There were several mills up and down First Creek, as well as Second Creek. When it came to locating a city, First Creek was probably as important as the Tennessee because it provided mill power. And, of course, the Tennessee reached from here into Cherokee territory, beyond into Alabama, then through West Tennessee into Kentucky, and all the way to the Ohio and the Mississippi. It was transportation, it was water for drinking and cooling, it was waste disposal. How important were relatively small waterways like First Creek to the early city’s growth? J.J.: When the first settlers arrived at the site that would be Knoxville, what role did geography - especially the Tennessee River - play in their decision to settle here? How important was the river commercially in the early days? The river, of course, was fed by numerous tributaries and creeks.
Tennessee River with boat traffic, undated. In today’s edition of Hard Knox Histories, local historian and journalist Jack Neely discusses the ebbs and flows of Knoxville’s connection to the river with HKW’s editor, J.J. Today, it’s a safe bet that when most people think of the “Riverfront” they’re thinking of restaurants or maybe a fireworks display for the lucky few who can afford to belong to the yacht club, they’re maybe thinking about Labor Day weekends spent sailing with the Vol Navy. It was an economic lifeline for generations, but railroads and automobiles eventually cornered the market when it came to shipping both cargo and passengers. Since then, the city’s relationship with the river has evolved steadily. In the earliest days of the community’s existence, settlers drew water from and washed in the creeks that fed the Tennessee the river itself carried boats laden with goods hundreds of miles before ending up in New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, it’s impossible to discuss Knoxville’s history for long without the river cropping up in one way or another. The Tennessee River doesn’t loom large in the daily lives of most contemporary Knoxville residents, but two centuries ago it was literally why there was a city here in the first place. afreight with the past, dreams dispersed in the water someway, nothing ever lost.” - Cormac McCarthy, Suttree “Beyond in the dark the river flows in a sluggard ooze toward southern seas….
0 kommentar(er)
