Editing Newport, Tennessee (section)

===Alexander Arthur and the logging boom===
[[File:Newport-pigeon-river-tennessee.jpg|right|210px|thumb|The Pigeon River in Newport]]
Innovations in the [[logging]] industry in the late 19th century led to a rapid [[deforestation]] of the [[Ohio Valley]] and [[Mississippi Delta]]. Logging companies eventually turned to the [[timber]]-rich forests of Southern Appalachia to keep up with the increasing demand for wood, and [[band saw]] mills began spring up in towns located along the base of the mountains.

In 1880, Canadian-born entrepreneur [[Alexander Arthur]] (1846–1912), representing the Scottish Carolina Timber and Land Company, arrived in Newport with ambitious plans to log the Pigeon valley. Arthur's plan called for the construction of a series of [[dam]]s and [[log boom|boom]]s which would be used to move logs from the higher elevations downstream using the river's current. The logs would eventually be floated all the way to [[Knoxville, Tennessee|Knoxville]]. The operation would be based in Newport, with a [[sawmill]] in the higher elevations at Pigeon Valley (now [[Hartford, Tennessee]]).

Over the next six years, Arthur and his team of engineers and lumberjacks&mdash;some from as far away as [[South Africa]] and Europe&mdash;cut and sawed thousands of logs which they stocked behind a large dam. Arthur built an extravagant house in Newport and even made proposals to modernize the town square.<ref>Wilma Dykeman, ''The French Broad'' (New York: Rinehart, 1955), 167-174.</ref>

The residents of Newport&mdash;who were nonplussed by the flashy and energetic Arthur&mdash;warned the entrepreneur about the Pigeon River's volatility. While the mountain streams of Southern Appalachia appear calm and serene on a typical day, torrential rains in the higher elevations can turn these streams into raging whitewater rapids. In the spring of 1886, the warnings of the locals became reality when a [[cloudburst]] hit the Balsam Mountains near the Pigeon's source and the river became a raging torrent. All day long, Arthur and his team fought ferociously to secure the dam holding back the company's precious stock of logs. That evening, one of Arthur's engineers returned to Newport briefly to rest. Before leaving again, he told the anxious wives of the company men and the curious Newportians that if they heard the whistle, all would be "gone to hell". Historian Wilma Dykeman described that night:

<blockquote>
Just before daybreak at the depth of the dark and rain, the waiting women and all the rest of the wakefull town heard the great crash as the booms burst, and the cry of the whistle signaled the men's defeat. Logs from thousands of trees boiled over the broken dams, smashed together in a grinding roar and surged on down the current like giant toothpicks tossed by some elemental energy.<ref>Wilma Dykeman, ''The French Broad'' (New York: Rinehart, 1955), 174.</ref>
</blockquote>

His venture now bankrupt, Alexander moved to Knoxville to start rebuilding his fortune. He would later be instrumental in the founding of [[Middlesboro, Kentucky]].<ref>Carolyn Sakowski, ''Touring the East Tennessee Backroads'' (Winston-Salem: J.F. Blair, 1993), 236.</ref> The residents of Newport converted Scottish Timber's now-abandoned commissary into a saloon.<ref>Wilma Dykeman, ''The French Broad'' (New York: Rinehart, 1955), 175.</ref>