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The biggest change
on the map: in 1911, Avery County was formed from parts of Watauga, Caldwell and Mitchell. |
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The first
automobiles, owned by locals, arrive in the High Country. |
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Watauga County did
not grow much between the 1900 and 1910 censuses. The latter one reported 13,556
residents, only 375 lived in Boone, and fewer in Blowing Rock. |
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The 1910 census also
reflects that Watauga was 314 sq. miles or 1/163 of the state, which had 52,000 sq. miles. |
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In 1910, 217,000
bushels of corn was produced in the county, and swine were numbered at 5868. Farmers began
growing cabbage for kraut towards the end of the decade. Records show only 105 acres of
cabbage was produced in 1919. But that would quickly change. |
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In 1914, The Valle
Crucis Bank was established with $8000 capital. |
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In 1915, the total
real estate assessment of Watauga County was $1,783,963 with personal property assessments
totaling $948,866. Combined, they totaled $2,732,849. |
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In 1915, the debt of
Watauga was too slight to be mentioned. Only a few hundred dollars was owed for the new
courthouse. |
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In 1915, the tax
rate was equivalent to 33 cents on $100. |
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Towns had no real
debts and raised little or no money for street maintenance or other improvements.
Volunteers completed almost all improvements. |
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According to The
North Carolina Yearbook, 1902, in 1915, there were only three words of "directly
foreign origin" in the vocabulary of mountaineers: "doney" from Spanish or Italian "donna"
"kraut" from the Germans
"sashiate" or "sashay" from the French "chasse" |
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The North Carolina
Yearbook also pointed out that the "mountain dialect contains not one word of
Cherokee origin," even though the people had been living side-by-side for over
seventy years. |
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In 1917, thousands
of mountain boys marched off to lowland training camps and from there to France. Those who
returned brought first-hand experience with cities and modern technology. It would be
their generation who would begin making land into cities and towns, here and elsewhere in
the country. |
