First Spanish in the area

The High Shoals area wasn't inhabited by Europeans until the 1700s but the Spanish explorers were here several hundred years before that.They probably crossed the river at High Shoals on their exploration into the mountains, They followed the Catawba River basin from the coast.
Warren Wilson College has been working on the fort site near Morganton for years. Here's sites that give more input:

http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~arch/

http://www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/collateral/articles/f07.lost.spanish.fort.pdf


http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~arch/fs2004/background