Friday, Sept. 27, 1934. The Che;
MURPHY
ONE DAY ONLY
Saturday
2 PERFORMANCES
RAIN OR SHINE
2:15 AND 8 P.M.
OCT. v
Circus At Fair Ground
| (Jbr50jears America's(JavorH'eShow J
STEEL ARE3^^^B|
i RAINED WILD AHIMAt^
r^Wf/ tie ft- a"V
BUD HORNE ...
FAMOUS WESTERN SCREEN STAR
AND HIS MOTION PICTURE HORSE
"CHICO"?IN PERSON
J^irec^ron^lollywood^Reduced
Price To All |
run n I a nt li ts l'
M. KJ
35c
ticket includes a good seat in
the main circus where
you see all the
it" feature acts
free parking
okc-s Scout, Murphy, No
ITVA Cooper
TENNESSEE VALLE^
AIDING IN LC
(Mr. Robertson was in Murph
some time ago gathering material fc
| the following article that appeared i
! Sunday's Apheville Citizen-Time
He made the acquaintance of a nun
ber of people in this section whi,
gathering the data for the story?th
Editor).
By A. T. ROBERTSON, JR.
Murphy, Sept. 22.?North Carolir
tapers off 150 miles west <
Asheville. Murphy seat of the wes
etn most county of Cherokee, is o
central time. Nine miles from Mu
phy is the small community of Bras
town, which is on a time all its owi
perhapsr unique in the civlized worl*
Brasstown is the site of the Joh
C. Campbell Folk school and its a
sociated farm co-operatives. The
have frequent meetings, menvbe
coming from Murphy on centr
time, and from adjoining Clay cou)
ty on eastern time. To avoid coi
fusion, Brasstown set its clocks pe
manently half way between. Whe
its 3 o'clock at Murphy and
o'clock to the cast, in Brastown it
half-past three.
rich in soil and in pioneer ways an
speech. DeSoto is said to have, visi
ed in 1510 an Indian village then
dug up last winter by the CWA an
the relics sent to Washington. 1
I ! *h' last century the 1. and N. an
i Southern railways pushed in f'roi
the South and East, tapping veil
of talc and rnarhh. brintrinir dnm
mors [ enjoy the lavish tah'es ?
' Mui phyV small h<?; 1 . Anions tr:r
! eling men Murphy - famous for i
vood f? -1. Totlay the lr ln\ a:
rood. bur e :Ntanc?' f?o m'ars.
i t,(>od, hut the distance from lau
, cities are till groat.
He:-, tlx- Tonne . Valley \utli
ity hopes t iay the f nidation of
rural civilization to inspire the re
, of the world.
$20,000 Grant Made
The developments so far are thre
; To the Folk School's farm co-open
I tives, long admired by Chairman .
1 K. -Morgan, < f the TV A the Tonne
, see Valley Associated Go-operativc
have made a giant of $20,000. Urge
by the Folk school Murphy has o<
ganized a co-operative cannery, wit
a grant of $0,000 from the TV At
Since May the engineering division c:
the Authority has kept an office i
Murphy, drillinfi and investigate
"no ot the sites for a $1."1,000,000 dai
across the Hiawassee river.
Three different sites for the Hi.*
j wassee dam are under considcratio
two i? Tennessee and one 14 mile
i below Murphy, which at preser
j >eems to have an excellent chanc?
! But wherever the dam is located
I will tie into the flood control an
I electric power system of Norri:
Muscle Shoals, and Wheeler dam
and furnish cheap electricity cei
tainly to the Murphy and Frasstow
valley. Rates here at present ar
high, ten cents per kilowatt hou
for the average home consumer an
when the pumps are turned on i
the tale mines, the picture she
has to shut down.
Little Brasstown is a pioneer i
the field of mountain co-operativt
which the TVAC is just explorint
The Folk school and its co-ops wer
beKun in 1D25. Dr. MorRan and h
family are old friends of BVasstowr
His son Griscom worked in the sum
Dier of 1930 op the Folk school farr
while a student at his father's fa
niobs work-and?study college o? An
tioch and in 1933 the Folk schot
found Dr. Morgan's daughter Frar
cw an /^nnoc/i jod" as teacher of
mountain school near Highland:
Shortly after the TVA was organize
the chairman treated Brasstown to
visit from its first airplane, to cor
fer with Mrs. John C. Campbell, a
the Folk school.
School Organized In 1925.
The John C. Campbell Folk schoc
was organized in 1925 by the widoi
of Mr. Campbell, author of "Th
Southern Highlander and His Home
land." It is deliberately modele
after tha successful folk schools o
Denmark, on which Mrs. Compbell i
an authority. A Dean, Georg Bic
stiup, is its farmer. It has thei
motto, "I Sing Behind the Plow."
For four winter months, whe
I farm work is lightest, the school ol
fcrs a course ior young adult.'
Around a main topic of discussior
which may be almost anything froi
I Indians to geology, all sorts of suh
' jects are brought in, always wit
I plenty f work in forestry an
rth Carolina
atingln Brasst
f AUTHORITY IS
>CAL DEVELOPMENTS
j. ?
y farming for the boys and keepinfi |
>r , house for the girls. Last winter the|
n | course was centered about the TV A I
s which studied from every angle con-!
^ tains almost enough material for a(
le liberal education. And here is one(
e mountain community well informed}
about the purpose and meaning of
the Authority.
As many as 25 may live at the
la school during the winter course, and
at least 10 are working out their expenses
at any time of year. The work
'n is not heavy, but is like the work
r~ o! a large and enterprising family.
s" For its schooling there is not an
[*? educational "unit" or a credit** to
be had, but few are the mountain
n boys and git Is who know of It who
s_ would not change a year of high
!y school for a year of the Folk school.
rs On the train from Asheville to
al Murphy a boy bound for a visit to
n- Brasst own told about a friend across
the line in Georgia. "He carved a
r- little wooden mule, and took it to
n, the craft guild at the Folk school.
4 They said it wouldn't quite do. He
's carved another, and they turned it
down, too. So he hitched his own
l:? n !? hv (op fon/in nil and carv
id ed him from life, and now he's makt.
ing good money carving right along."
One of Brasstown's small wooden
id mules stands on the President's desk.
n i un me train back to Asheville an,j
other Brastown boy was leaving to
m join the at my. "I don't beheve
... thero's a person comes to stay there
he s a row pei > 11 when he
,t he said. "It gives you nev.
: leas about everything. Of course j
,S|Fm c iring hack."
Enterprises Are Vari d
The fo!k ?cho 1 ami community |
: are one, with a >avinu> and loan a ,
iiatin a co-operative ciwuium\
, . \\ itb a membership in lour North
a | Carolina and two Georgia c untie-,
ml a farmers* association, r. w
linked together as the Mountain
Valley co-operatives; a craft uuild
for the wood-carvers, \vh -e "ma?i"
and "sober" mule and d.uk. .?n*i 1
pigs have won fame; and a woman's
club and a men's club, whose
purpose is largely to have a good
". time,
d
r- A joint, bus execution of the men's
h and women's clubs recently returned
'J. ftom Norris dam and the TV A town
?f of Norris.
n "It's the finest sight I ever did
ig see!" said Mr. Scroggs, aged TO, on
n his return. His grandson, a 17-year- j
old Brasstown wood-carver, is mak- j
ing tables for the houses at Norris.
n Folk dances and songs are more
?s alive at Brasst? \vn than elsewhere,
it Their "singing games," a combina6.
J tion of both are not e*hihltinn?
it gymnastics but fun. Brasstown gets I
d most of its visitors, even business
men's clubs, to play them,
s, In a grove near the school farnir
house stands the museum two old
n log houses joined by a "dog-run"
e and put up by the men of the comr
munity out of their regard for the
d Folk School. In the house is only
it what furniture the pioneers of this
w region had when they came. The
Fourth of July is old folks' day at
n the museum, where the spontaneous
?s recollections would fill volumes of
r. Southern mountain lore,
e As part of the duty of the TV A,
is Dr. Morgan has mentioned the presi.
ervation "of the best in the culture
i- of the region, encouraging it to den
velop according to its own genius."
i- This has also, said members of the
i- Folk school, been the purpose of the
)1 school from the start. Certainly it
t- differs from all other mountain
? schools in ??
_ ? ? WV...I7ICI.CI1CSS wun <
5. which it has worked into the life of
d its community. J
a $12,000 Expended I
i- Of the TV AC grant of $20,000 tin 1
t Frasstown co-operative have already ]
spent more than $12,000 a greater
cash outlay than any of the other
>1 TVA-sponsored co-operative s has yet
lV made. Brasstown, however, is al- 1
e ready a going concern. Its creamery
already doing business in a territory '
d of 100 square miles, has been caff
larged to double its capacity. Arthur
s C| Jackson, TVAC administrator.
I- helped to draw plans for a pretty j
r low stone cottage equipped to churn |
and store 6,000 pounds of butter a !
n week. Already, it is selling 2,000
f- pounds a week, chiefly to Atlanta.
5. Ga.. 148 miles away. Soon it will
i begin to make cheese,
n The co-operatives is also building
?- a plant for fattening poultry, using'
!i at a profit th buttermilk fr^ni the"
d . teamery, a d dressing the fowls,
PAGE 1
own Program
eliminating the middleman with
mora profit to the local farmers and
a better product to the consumer.
Other possible developments with
the TV A funds, said Mrs. Campbell,
aie better equipment and service for
a co-operative mill and food store;
and further expansion of the craft
guild, which has already become the
chief income of scores of families.
It is possible the savings and loan
asociation increase it* service
to make "longtime loans to start
young people."
In Murphy a cannery has stood
'die for f ur years. Privately operated,
it failed during a period of
high prices, when with means selling
at $2 nobody had a surplus to can,
Next year, with means at 25 cents,
said Manager H. Hampton. the
farmers prayed for the cannery to
e- me back. It came back on July
17, 1934, when a TVA-sponsored cooperative
opined for business, after
leasing the old cannery for one dollar
a year. Here. as at Crarberry.
Green Mountain, Hendersonville, and
Wayne-villo. blackberries alone have
lifted a load from the local relief office.
The Murphy cannery paid >ut
S3.f 00 for blackberries in one month's
opt ration.
All these canneries a*c "xpectir.g
to get their share of relief cattle to
he canned. The county relief administrator,
J. W. Gray, ha< received
his or e:* from Raleigh for Cherokee
rnliot cMwinir units In
150 nicn*> c< at-- and cap-4, 250 women's
dresses and 50-' uteher;.' at to .
f??: beef cann?'?s to vi-nr.
Cannery Has 40 Members
The Mu ; h.v cannery h- - - la
only 10 mem v i ho ding v on 11 i
stock at ? "? ?.-:ire but plan
! Jn : ii Cherok < ' < G
ham. and Macon couut>c> in Nov. t
Caro'.ina, a d T. v. ns and l" v.
(?:un: a in ' Icoi uis- With 1 Y
fund- of SO.cuo t work with, and
. ! ?< roi; i>Im- ;ptions >f rrelYilcl
by Murphy busiuessn.cn, they
feel hopeful.
When th* v have so expanded, the
Tcniuv-.-ec Valley Ass dated
native will have on paper at least
c 20 4! f< 11 (I it ion laid all t hrough
Western North Carolina.
In the Norwest corner, the Carolina
Mountain Co-operatives are operation
cannerii - and other co-operative
activities in four counties. In
the middle block -of six counties, centering
around Asheville, the Farmer.'
federation is already doing a
good co-operative job. In this region.
the TVAC lias aided the one
Federal i 11 cannery at llendersonville,
and has set up a TVA--p< r sored
cannoty a: Waynesville. In the far
wc tein tip of the State, extending
1 ver into adjoining counties of Georgia,
the Brasstown co-operatives and
the Murphy cannety association will
eventually reatdj into every home.
Dale I.ee, Murphy businessman, is
secretary and treasurer of the cannery;
Mrs. John C. Campbell, J. M.
McMillan. J. H. F.llis, W. M. Fain and
J. W. Dyer are directors. Here as
plspwhnvn ilin Cfliint" "T "4 ?-- ?
? V..V- ? Wtt> active
in getting the movement started.
He is A. Q. Ketner, formerly
manager of the Brasstown creamery.
Murphy Seeks TVA Dam
Little dam, what now?" asks The
Cherokee Scout, Murphy's newspaper,
about the proposed Hiawassee river
project. No one as yet knows. J. D.
Blagg, engineer in charge of the
present surveying of the dam site,
has received no word of the decision.
The TVA has 23 million dollars left
of the 48 million dollars allotted by
the la^t Congress. It will build three
more great dams, to join Norris,
Wheeler, and Muscle Shoals?the
Pickwick, the Aurora, and the Hiawassee.
A battle is at present raging
between the various communities
?? TT-*
..????, tue mawassee dam near
them. If it should bo built at the
Coleman site, 14 mi??- below Murnhy,
prospects are for a dam 185 feet
high, thr water to pas? through a
4.000-foot tunnel with a 7-foot drop.
The lake will back up 17 miles. At
least 1,000 men would be put to
work, and the dam would cost on this
site approximately $13,000,000?less,
Murphv adherents claim, than it
would cost at the other sites under
consideraton.
The Aluminum Company of America
has in Graham county a very
large power lake. Lake Santcetlah,
and has for some time planned to
build another near it. A recent dispatch
stated that the TV A ha? lately
been buying options on all the land
near the si*. f the Aluminum comnany's
pr new lake, not already
held by h omnnny. A ubsidiary,
(Continued on page 8)