At one time most of the good lumber had been cut from the surrounding mountians. I can relate to that because my ancestors were sawmillers. Once the "easy to get" timber was cut, the timbermen would move on to a better spot. If my ancestors had access to gas powered chain saws, then Tennessee would look more like Kansas. I digress.
The lack of marketable timber at one point in the Gizzard had an impact on the local labor force. Most didn't want to move. So they came upon an idea.
They converted the steam powered sawmill into a whiskey still. This was probably the best manned whiskey still in the US at the time. It was also probably the most organized. When the workday began, at lunch and at quitting time, they would blow the steam whistle just as any factory would.
Also, they had a special signal blown on the steam whistle when revenuers were in the area. Revenuers, however, seldom ventured far enough into the cove to cause much of a problem.
As a young man, I worked as an engineer for the telephone company. One day I went with an older fellow engineer to ride the Gizzard Cove to inspect the lines. He stopped at the Cove entrance, got out of the car and proceeded to unscrew the whip antenna on the car. When I asked what that was all about, he said that he didn't want to get shot at.