June 1997

Watauga River in Elizabethton

There is a marker here on the north side of the Watauga River at Elizabethton that says "John Carter" and "The Immigrant Trail". I'd like to hear from someone what the Immigrant Trail was. Anyway, that's not why I took the photo. I wanted to show the old bridge piers from the now demolished Southern Railroad bridge. The Southern crossed the Watauga here and went north and east. The highway bridge is on the right. The railroad bridge washed out in the 1940 flood. The Watauga must have been a sight to see because it's way below the piers. Don't know when the highway bridge was built, but I suspect that it was after the flood. It's the same height as the railroad bridge and very likely would have washed away too if it had been there.