief who disposed of any more of the tribe's properties4 ,then ,chief ,william ,mc,intosh again sold the land between the ,oconee and ,chattahoochee rivers for #djj1jjj in a treaty signed at ,indian ,springs in ,february1 #ahbe4 ,two months later he was riddled with bullets from a hundred ,creek rifles4 ,the next year1 in #ahbf1 ,president ,john ,quincy ,adams invited thirteen ,creek chiefs to ,washington and bought the land east of the ,chattahoochee again4 ,one of the first literate descriptions of ,stone ,mountain was written by the ,rev4 ,francis ,r4 ,goulding1 noted novelist and inventor1 who spent his later years at ,roswell1 forty miles away4 ,goulding visited the mountain on ,june #be1 #ahbb1 as a #ab-year-old1 with his father1 a cousin1 a ,cherokee guide named ,kanooka1 and a slave boy named ,scipio4 ,the elder ,goulding1 a prosperous merchant of ,darien on the coast1 had just recovered from a severe spell of fever and recuperated by taking his son to the mountains to visit with the ,cherokees that summer4 ,young ,francis wrote3 8,twenty miles away to the southeast a vast prominence of rock loomed in lonely grandeur above the horizon4 ,it was the great natural curiosity of the neighborhood1 of which we had often heard and which we had resolved to visit at our first opportunity4 ,that time had now come4 ,indeed1 the fame of the great rock had extended to the ,old ,country1 and had there excited interest through the representation of a ,british officer who had visited and described it as early as the year #aghh4 8,at the time of our visit the country around had barely passed into the hands of the white man1 and there were few roads and fewer houses of accommodation4 ,our tent was pitched beside a spring near the mountain's base1 around the north and west of which flows a pleasant stream4 ,from this point the rock rose majestically1 with an almost perpendicular face of a thousand feet4 ,we enjoyed its rough grandeur almost as much by the soft light of the moon as we did by the red light of the setting sun4 8,taking an early breakfast the next morning1 we made our way first to the eastern side of the mountain4 ,here the view was stupendous4 ,a bare1 hemispherical mass of solid granite rose before us to the height of two or three thousand feet1 striped along its sides as if torn by lightning or #8gullied' by the action of water through countless ages4 8,our ascent was effected on the southwestern side1 where the slope is comparatively easy and where the otherwise baldness of the rock is relieved by an occasional tuft of dwarfed cedars or stunted oaks1 which find a root hold in the crevices4 ,these trees1 elevated a quarter of a mile above the surrounding level1 seem to be a favorite resort for buzzards1 many of which were wheeling in graceful flight in the air around1 and a greater number which perched upon dead treetops1 apparently resting from their labors and watching from the convenient height for objects on which they might feed in the level country below4 8,we found the summit an irregularly flat oval about a furlong in length4 ,the view from it was superb4 ,not another mountain could be seen in any direction within a distance of twenty-five or thirty miles4 ,the country all around seemed to be an immense level1 or rather a basin1 the rim of which rose on all sides to meet the blue of the sky4 ,to the east and south appeared a few clearings1 but in every other direction the forest was unbroken4 8,encircling the summit1 at a distance of nearly a quarter of a mile from its center1 was a remarkable wall1 about breast high1 built of loose1 fragmentary stone1 and evidently meant for a military fortification2 but when erected1 and by whom1 we could not learn4 ,kanooka said that it was there when his people first came1 and that they knew no more of it than we did4 ,in some places the stones were almost all dislodged by persons who had rolled them down the steep declivity but there were enough remaining to show that the wall had once been continuous all around the summit1 and that the only place of entrance was by a natural doorway under a large rock1 so narrow and so low that only one man could enter at a time1 by crawling on his hands and knees40 ,illustration3 ,carver ,roy ,faulkner working with the small finishing torch4 ,notice the fine detail in ,general ,lee's features and the sweep of his famous white beard4 ,illustration3 ,the scaffolds swinging against the carving1 hundreds of feet above the ground1 were the working area for the carver and his aides for six years4 ,illustration3 ,scaffolds4 ,illustration3 ,scaffolds4 ,colorful flowers on ,stone ,mountain4 ,illustration3 ,a field of ,viguiera porteri1 or ,confederate daisies4 ,illustration3 ,white milkweed1 ,asclepeas variegata4 ,illustration3 ,rare ,hypericum splendens4 ,illustration3 ,evening primrose1 ,oenothera fruticosa4 ,illustration3 ,rosa ,carolinia4 ,illustration3 ,practically every square foot of exposed granite is covered with lichens or mosses4 ,illustration3 uncaptioned ,all the mountain's early visitors were intrigued by the pre-historic wall4 ,some thought de ,soto might have had it built1 without considering that the aim of the conquistadores was to find treasure1 grab it and run4 ,they were not interested in defensive strongholds1 and certainly not in building one that would entail carrying thousands of tons of rock up a steep mountain4 ,all the early writers described the wall as a cleverly contrived fortress1 since it blocked all trails leading to the summit4 ,however1 the most ignorant savage certainly would have realized that the top of ,stone ,mountain would be untenable in a siege1 since there was no water and no access to food4 ,it is the last place anyone would want to be caught when shooting started4 ,most likely1 the wall had some religious or ceremonial significance4 ,toting rocks and stacking them in a line is the kind of project ancient medicine men liked to think up to keep their tribesmen occupied1 like building the great mounds throughout the ,south and down into ,mexico and ,south ,america4 ,even today it is not hard to visualize weirdly painted warriors climbing the mountain in a torchlight procession and dancing all night around a roaring fire at the top4 ,consider1 too1 the old medicine men's penchant for human sacrifice4 ,at dawn the frenzied crowd probably hurled some luckless victim over the rim1 while the women and children1 who had waited below all night to see the poor devil fall1 screamed and cheered1 feeling sure that the gods would be so happy about the whole thing that they would assure bountiful crops and good hunting4 ,another stone wall stands atop ,fort ,mountain overlooking ,chatsworth1 a hundred miles to the northwest1 and it1 too1 is built at the edge of a high precipice4 ,the ,stone ,mountain wall must have contained millions of rocks1 for there were enough to let men and boys test their muscles by rolling stones off the mountain for more than a hundred years1 until ,gutzon ,borglum1 the sculptor1 had the last ones thrown off in #aibc to make sure vandals did not start them rolling down among his workmen4 ,a feature on the mountain top surely as impressive as the great wall was the ,devil's ,cross ,roads4 ,this was a tremendous flat boulder roughly two hundred feet across and five to ten feet thick1 cleft by two smooth1 straight breaks making avenues four feet wide1 one running directly north and south1 the other east and west4 ,they joined at right angles at the center1 and directly over this juncture was another flat rock twenty feet in diameter4 ,the ,cross ,roads became a favorite spot to have breakfast for parties who climbed the mountain to watch the sunrise4 ,and everybody wondered that nature could make a compass as accurate and a great deal more spectacular than the ancient ,egyptians could do4 ,the entire formation disappeared in #ahif when quarrymen found that it was composed of superior building stone and broke it up and let it down the mountain by winches4 ,de,kalb ,county was founded ,dec4 #i1 #ahbb4 ,the ,de,kalb ,county courthouse in ,decatur burned in #ahdb1 destroying most of the early deeds that were on record4 ,there are some interesting legends concerning early ownership which1 because of the destroyed documents1 can neither be proved nor disproved4 ,perhaps the first white settler to claim ownership of the mountain was ,john ,w4 ,beauchamp4 ,his descendants still tell how their great-great-great-grandpa gave ,indians forty dollars and a pony worth about fifty dollars for the big rock4 ,they say he traded it to ,andrew ,johnson and ,aaron ,cloud for a muzzle-loading gun and twenty dollars4 ,there are legends that a jug of whiskey figured in both deals4 ,if ,beauchamp received or gave a bill of sale1 it has not come to light in recent years4 ,he never explained how the ,indians got their claim to the property4 ,it may have been a sudden inspiration1 conjured up at sight of the jug4 ,no formal deed could have been available1 since the whole area was still in public domain4 ,in #ahbb1 the year ,francis ,goulding explored the mountain1 the ,state ,legislature prepared the original land grants4 ,the mountain lay in seven different land lots1 which apparently were awarded to veterans of the ,revolutionary ,war4 ,one lot went to the orphans of a veteran4 ,it is said that a man in ,athens was awarded one of the grants4 ,he walked the sixty miles or so to the mountain to examine his property1 and seeing that most of it was bare rock1 he swapped it for a mule to ride home4 ,andrew ,johnson1 who already had a shotgun claim to the mountain1 was not one of those receiving grants1 but he acquired bona fide title to considerable land at the base and also the main slice of the mountain in time to build an inn1 about where the ,administration ,building is now1 when the stage coach line came through in #ahbe4 ,the stage ran from the capital at ,milledgeville by ,eatonton and ,covington to ,stone ,mountain1 then on by ,winder to ,athens where the oldest chartered ,state ,university was already dispensing higher education4 ,discovery of gold in the ,dahlonega and ,gainesville area in #ahbh1 the first deposits found north of ,mexico1 brought a boom in traffic and another stage line from ,stone ,mountain to the gold fields4 ,fare was ten cents a mile1 and since distances were great1 the business must have been profitable4 ,everybody bent on mining gold had to pass ,stone ,mountain1 and any coming back1 with or without new riches1 stopped there again4 ,aaron ,cloud1 ,johnson's partner in the shotgun deal1 built another inn to take care of the overflow4 ,a town calling itself ,new ,gibraltar grew up around the taverns1 with general stores1 a blacksmith shop and other services for the traveling public and the growing farm population4 ,in that era of typhoid1 chronic malaria and yellow fever epidemics1 prosperous planters and merchants in the lowlands sent their families to the mountains during the 8summer miasmas0--the fly and mosquito seasons we realize now--and the most enjoyable part of the trip each way was the stopover of a day or two at ,stone ,mountain to climb the great rock and unlimber kinks caused by days of rough bouncing in stagecoach or carriage4 ,aaron ,cloud was the first to establish a tourist attraction4 ,in #ahch he paid ,andrew ,johnson #ajj for 8#aej feet square0 at the highest point on the mountain1 where he erected a tower #afe feet tall1 appropriately called ,cloud's ,tower4 ,for fifty cents a visitor who already had winded himself reaching the summit could climb another #cjj steps and get a still higher view4 ,william ,c4 ,richards1 a correspondent for 8,georgia ,illustrated10 published in ,macon1 wrote in #ahdb3 8,this singular edifice1 resembling somewhat a lighthouse1 is an octagonal pyramid built entirely of wood4 ,it stands upon the rock with no fastening but its own gravity4 ,it was built nearly three years ago at a cost of #e1jjj4 ,the projector and proprietor is ,mr4 ,aaron ,cloud of ,mc,donough1 and the work is commonly called ,cloud's ,tower4 8,in the lower part is a hall one hundred feet square fitted up for the accommodation of parties4 8,we ascended by nearly #cjj steps4 ,the eyes rest upon a continuity of forest4 ,the plantations and settlements appear small amid the sea of foliage4 ,by the aid of good telescopes we distinguished five county towns4 ,among the towns ,i located was ,terminus1 a few straggling huts beyond ,decatur40 ,while the #aej-;foot-square plat cost #ajj1 another old deed shows that ,cloud paid ,johnson only #bfj for #aja acres of good forest land at the foot of the mountain4 ,another enterprising showman operated sometime in the ,roaring ,forties4 ,his name has been lost1 but some of the work he did can still be seen4 ,he cut a trail for #bej feet1 high up along the steep face extending out from the ,buzzard's ,roost1 installed an iron railing1 and charged anyone who had the courage for such an adventure twenty-five cents to walk gingerly out to the end and back4 ,illustration3 ,these boulders guard the approach to ,buzzard's ,roost1 a grove of gnarled pines near the top4 ,stone ,mountain's only airplane crash occurred in this area4 ,illustration3 ,broken ledges and scattered blocks of stone show where granite was quarried4 ,illustration3 ,a coach was left when the ,stone ,mountain railway was abandoned4 ,in one respect the fellow was a hundred years ahead of his time4 ,he solved the traffic problem completely4 ,since only one person could go out at a time1 there was never a jam or collision4 ,but ambition was his undoing4 ,while extending his trail still farther he blew himself into oblivion with a premature explosion of blasting powder4 ,correspondent ,richards especially mentioned ,terminus as one of the places he could see through ,cloud's telescope because the magic new town was very much in the news4 ,in #ahdb engineers had just completed a survey to establish the northernmost route a railroad could be built from ,augusta1 the head of navigation on the ,savannah ,river1 around the ,blue ,ridge ,mountains and on to ,chattanooga1 a growing steamboat town on the ,tennessee4 ,terminus had been renamed ,marthasville and then ,atlanta by the time the first train came over the line in #ahde4 ,most of the town's leading citizens were waiting at ,stone ,mountain to board it for a triumphal ride into their new city4 ,the railroad had suddenly become so much more important than the stage line that ,new ,gibraltar moved over beside the tracks4 ,in #ahdg the legislature granted the town a charter as ,stone ,mountain and also gave the granite knoll1 which had been called ,rock ,mountain and ,stony ,mountain1 the official name of ,stone ,mountain4 ,that year a spur track was built from the depot out to a point between the two inns operated by ,andrew ,johnson and ,aaron ,cloud4 ,another historic event took place on that first train ride from ,stone ,mountain to ,atlanta1 in #ahde4 ,the local leaders discussed organizing an agricultural society to promote better farming and merchandising methods4 ,the first meeting of the ,south ,central ,agricultural ,society was held at the mountain in #ahdf1 with #fa charter members4 ,the following year the ,society held a fair at ,stone ,mountain4 ,a ,savannah reporter1 covering the event for his paper1 wrote3 8,wagons1 carriages1 carts and pedestrians are arriving every minute4 ,ladies form a very large proportion40 ,the correspondent's concluding notation1 that he slept in a room with twenty-eight other people1 explains why the fair was held at ,stone ,mountain only two seasons4 ,it was moved to more populous ,atlanta and grew into the great ,southeastern ,fair1 while the society evolved into the ,georgia ,department of ,agriculture4 ,the ,civil ,war touched ,stone ,mountain to the extent that the flow of tourists stopped1 and a detachment of ,union cavalry swooped in and burned most of the town1 sending up columns to join the smoke from ,atlanta1 ,decatur and other unfortunate neighbors4 ,stone ,mountain's granite1 being too heavy for long hauls by wagon1 had no commercial value whatever until the coming of the railroad4 ,the spur line built in #ahdg surely hauled rock as well as tourists4 ,the first official mention of the granite industry appears on a deed filed in #ahfc1 when ,w4 ,b4 ,wood and ,john ,j4 ,meador sold a parcel of land1 but reserved quarrying rights4 ,in the ,reconstruction ,period1 when ,southern industry was at its lowest ebb1 the granite quarries flourished4 ,growing towns needed paving blocks and curb stones4 ,buildings destroyed in the war had to be replaced4 ,william ,h4 and ,samuel ,h4 ,venable1 as the ,venable ,brothers1 expanded until they had acquired the entire mountain in #ahhg1 estimating that altogether it cost them #dh1jjj4 ,the firm operated for seventy more years1 extending the railroad line around to the east side1 where the finest stone was found4 ,stone ,mountain granite paved principal streets in most of the ,southeastern towns4 ,at the height of their operation1 the quarries were turning out #bjj1jjj paving blocks and #b1jjj feet of curbing a day4 ,in addition1 building stones went into the ,atlanta ,federal ,penitentiary1 the famous ,fulton ,tower jail1 many post offices1 courthouses1 warehouses1 and commercial buildings1 into the foundations of skyscrapers1 to ,panama for the canal locks2 and tremendous blocks of granite were shipped to the seacoasts from ,charleston to ,new ,orleans for breakwaters4 ,will ,t4 ,venable1 who grew up in the house nearest the steep side of the mountain1 told the writer of his boyhood there in the eighties for an article published sixty years later4 8,the rarest sight is a rainbow on the mountain's face10 ,mr4 ,venable said4 8,i have seen but two or three in my lifetime4 ,they can only appear very early in the morning1 since the big rock faces to the north4 ,the bow always starts on the ground1 climbs the mountain and disappears on top4 ,it almost makes you believe you might find a pot of gold up there4 8,when it rains1 the side of the mountain looks like a waterfall4 ,the water turns into foam and literally bubbles down4 ,when ,i was a youngster we used to hang our clothes on convenient limbs and stand under the falls for a foam bath4 ,it was pleasant while you were taking it1 but when you dried off1 you found yourself covered with very fine1 hard sand1 which itched like the mischief4 ,as you look at the side of the mountain1 you see the courses taken by the water as it pours off4 ,a close-up shows that the water has eroded little ditches two or three inches deep4 8,the greatest show we ever had was the work on the carving10 ,mr4 ,venable continued4 8,if you have ever stood fascinated while a steam shovel dug a hole in flat ground1 maybe you can imagine how the work on the mountain kept us entertained40 ,an incident odd enough to be typical of ,stone ,mountain's history took place in #aibh1 just after air mail was inaugurated4 ,little single-seated biplanes gave overnight service between ,atlanta and ,new ,york1 at a period when night-flying instruments were few and crude1 and ,stone ,mountain lay directly in the path of flight4 ,at the pilots' insistence1 a contractor was commissioned to erect a safety light on top4 ,illustration3 ,lady fire watchers had an exciting ,jeep ride and a long climb to the old tower4 ,illustration3 ,fire watchers in ,jeep ,illustration3 ,fire watchers in ,jeep ,illustration3 ,the old tower ,newspapers and visitors took note of the laborious work of carrying steel poles and wire up the steep trail1 then nothing more was said or seen of the light until one dark night several weeks later ,pilot ,johnny ,kytle's plane smashed itself and nine bags of mail helter skelter up the steep slope1 arousing neighbors for miles around4 ,the ,atlanta postmaster was among those who rushed to the mountain to help ,johnny and his load of mail back to town4 ,then an investigation was launched1 to determine why there was no light on the mountain4 ,the foreman on the job brought out his work sheet1 showing how he had checked off each item--the poles1 bolts and braces1 the insulators1 the wire1 the socket1 and the final item1 he had turned on the electricity4 ,but the list given him had contained no mention of a light bulb1 so he had not screwed one in6 ,until the new recreation hall and observation tower were erected the only construction on top of the mountain in recent years was a #fj-;foot-high forest fire-watcher's tower1 manned consecutively by two women4 ,they drove up every morning and down in the evening along the foot trail by ,jeep before any semblance of a road was made1 and never had a mishap4 ,if a thundercloud approached1 they came down in a hurry1 to reach the bottom before the storm bombarded the mountain with lightning4 ,illustration3 ,this photo shows ,elias ,nour actually rescuing a dog that slid part way down the mountain4 ,night watching was done by men of the county fire department1 and they made it a point to go up before sundown and return after dawn4 ,trying to come down the mountain at night is a fearsome experience1 say those who have done it4 ,every direction looks the same1 and the horizon is just a few yards away1 since the rock curves off into space4 ,the man most closely associated with ,stone ,mountain in recent years is ,elias ,nour1 whose family operated a restaurant near the foot of the east trail4 ,when ,elias was thirteen he let himself be lowered at the end of a rope to rescue a boy who had slipped over the crest and was clinging for his life to a tiny depression in the rock4 ,since then he has rescued thirty-three more persons who ventured so far down the mountainside that they could not climb back4 ,a peculiar thing1 he noted1 is that hardly any of the people he saved ever bothered to thank him4 ,mostly they seemed embarrassed at having got themselves into such a predicament1 and they also appeared to think that saving lives was part of his duties4 ,an exception was a large dog1 that clung whining to the rock until young ,nour reached his side4 ,the dog behaved perfectly while they were being hauled to safety4 ,once on top he jumped upon ,mr4 ,nour so suddenly that he knocked him down1 then licked his face and neck thoroughly before he was pulled away4 ,there is no record of the number who have fallen to their deaths at ,stone ,mountain1 but it probably is far over a hundred4 ,some no doubt were suicides1 but the great majority were innocent victims of the mountain's treachery4 ,the great dome rounds off so smoothly1 and the curve downward increases so gradually that the too-venturesome explorer does not realize he is in trouble until he begins to slide1 or attempts to climb back up4 ,then he is fortunate indeed if he can find a tiny crevice or slight depression that he can cling to until help comes down to him from above4 ,one of the first acts of the new ,stone ,mountain ,memorial ,association was to erect a steel storm fence around the rim of the mountain1 probably about the same location as the ancient rock wall1 as a grim warning that venturing farther would be courting disaster4 ,,flora ,illustration3 uncaptioned ,if you wish to see a ,hypericum splendens1 you will look for it on the steep slopes of ,stone ,mountain4 ,this little hardwood shrub1 about three feet tall with bright yellow blossoms1 is found nowhere else on earth--not even on the similar1 but lesser1 granite outcrops of the area1 in ,de,kalb and ,rockdale ,counties4 ,the ,hypericums grow thickest in tiny crevices about halfway up the mountain and most are on the southwest side4 ,none are found at the top nor the bottom4 ,the saucy little golden blossoms with many stamens are about an inch across1 and they appear in terminal clusters at the end of branches4 ,just a few open at a time1 so blooming is continuous through most of ,june and ,july4 ,the hardy little plant seems immune to drought and even indifferent to weather4 ,rain or shine1 hot or cold1 has no effect on its growth or blossoms4 ,but each plant has a life expectancy of only about three years1 after which it dies down completely1 to be replaced by descendants coming up from seed4 ,the great whale-shaped mountain of granite1 far from being the bare rock that it appears1 is literally covered with plant life4 ,thirty specimens of plants are listed as rare1 and many more are so uncommon or so regional as to be total strangers to nearly all visitors4 ,botanists from ,emory and ,georgia ,state ,universities in nearby ,atlanta1 and the ,university of ,georgia in ,athens1 have regarded ,stone ,mountain as their special laboratory since the schools were founded4 ,in #aifa a full-time horticulturist was employed to live on the mountain4 ,harold ,cox1 from ,stratford1 ,england1 studied at the ,royal ,botanical ,gardens at ,kew4 ,his assistant1 ,gerhard ,oortman1 grew up working in the magnificent gardens of ,eastern ,holland4 ,they have become intimately acquainted with practically every weed1 twig1 bush and tree on ,stone ,mountain4 ,they have ascertained that the ,hypericum is the only shrub that grows nowhere else4 ,hoping to have specimens where visitors could recognize them1 without running the risk of having souvenir hunters exterminate the genus1 ,cox and ,oortman rooted some cuttings in the greenhouse and set them out in a garden plot across from the carving--and saw them promptly wither and die4 ,however1 some seed planted in the same ground have sprouted and seem to be thriving4 ,stone ,mountain's botanical treasures are governed partly by the seasons and partly by the amount of soil available4 ,the most spectacular of the unusual plants is the ,viguiera porteri4 ,it is so rare that it had no common name until the ,stone ,mountain natives titled it ,confederate ,daisy4 ,it has relatives in ,mexico1 but the ,american branch is confined entirely to ,stone ,mountain and other granite outcrops of ,georgia's ,piedmont ,plateau4 ,the ,confederate ,daisy grows in swales or crevices where sand or soil has collected to a depth of three or four inches to a foot4 ,the plants would be regarded as skimpy little weeds throughout spring and summer4 ,a dry summer stunts the year's crop4 ,but when frequent showers dampen the mountain's surface1 the scrawny plants put on a big spurt of growth in ,august4 ,about the middle of ,september they burst into great beds of blooms1 making the nearly bare rock look like a golden meadow4 ,the profusion of color lasts until mid ,october4 ,in early spring the ,diamorpha cymosa spread like a bright red carpet where soil is half to an inch deep4 ,the color is in the plants1 two or three inches tall1 and in the succulent round leaves4 ,tiny white blossoms detract1 rather than add1 to the color4 ,the ,amphianthus pusillus has no common name4 ,it is a member of the snapdragon family1 but is so small that it is rarely noticed except by naturalists who are looking for it4 ,however1 it leads a remarkable existence4 ,the ,amphianthus lives in the rain pits on top of the mountain1 small sunken areas where water collects after each shower4 ,when the pit dries up1 the only sign of the plant is a little cyst under the sand and gravel at the bottom4 ,immediately after a rain the cyst sends up a little rosette of reed-like leaves that stay submerged4 ,from their midst a thread-like stem arises and sprouts two leaves half an inch across1 that float on the surface4 ,a tiny bud appears between the two leaves1 and opens into a white flower no more than one-sixteenth of an inch across4 ,when the pool dries up1 the plant disappears1 quickly turning to dust1 except for the cyst1 which waits patiently for the next rain to bring it back to life4 ,the ,amphianthus is not exclusive with ,stone ,mountain4 ,it has been seen on ,mount ,rollaway in ,rockdale ,county1 but it is missing from some of the other granite outcrops4 ,cox called it a monotypic genus1 which means it is represented by the one genus4 ,sharing the larger rain pits are fairy shrimp1 whose lives are frequently interrupted4 ,these minute crustaceans1 hardly more than an eighth of an inch long1 look considerably like ocean-going shrimp when viewed through a magnifying glass1 and they even swim backward4 ,they disappear when the pits dry up1 and come back soon after the next rain4 ,it is presumed that all mature specimens die in the drought1 leaving eggs which hatch when the water returns4 ,the dark gray color of ,stone ,mountain is not the granite1 but the lichens which grow on practically all the weathered stone4 ,behaving like booby traps1 these pioneer plants have tricked a number of venturesome climbers to their deaths4 ,in a rain they absorb water and become quite slippery1 almost as if the stone were coated with grease4 ,in dry weather they crumble underfoot and the tiny particles roll like shot to start a hiker sliding4 ,walking on almost level ground can become an adventure4 ,the lichens are a pioneer plant form1 a symbiotic relationship of fungi and algae4 ,a fungus1 unable to manufacture carbohydrates when alone1 must live as a parasite on another plant4 ,an alga can manufacture sugar or starch1 provided it is kept moist and has the necessary ingredients4 ,working as partners1 the fungi absorb and hold moisture and dissolve some essential chemicals from the rock2 the algae mix these and cook with the sun's energy to make food for the partnership4 ,their assault is the first step in reducing stone to soil4 ,in this duty they are followed by grasses1 weeds1 shrubs and finally trees4 ,there are three growth types of fungi3 crustose1 which appears as thin crusts on the rocks1 and is the most prevalent at ,stone ,mountain2 foliose1 which has leaflike body and draws almost recognizable pictures2 and fruticose1 which stands up in mossy little clumps4 ,illustration3 ,two young explorers beside a rain pit at the top1 where fairy shrimp and the rare ,amphianthus pusillus live4 ,illustration3 uncaptioned ,stone ,mountain has a rare genus of the crustose1 the ,pyrenopsis phaecocca which is found only in ,georgia1 on the granite outcrops of the ,piedmont section from ,atlanta to ,augusta4 ,another crustose variety is a dull1 dark red and grows in splotches1 so it looks as if a boy with a wide brush had been smearing the boulders with barn paint4 ,some of ,stone ,mountain's fruticose lichens stand up like little powder puffs an inch or two tall1 and are comparative to the extensive reindeer moss of ,alaska's tundras4 ,in a long drought many of the little clumps break off and go blowing about the mountainside like miniature tumbleweeds4 ,veteran quarrymen have noted that it takes about #be years for a freshly broken piece of granite to weather sufficiently for lichens to grow4 ,most spectacular of all ,stone ,mountain's plant life are the trees4 ,gnarled and twisted red cedars1 almost a foot in diameter1 cling desperately to narrow cracks in the deep slopes4 ,some are estimated at #ejj to #hjj years old1 and they look every bit of their age4 ,pines1 stooped and bent by mountain winds and stunted by long summer droughts1 poke their roots into rock crevices and strain mightily to widen the slits4 ,some of these may be #aej years old4 ,on the other hand1 a giant loblolly growing in the rich red loam at the foot of the mountain1 near the grist mill1 measured nine feet in circumference1 and had only #ij growth rings4 ,along the foot trail up the west slope are tall slim pines growing almost normally in what appears to be little patches of dirt4 ,there may be deep loam-filled crevices below1 but the health of the trees in such sparse soil attests to the rich mineral content4 ,high up on the eastern slope1 where a little silt has accumulated1 is a small pine forest called ,buzzard's ,roost4 ,illustration3 uncaptioned ,illustration3 uncaptioned ,a rare tree is the ,quercus ,georgiana1 or ,georgia oak1 which grows1 but hardly flourishes1 on ,stone ,mountain and neighboring outcrops4 ,it has small glossy leaves two or three inches long1 and tiny acorns4 ,few grow taller than about #be feet4 ,where enough dirt collects there may be blackberries1 huckleberries1 and muscadine vines4 ,songbirds flock in great numbers to the gardens and groves around the foot of ,stone ,mountain1 but there is little wild life up on the rock1 itself4 ,the soaring birds1 such as vultures and hawks1 are well acquainted with the updrafts which lift them skyward like elevators when the wind strikes the steep1 smooth slopes1 and they know where to find the best rides for each direction the wind blows4 ,while the memorial was being carved1 workmen noticed a large hawk that soared by at eye level nearly every day1 apparently quite interested in what they were doing4 ,the men began leaving scraps of food at a certain place near the top of the carving4 ,the bird flew in for lunch every afternoon1 and he did not seem to mind if the men were working quite near4 ,however1 the loud roar of the jet torch disturbed him4 ,when it was in operation he delayed his lunch until the flame was turned off4 ,the workmen placed their lunches in a locker in a shed at the foot of the mountain every morning4 ,they began finding the latch unfastened and the tastiest sandwiches missing1 and soon identified the thief by footprints in the dust--a raccoon4 ,a more intricate latch kept the coon out of the locker4 ,the men put out food for him1 and he always picked it up after they were gone1 but he did not fare as well on charity as he had done while stealing4 ,stone ,mountain has birds and bees and shrimp and lizards1 but no snakes4 ,harold ,cox reported that he had not seen a single one in all his years there4 ,,geology ,illustration3 uncaptioned ,stone ,mountain1 sixteen miles east of ,atlanta1 is the world's largest exposed granite monolith4 ,it is as great a wonder to geologists today as it was to ,indian medicine men of ancient times4 ,while geologists know how it was formed and what it is made of1 they still are amazed at its tremendous size1 its wonderful symmetry and its location1 high and alone on a gently rolling plateau over thirty miles from its nearest mountain neighbor4 ,this mountain is a perfect example of the unbelievably powerful forces and the eternal patience of nature1 for it was a million years in the making and lay a hundred million years incubating before it arose like a great egg on a vast plain in another hundred million years4 ,stone ,mountain is #a1fhc feet above sea level1 and #hbe feet above the surrounding land which is itself a dividing ridge4 ,rain water running off the eastern slope goes into the lake and out by the ,yellow ,river4 ,that on the west finds its way to ,south ,river4 ,the streams join #ej miles away at ,lake ,jackson and flow on by the ,ocmulgee and ,altamaha to the ,atlantic ,ocean4 ,three or four miles to the north1 headwaters of ,peachtree ,creek start their long trip to the ,gulf of ,mexico by way of the ,chattahoochee and ,apalachicola4 ,the exposed granite of ,stone ,mountain covers #be million square feet1 or #ehc acres4 ,a surveyor figured the mass at #g1ecb1gej1iej cubic feet4 ,since that time several million cubic feet have been quarried and shipped away1 but all of man's endeavors show as insignificant peelings taken from the western and eastern slopes4 ,granite weighs #afg4i pounds per cubic foot1 if you are interested in computing the weight of ,stone ,mountain4 ,granite is the universal stone1 containing practically all the natural elements from uranium and aluminum to iron and silica and the rarer minerals4 ,it decomposes into fertile soil1 as is readily seen by the growth that springs up where a little dirt and moisture collect on the gentler slopes of the mountain4 ,stone ,mountain is near the foot of the ,appalachians1 an extremely ancient mountain chain originally composed of granite gneiss4 ,the peaks1 in their youth1 rose much higher than the brash young ,rockies1 or even taller than the ,himalayas4 ,three hundred million years ago1 when ,stone ,mountain was born1 the land in the area stood perhaps #aj1jjj feet higher than it does now4 ,during a period that may have lasted a million years or more1 molten stone under tremendous pressure was pushed upward from deep in the earth4 ,if the force behind it had been sufficient to drive it out at the surface1 the rock would have cooled rapidly and would have assumed a different form4 ,the weight of two miles or so of rocks and earth overhead was sufficient to contain the tremendous pressure of the molten flow1 so the upper crust literally floated on a hot liquid base4 ,something had to give as liquid rock thrust into an area where there was no space4 ,forty miles or so to the northwest is a chain of mountains1 of which ,kennesaw is the tallest1 formed by pressure from the side which buckled underlying rocks up like a steep roof1 or folded layers over each other4 ,some of that pressure may have been applied by ,stone ,mountain4 ,this admittedly is theory--upper layers which held much of the factual story have long since washed away4 ,illustration3 uncaptioned ,since the intruding material was contained in its original prison cell and held under constant pressure1 it cooled gradually1 a process which took perhaps a hundred million years4 ,by cooling slowly1 the molecules formed compact1 uniform crystals4 ,meanwhile the older1 softer granite overhead was weathering and turning to soil and eroding away4 ,some went to extend the coastal area of southeast ,georgia and some to help build up the rich black belt of ,south ,alabama4 ,in the two hundred million years since the intrusion1 the two-mile-thick overlay has eroded down to its present level1 leaving the hard core of ,stone ,mountain standing up like a great gray egg4 ,the surface of the mountain wears very slowly--scuffing feet of millions of visitors have left barely discernible marks along the western trail4 ,meanwhile the original crust is still wearing away at a rapid rate1 so ,stone ,mountain is continuing to grow taller in reference to its base4 ,around the base have been noted fingers of ,stone ,mountain granite extending outward into the old rock1 or sometimes soil1 where the molten material was forced into crevices during the lateral movement of underground strata4 ,the mountain is a natural target for lightning4 ,thunderclouds bombard it with their heaviest artillery4 ,a bolt of lightning behaves very much like the thermo-jet torch4 ,its extreme heat converts moisture in underlying molecules to steam and literally blasts off the surface crystals1 making a slight saucer-shaped depression four to six inches across4 ,heat fuses the bottom of the depression1 leaving a slick1 glassy surface4 ,every lightning bolt for many years has left its mark4 ,it is noticeable that they are thickest not on the highest points1 but in depressions4 ,meteorologists say that is where the first drops from a shower soak into the granite and therefore make the best ground to attract the lightning4 ,from the time ,gutzon ,borglum began carving in #aibc1 stone rubble piled up at the base of the mountain below the monument4 ,hardly a man alive could remember what lay under it4 ,after nearly fifty years1 when the rubble was removed1 there was revealed a low hill of the original granite gneiss peeping out from under the mountain1 or more accurately1 pushing into its side4 ,the old rock clearly shows how it was twisted1 turned and tortured by the great pressures of two hundred million years ago4 ,unable to shove aside this lot of rock1 the molten mass tried to engulf and digest it4 ,we see only the tip top of ,stone ,mountain4 ,the shape around the base that will be revealed when more of the surrounding rock erodes away in the next million years is anybody's guess4 ,the depth surely is infinite1 for it is still connected down through the channel by which it spewed upward4 ,stone ,mountain is unique4 ,chemical makeup of the granite1 and its physical characteristics1 are different enough from all other stone in the ,southeast to indicate that this is the only portion of that ancient flow of molten rock that has yet reached the surface4 ,,acknowledgments ,a ,short ,history of ,georgia1 by ,e4 ,merton ,coulter4 ,university of ,north ,carolina ,press1 ,chapel ,hill1 ,n4 ,c41 #aicc4 ,georgia's ,landmarks1 ,memorials and ,legends1 ,volume ,,ii1 by ,lucian ,lamar ,knight4 ,byrd ,printing ,co41 ,atlanta1 #aiac4 ,georgia3 ,unfinished ,state1 by ,hal ,steed4 ,alfred ,a4 ,knopf1 ,new ,york1 #aidb4 ,empire ,builders of ,georgia1 by ,ruth ,elgin ,suddeth1 ,isa ,lloyd ,osterhout and ,george ,lewis ,hutcheson4 ,the ,steck ,company1 ,austin1 ,tex41 #aifb4 ,georgia3 ,a ,guide to the ,towns and ,countryside4 ,federal ,writing ,project1 ,university of ,georgia ,press1 ,athens1 #aidj4 ,story of ,georgia1 ,volume ,,iii1 by ,walter ,g4 ,cooper4 ,the ,american ,historical ,society1 ,inc41 ,new ,york1 #aich4 ,cyclopedia of ,georgia1 ,volume ,,iii1 by ,ex-,governor ,allen ,b4 ,candler and ,general ,clement ,a4 ,evans4 ,state ,historical ,association1 ,atlanta1 #aijf4 ,sal-,o-,quah or ,boy ,life ,among the ,cherokees1 by ,francis ,r4 ,goulding4 ,macon1 ,ga41 #ahgj4 ,how ,stone ,mountain ,was ,created1 by ,poole ,maynard1 ,ph4,d4 ,waverly ,press1 ,inc41 ,baltimore1 ,u4 ,s4 ,a41 #aibi4 ,a ,temple of ,sacred ,memories in the ,breast of a ,granite ,mountain1 by ,augustus ,lukeman4 ,lyon-,young1 #aibg4 ,history of ,stone ,mountain1 by ,leila ,venable ,mason ,eldredge4 #aiej4 ,miscellanies of ,georgia1 by ,absalom ,h4 ,chappell4 ,gilbert ,printing ,co41 ,columbus1 ,ga41 #ahgd4 ,the ,history of ,stone ,mountain ,memorial1 by ,mildred ,lewis ,rutherford1 ,state ,historian of ,georgia ,division of ,united ,daughters of the ,confederacy4 ,files of ,the ,atlanta ,journal1 ,the ,atlanta ,constitution1 ,the ,atlanta ,georgian1 ,the ,atlanta ,journal ,magazine1 ,the ,atlanta ,journal and ,constitution ,magazine4 ,the ,mary ,carter ,winter ,stone ,mountain ,collection1 donated to the ,georgia ,department of ,archives and ,history4 ,page #d3 ,borglum studio photo1 courtesy ,mary ,carter ,winters ,page #e3 ,blast photo1 courtesy ,arthur ,b4 ,kellogg ,page #f3 ,lukeman photo1 courtesy ,augustus ,lukeman family ,page #g3 ,workmen photo1 courtesy ,mary ,carter ,winters2 ,lukeman model photo by ,roy ,faulkner ,page #h3 ,lukeman unveiling photo by ,kenneth ,rogers ,page #aa3 ,upper left photo by ,joe ,tucker ,page #ab3 ,torch photos by ,frank ,rippitoe2 ,hancock and model photo by ,roy ,faulkner ,page #af3 ,photo by ,kenneth ,rogers ,page #bj-ba3 ,carving color photo by ,sara ,stilwell ,page #bc3 ,flower color photos by ,kenneth ,rogers ,page #bf3 ,photo by ,kenneth ,rogers ,page #bi3 ,photo by ,kenneth ,rogers ,page #cb3 ,jeep photos by ,sara ,stilwell ,page #cc3 ,tower photo by ,kenneth ,rogers ,page #ci3 ,photo by ,sara ,stilwell ,page #dj-da3 ,photos by ,kenneth ,rogers ,page #dd3 ,photo by ,kenneth ,rogers ,,back ,,cover ,,photos ,scenes from the formal dedication of the ,stone ,mountain ,memorial ,carving1 ,may1 #aigj4 ,illustration3 ,top left3 #bj1jjj guests attended the ceremonies4 ,center left3 ,georgia ,senator ,herman ,talmadge 7,l7 and ,stone ,mountain ,mayor ,randolph ,medlock4 ,center3 ,young bandsmen from across the state participated in day-long musical events4 ,right3 ,georgia ,secretary of ,state ,ben ,w4 ,fortson1 ,jr4 was chairman of the ,stone ,mountain ,memorial ,association during the dedication year4 ,lower3 ,the ,vice ,president and his party arrived by helicopter1 flying directly by the carving4 ,transcriber's ,notes --,silently corrected a few typos4 --,retained publication information from the printed edition3 this e,book is public-domain in the country of publication4 --,in the text versions only1 text in italics is delimited by underscores4