ther with the improvements of Coonrod Pile."

Old Coonrod traded with him, and Rowan took up his residence in what is
now Overton county. As late as 1817 there appeared "one Vincent Benham"
with title under a conflicting grant dated in 1793. Old Coonrod traded
with him and with "$10 in hand" Benham went his way.

But the deeds which Coonrod recorded were voluminous, with corners as
explicitly marked as any land title of to-day. Up on one of the
mountainsides upon a rock there is a crudely carved "X" which was made
by Coonrod to mark a corner which called for a "beech tree" that has
disappeared, and this mark and the forks of Wolf River, corners in
Coonrod's titles, stand to-day as survey points for the boundaries of
the farms now in the valley.

Coonrod built his home beside the spring, now known as "York Spring."
Its yard includes the spot where he made his first camp and where he
killed his first deer. Characteristic of him, he built well. The house
was hewn logs, large logs, some of them over fifty feet in length. And
the dwelling is now owned and occupied by one of his great
grandchildren, William Brooks, the only brother of the mother of
Sergeant York. The house is to-day one of the most substantial in the
valley. Just across the spring branch and up the mountainside is the
York home.

Old Coonrod built one of the rooms without windows and with only one
door. That door led into his own room and opened by his bedside. In this
windowless room he kept his valuables and it was both a safe and a bank
for him. Into a keg covered carelessly with hides he tossed any gold
coin that came to him in his trades. His rifle was kept there. He had
the prongs of a pitchfork straightened and sharpened. The latter was his
burglar insurance and he felt amply able to take care of his savings.
And in those days men frequently passed through the valley whose
occupations were unknown and whose countenances were often evil to look
upon.

Pall Mall is not without its legend of the hidden keg of gold. It is
known that Old Coonrod had his keg and kept in it his gold pieces. It is
not known just when and why this method of saving was abandoned by him.
But after his death no trace of the keg was found and it is said that
upon his deathbed he tried to give his sons a message which was never
completed, and it is believed he wished to reveal where his gold was
hidden.

There are some who say he was seen to go up a ravine with a mysterious