WALDEN RIDGE and OTHER RIDGES AND VALLEYS
From Roots of Roane County, TN, by Snyder E. Roberts, page 73
The chief feature of Roane county topography is a series of parallel, crumpled, washboard-like ridges and valleys caused eons ago by a great "thrust" on the earth’s surface from the southeast. The thrust played out at Walden Ridge and left a geological fault. Northwest of Walden Ridge the unbroken strata are horizontal, and contain almost inexhaustible seams of coal. Walden Ridge extends from Cumberland Gap to Chattanooga, and in all that distance has only five or six gaps.
In Roane County, Walden Ridge (southeast foot) was the Indian boundary from 1798 until 1805. The Jacksboro-Emory Gap Road was near this boundary, and may have been built by military forces patrolling the boundary line. Iron ore deposits are found along the foot of Walden Ridge on the southeast side. These deposits have been worked at Rockwood, Old Oakdale (Elverton) and Oliver Springs as early as 1830. Enormous salt wells were bored in the gap of Walden Ridge at Oliver Springs prior to the Civil War.
To the southeast of Walden Ridge lies Powell Valley, but locally in Anderson called "Dutch Valley", and in Roane, "Hen Valley." Mayes Valley, Dickey Valley, and beautiful Sugar Grove Valley lie between segments of Pine Ridge and Black Oak Ridge
Black Oak Ridge extends almost unbroken from Kingston to Clinton, and it bounds the Oak Ridge Project area on the north.
Wheat and Robertsville were once in East Fork Valley. Presently, the city of Oak Ridge, the Oak Ridge Turnpike, and the K-25 Plant are located within its confines. The next valley to the southeast is Bear Creek Valley which includes the Y-12 Plant site. Across Chestnut Ridge is Bethel Valley (Raccoon Valley in Anderson) which includes the X-10 Plant site. To the southeast of Bethel Valley is the big bend of Clinch River (now Melton Hill Lake) that forms the boundary of the Oak Ridge Reservation.
Karen Davis has posted a beautiful photo of Walden Ridge at http://www.erols.com/kmdavis/pichtmls/walden.html
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