French Broad

INCOMPLETE YO—-

A little history because it’s too cool not to mention: The French Broad is the third oldest river in the world (only the Nile and the New predate it) meaning it existed and had this south to north run prior to the mountains existing around it. “It existed before a huge landmass crashed into the eastern shores of the main body of land that is now North America. When the collision took place, over thousands of years in duration and millions of years ago, the land slowly buckled and began the formation of the Appalachian Chain. As the mountains gained height, the river kept flowing, cutting into and through them as they rose. When the French Broad river was young, so was the world.”

French Broad: Before the white settlers arrived to the region, the French Broad had many other names. The Cherokee called the river “long man,” and its many tributaries the “chattering children.” ”Tahkeyostee,” or “where they race,” was the region south of Asheville, “Zillicoah” to the north, and “Poelico“ meaning “broad” in the mountains. The French who settled in the northern area of the river’s watershed called it the Agiqua River.

The earliest settlers in the area called the river the ‘broad’ because it was one of the widest rivers in the area, impressively so, compared to all the small creeks nearby. To distinguish it from the few other wide rivers in the region (such as the Broad River, Rocky Broad, etc) the settlers drew upon its other most interesting feature- the fact that it runs south to north, unlike most rivers in the United States. At the time of its naming, the land to the north was owned by the French. The river’s name is fairly literal- it is a wide river that flowed into the French territory.

Frank Bell’s: According to his grandson, Frank “Chief” Bell, director of Camp Mondamin (one of the premier paddling camps of the time), was taking a small group of campers down section nine of the French Broad in 1923 in wooden canoes. The water level was up and, as they approached the rapid in question, the biggest of the run, “Chief and his camper partner James McClester attempted to run the rapid and ended up in the infamous hole at the bottom. When their boat came out sometime later, all the seats and twarts had blown out and the boat had completely lost its shape and essentially was destroyed. James was thrown free of the hole, but Chief was re-circulated. He was plunged so deep into the hole that he later developed the belief, based on the experience, that life jackets were a bad idea.”

 

founder of camps Mondamin and Green Cove in Tuxedo (the camps are on the reservoir that feeds the Upper, Narrows and Lower Green).
n 1923, a year after founding Camp Mondamin in Tuxedo, Frank Bell had the notion to take a group of campers all the way to the Mississippi River by water. The eddying current swallowed the canoe and tossed it end over end, forcing Chief and his apprentice to swim to the sandy beach below the rapid. They had to acquire another canoe before they could proceed on their journey. Thirty days later, they reached the Mississippi

Tom’s Tunnel: “Named after Tom Blue. The “tunnel” is on the right side of the island at a rapid called Pit Stop on Section IX of the French Broad (the rapid is also sometimes called Pinball, but that generally refers to the left side of the island). The tunnel is formed by two boulders that touch; the water did not actually carve a hole through solid rock. Nonetheless, it is truly a tunnel; there is nothing but rock over your head for five feet or so and it is barely wide enough for a Gyramax to fit. You line yourself up to drop through by placing one hand on the rock face on either side of the entrance. The vertical drop is quite small (only a foot or so) and the tunnel is frequently filled with debris.
Unlike many of the names in this thread, the name was not the result of a mishap but was given after an intentional run by Tom in 1984.”

 

Sources:
Wikipedia
History of RiverLink
A History of Whitewater Paddling in Western North Carolina: Water Wise – Will Leverette – June 2008 pub.
chris bell via boatertalk