The waters that gather above the Chickamauga Dam have quite naturally obliterated some old village sites and some prehistoric mounds. It was fortunate, however, that the Department of Archaeology, under the direction of T. M. N. Lewis, of the University of Tennessee, made scientific explorations of the ancient dwelling places and the mounds. The facts and the artifacts thus obtained have been preserved for posterity. On February 26, 1940, when the navigation lock at the Chickamauga Dam was opened, since there was no Cherokee Indian to represent the aborigines who used the Tennessee to make the initial trip through it, it was a fortunate circumstance that Nature stepped in and saved the day on that memorable occasion and let a large turtle swim through. It was a splendid model for a river boat, somewhat made on the order of a submarine, a natural boat propelled by living paddles and guided by a live rudder. It passed through the lock as freely as if it had been commissioned to serve as the official representative of the river’s inhabitants. [Illustration: Military Bridge over the Tennessee River at Chattanooga in 1863] Among the historical places blotted out by waters of Chickamauga Dam was Oo-le-quah, or Dallas Island, situated a few miles upstream. On the higher ground overlooking the isle was the village of Dallas, which, in 1819, became the seat of government at the time Hamilton County, in which the Chickamauga Dam is situated, was carved out of the Hiwassee Purchase. The new county’s south boundary at that date was the Tennessee River, which up to about the year 1800, had been known to the Indians as the Hogohegee River. The Cherokees still remained in possession of the land south of the river. HARRISON When the state of Georgia, by force, took possession of the Cherokee lands within her borders, some of the prominent Indians sought refuge in Tennessee. Among those who were chased out of Georgia was Joseph Vann of Spring Place, a dozen miles east of Dalton. James Vann, the father of Joseph, had married a full-blooded Cherokee. He was a prosperous farmer. The two and a half-story brick residence he erected about the year 1797 still stands at Spring Place and has been tenanted through the years. It is looked on today as a splendid example of early architecture. [Illustration: An old boatman on the Tennessee River operating his hand-propelled paddle wheel boat.]