Big Moccasin Gap Traditional Cache
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Size: 
(regular)
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Moccasin Gap, also known as Big Moccasin Gap, is a pass in Clinch Mountain, a long ridge within the Appalachian Mountains, at Gate City,Virginia.
This gap has a long history as a passageway through the mountain. It was used by the Cherokee and Shawnee, and was the first gap through which the Daniel Boone Wilderness Road passed on its way to the better-knownCumberland Gap and Kentucky. Today it serves as a primary commercial route for industry, retail, and tourism businesses.
Moccasin Gap is the more dramatic of only two true, natural gaps in the Clinch Mountain ridge. It is located in the present day state of Virginia, in Scott County. It lies between two cities; Weber City is built into the south side of the gap and Gate City is to the northwest.
The area surrounding Moccasin Gap is sedimentary which is formed by the compaction of particles of gravel, sand, silt, mud, and carbonate minerals from the repetitive rise and fall of shallow seas, dating to the Cambrian orPennsylvanian period. Moccasin Gap is a water gap that is currently traversed by a channel of water, Big Moccasin Creek which is a tributary to the North Fork Holston River.
The gap served as a vital route through the mountains for the Cherokee and Shawnee to claimed hunting grounds south of the Clinch River. Later it would also be utilized as an attacking point against settlers in the valleys, a strategy also adopted by military soldiers during both the Revolutionary and Civil wars.
In 1775, Daniel Boone and thirty ax-men built the Indian path into a road, part of the Wilderness Road between the Great Valley of Virginia and the Alleghenies, on his quest to the Kentucky River. This section of the Wilderness Road extended north from the Long Island of the Holston River in Tennessee towards the well-known Cumberland Gap at the boundary of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia.
The establishment of the Wilderness Road through the gap also brought pioneer settlers and tradesmen looking for passage to Kentucky and west. Scott County and the surrounding area praise the gap for its development as it became a significant route in commercial trade to the Ohio River Valley.
Moccasin gap is a level gap which made construction of the railway seamless. In 1886 the Southern Railway began traversing the gap to connect the Appalachia and Holston Valley divisions.
Source: (visit link)
Geocache is a camo container with log and a handmade Native American necklace for FTF prize.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ba gbc bs ebpx va sbexf bs gerr.