Oconaluftee River
Oconaluftee River Egwanulti | |
---|---|
Native name | |
Location | |
Country | United States |
State | North Carolina |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Beech Flats Prong |
Mouth | |
• location | Tuckasegee River |
• coordinates | 35°58′7″N 83°36′15″W / 35.96861°N 83.60417°W |
Length | 30 mi (48 km) |
Discharge | |
• location | Birdtown |
• average | 518 cu ft/s (14.7 m3/s)[3] |
Basin features | |
The Oconaluftee River[4] drains the south-central Oconaluftee valley of the Great Smoky Mountains in Western North Carolina before emptying into the Tuckasegee River. The river flows through the Qualla Boundary, a federal land trust that serves as a reserve for the Eastern Band of the Cherokee, the only federally recognized tribe in North Carolina. They bought the land back from the federal government in the 1870s, after having been pushed off and forced to cede it earlier in the 19th century. Several historic Cherokee towns are known to have been located along this river.
Hydrography
Beech Flats Prong is a stream formed by the convergence of several spring outlets high in the
Present-day Bryson City in Swain County developed just upriver of this confluence.[5] The Oconaluftee passes through the settlements of Smokemount, the Oconaluftee Village and Hospital, the town of Cherokee, base of the EBCI; Indian Hills, and Birdtown before emptying into the Tuckasegee.
History
For thousands of years, indigenous peoples occupied this region, generally living near the waterways. The historic
During the 1830s and the time of Indian removals from the Southeast, the Cherokee were allowed the chance to purchase plots of land for individual households, if they agreed to leave the tribe. They were then considered U.S. and state citizens, not subject to removal.
About 500 Cherokee led by Yonaguska lived on land along the Oconaluftee, which was owned by William Holland Thomas, a white man who held it in trust for the Cherokee, to protect it for them. They were originally prohibited from buying land where the European Americans were settling. He had been adopted by the Cherokee as a boy, and he enabled this band of Cherokee to remain, safe from removal. They were joined by a smaller band of about 150 people, who lived along the Nantahala River and were led by Utsala. Other groups living in Snowbird and along the Cheoah River (in Tomotley) also stayed in the region. If needed, they could all gather on the land held in trust by Thomas and be protected. Today their descendants comprise most of the Eastern Band of Cherokee, numbering approximately 2,000 people. In the 1870s, the Cherokee people expanded their lands in North Carolina with the purchase of the Qualla Boundary.
Since the late 20th century, archeological remains have been found in the eleven westernmost counties of North Carolina, especially in the flat bottomlands about the mouth of Mingus Creek, Toe String Creek, Bradley Fork, and Collins Creek.[9][10]
Notes
- ^ Powell, William S.; The North Carolina Gazetteer; Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press; [1968].
- ^ U.S. Board on Geographic Names. Geographic Names Post Phase I Board/Staff Revisions. 01-Jan-2000. Board decisions referenced after Phase I data compilation or staff researched non-controversial names.
- ^ "USGS Surface Water data for North Carolina: USGS Surface-Water Annual Statistics".
- ^ "Oconaluftee River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
- ^ Oconaluftee River; GeoNames; US gov on-line; accessed August 2019
- ISBN 978-0870497261
- ISBN 978-0-8061-3598-4. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
- ISBN 978-0486289076;
- ^ Southern Indian Studies, vol. 2 - No. 2; Wood, William; Wilburn, Hiram; Archeological Society of North Carolina and The Laboratory of Anthropology & Archeology [at] The University of North Carolina; Chapel Hill; (October 1950); pdf download
- ^ {{cite web}|url= |last=Steere|first=Benjamin A. |publisher=Western Carolina University}}