View from Rabun County

This photo was taken few years ago from atop Big Scaley Mountain (5060') on the GA/NC line looking south. What you see is the entire drainage of the upper Tallulah River. To the right, 2500' below, is Tate City (pop. 32), one of the most remote communities in Georgia. Named for Howard Tate, a lumber boss in the lumber camp constructed there just before WW I. The Morse Brothers Lumber company cut a railroad from their Robertstown Mill above Helen to access this valley that until then was practically inaccessible other than by foot or on horseback. To the left, in the distance is Lake Burton (1865'), the highest of the lakes in the North Georgia Hydro Project, the first integrated hydroelectric system built in North America. Construction on the six dams started in 1910 and was finished with the closing of the Burton Dam in 1920. The builder was the Georgia Railway and Power Company, a precursor of Georgia Power. The trail to the top is via the Beech Creek Loop in the Southern Nantahala Wilderness, one of the Southeast's most outstanding day hikes.
Mike Maffett