Newspapers / The University of North … / March 17, 1926, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The University of North Carolina News Letter (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
L The news in this publi cation is released for the press on receipt. THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA NEWS LETTER / Published Weekly by the University of North Caro lina for the University Ex tension Division. MARCH 17, 1926 • CHAPEL HILL, N C. THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS VOL. XII, NO. 18 Editoria! Boardj E. C. Branson. S. H. Hobbs. Jr.. L. R. Wilson, E. W. Knight. D. D. Carroll. J. B. Bullitt. H. W. Odum. Entered as second-class matter November 14, 1914. at the Postotfice at Chapel Hill. N. C., under the act of August 24. 1912 GiEAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS PARK WOULD BE A CHEAT ASSET TO THE STATE North Carolina has the opportunity of seeing a great national park estab lished in the Great Smoky Mountains of the western counties of the state. A commission, appointed by the Secre tary of the Interior to search all the Appalachian range for sites suitable for national park purposes, has reported to Congress that of ail the possible sites the Great Smoky Mountains easily stood first, and has recommended the creation of a park there. All that is required is that private citizens make available the lands, or the money with which to purchase them. Realizing that the states of North Carolina and Tennessee, in which states the proposed park lies in part, are not able to raise by per sonal subscriptions the necessary funds to purchase this immense tract of land, the federal park commission has sug gested that these two states raise the first million dollars toward the purchase fund, and has announced that, once this first million dollars is raised, the people of the nation as a whole will be called on to contribute the balance. Must Raise Million Dollars As the situation stands, then, until the states of North Carolina and Ten nessee through private subscription contribute the first million dollars to this fund to purchase the Great Smoky Mountains tract. Congress will not act towards the creation of the national park there, nor will the balance of the pur chase fund be forthcoming. It is ne cessary, in the opinion of the federal park commission, that the people of these states should first show their material interest in the creation of this national park, before Congess be asked to officially create this national park, or the general public be asked 'to con tribute to the purchase fund. To date the people of the two states have contributed more than $600,000 to this purchase fund, and the campaign for funds is going on in all sections of Western North Carolina, where in the neighborhood of $31i6,000 has been raised, and throughout Eastern Ten nessee, where more than $260,000 has been pledged. The cities of Asheville, North Carolina, and Knoxville, Ten nessee, have so far borne the brunt of the campaign. Asheville and Buncombe Dan Tompkins, of Sylva, and T. S. Rollins, of Asheville. It is this organization that has suc cessfully raised to date virtually two- thirds of the fund necessary for the securing of this national park for North Carolina. Why Fund Must Be Raised The question is often asked: Why should the federal government expect the people of these states and their neighboring states to give money out of their own pockets for the purchase of land for- a national park? The answer is that there being no precedent in Con gress for the purchase of lands for national parks, and there being con siderable doubt as to the constitution ality of such an appropriation, Congress does not feel that such a precedent should be created, nor should the ques tion of constitutionality be argued at this juncture. Getting Congress to set up such a precedent at this time would mean untold delays, and if there is any considerable delay in the acquisition of this land, the invasion of the lumber interests which are cutting in this sec tion of the state-land which own much I of this land) will ruin it altogether for park purposes. If the people of North Carolina are interested in having this great national park created witbin the borders of the state, they muse act promptly, for the matter must come up for consideration at the present session of Congress, and it is the intention of the Secretary of the Interior to have the bill creating the Great Smoky Mountains National Park drawn for presentation shortly after April 1; but this action cannot be taken until at least one million dollars for the purchase fund is available. In order to simplify the making of contributions to this fund, the payments are being accepted over a period of three years. To facilitate immediate action in the acquisition of lands within the park area, contributors are being asked to pay 20 percent of their pledge within thirty days. The balance is collectable in three annual payments, which fall due on or before January 1, 1927, Janu ary 1,/1928, and January 1, 1929. If, by any chance, the park plan fails, the three annual payments will not be called County has pledged more than $200,000, | for, and the money paid will be returned and Knoxville has raised $220,000. Unless the other sections of North Caro lina come to the aid of Western North Carolina, the possibility of raising the half million asked of this state will be slight. The Campaign Committee The campaign for the half million dollars in North Carolina is of a semi official character. The canvass of the state is being carried on by the North Carolina Park Commission, a commis sion created by .the North Carolina General Assembly of 1924 for the pur pose of cooperating with the federal government in obtaining a national park in this state. The bill calling for the creation of this commission was intro duced by Senator Mark Squires, of Caldwell county, and he was named as its chairman. The other members of the commission are D. M. Buck, Bald Mountain; Dr. H. W. Chase, Chapel Hill; John G. Dawson, Kinston; Plato D. Ebbs, Asheville; J. H. Dillard, Murphy; A. M. Kistler, Morgan ton; Frank Linney, Boone; Harry Nettles, Biltmore; E. S. Parker, Jr., Greensboro, and Dr. E. C. Brooks, Raleigh, who is the com mission's secretary. The commission, which has taken the lead in the raising of this state s share in the purchase price of the park, organ ized itself at once into a holding com pany, incorporated under the laws of the state. This holding company, known as the Great Smoky Mountains, Inc., handles the business details and accepts the money contributed to the park fund, and offers of land in the proposed park area. Senator Squires is its chairman or president; Charles A. *Webb, pub lisher of the Asheville Citizen, is vice- president; F. Roger Miller, secretary of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, is the treasurer, and the following per sons make up the company: Eugene Adams, of Asheville; Dr. D. R. Bryson, of Bryson City; D. M. Buck, of Bald Mountain; Plato D. Ebbs, of Asheville; on a pro rata basis when the expenses of the campaign have been met. Subscriptions made payable to F. Roger Miller, treasurer, The Great Smoky Mountains, Inc., Asheville Cham ber of Commerce, Asheville, N. C. PARK AND AGRICULTURE With the coming of more and more tourists each year to North Carolina, the agricultural life of the state is undergoing, and will continue to under go, a striking change. This observaCion was made recently by Major William A. Welch, a member of the Southern Ap palachian National Park Commission and a nationally known park authority, who declared that not only , would the typexof produce grown on the farms of this state change, but the methods of marketing this produce would be ma terially altered by the influx of tourists. Visitors are flocking southward every year by the hundreds of thousands, and when the proposed Great Smoky Moun tains National Park is created in the mountains of Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee, and the national park in the Shenandoah Valley is opened, there will be, Major Welch estimates, at least a million visitors to this state every year. Many of these will be auto tourists and campers, who will seek along the route fresh fruits, vegetables, butter, milk, eggs, chickens, other fresh meats. This demand must in Aime lead to a considerable diversification of crops on farms that are now entirely given over to corn, cotton, tobacco, and grain, for these tourists must be fed; they are willing to pay good prices for these farm prod ucts, and they are always cash cus tomers. New Source of Income North Carolina will undergo much the same experience as New England has undergone since the popularization^of the automobile. The rural section of SOME IMPORTANT FACTS The following are a few of the im portant facts concerning the Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Size At least 450,000 acres of mountain land and foot-hills. Location Approximately half in Western North Carolina and half in “Eastern Tennessee, lying within the counties of Swain, Haywood, and Graham in NortVi Carolina, and Sevier, Blount, and Cooke in Tennessee, and includ ing the range of the Great Smokies from the Pigeon river on the north east to the Little’ Tennessee river on the southwest. Principal Characteristics High range of mountains, 40 miles long, in which are 18 peaks more than 6,000 feet above sea-level, and in which many of the principal power- producing rivers of Tennessee and North Carolina have their source. Variety of trees, flowers, and shrubs is said by botanists to be unexampled anywhere else on earth. Greatest stand of deciduous trees in Eastern America, one-quarter of the park area being covered with virgin for ests, many of whose trees are more than a thousand years old. Acquisition To be purchased from present owners by funds the first million of which is to be subscribed by the people of North Carolina and Ten nessee, and the remainder by the people of the nation at large. Maintenance Once the park is created by Act of Congress, funds for the improvement of the park, building of roads, rest- camps, and other conveniences for the visitors will be made available by Congress. The |»rk, when open to the public, will be administered by the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior, which directs the other' nineteen national parks of the country, and the entire cost of maintenance will be borne by the federal government. Accessibility Both in North Carolina and Ten nessee several state highways, already open to traffic or in course of con struction, lead into the proposed con fines of the park. These state roads will be linked up with other high ways within the park, which will be built and maintained by the federal government, thus making the park easily accessible. motoring the pleasure it is in this state, and the season in those northern states is short. With the advantages that North Carolina has in these respects over the states to the north, the tide of tourist traffic, onoe it has turned southward, will flow with undiminished energy. With the coming of these trav elers there will come a change, which is already noticeable in the character of the agricultural life of the state, par ticularly along the main highways of travel to the mountains. PARK AND WATER SUPPLY Regulation of the flow of the rivers that rise in the Great Smoky Mountains of Western North Carolina, or are fed by streams rising in these mountains, will be guaranteed by the creation of a national park in that section, according to Thorndike Saville, chief of the water resources division of the North Carolina Department of Conservation and De velopment. Such regulation, obviating as it will the danger of floods during the rainy seasons and drouths in dry times, is a priceless asset to the com munities that depend on these rivers for their water supply and the indus tries that find in these streams the source of their hydro-electric energy. But regulation is only one major bene fit that will accrue from the preserva tion of the forests of these mountains. I In the opinion of Professor Saville, the danger of silting will be largely avoided if the trees in the watersheds are allowed to stand. If the trees along the water courses, however, are cut, erosion will set in, the soil from the banks will be washed down into the streams by the violent rains, and in time the river beds and the impounding basins of the hydro-electric plants will be choked with silt. Such damage from erosion is an ever-increasing danger in this state, Professor Saville stated, and in toe Western states has resulted in marked lessening of the efficiency of some hydro-electric projects. Pure Water and Industry It is a determined fact that the stream waters of Western North Carolina are the purest to be found in any section of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. It is to the advantage of industry that these streams be kept unpolluted, and in the opinion of Pro Without salary and at their own ex pense, these gentlemen thoroughly ex plored the Southern highlands, devoting eight months to the task. On Decem ber 12, 1924, they reported to Secretary Work, recommending two parks, the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina. In their report the committee said: “We have found many areas which could well be chosen, but the committee was charged with the responsibility of selecting the best, all things considered. Of these several possible sites the Great Smoky Mountains easily stand first be cause of the height of mountains, depth of valleys, ruggedness of the area, "and the unexampled variety of trees, shrubs, and plants. The region includes Mt. Guyot, Mt. LeConte, Clingmans Dome, and Gregory Bald, and may be extended in several directions to include other splendid mountain regions adjacent thereto.” Last February, Congress authorized and directed the Secretary of the In terior to appoint a commission to de termine the area and boundaries of both parks, to receive definite offers of dona tions of lands and moneys, and to secure such options as in his judgment might be considered reasonable and just for the purchase of lands within said boundaries. > Secretary Work appointed the same commissioners who had made the initial survey. At the same time he made it clear that the people must buy lands and give them to the Government, as there is no precedent in Congress for the purchase of park property with fed eral money. If the people fail to pre sent the Government with the lands, Secretary Work may find it inconsistent with public policy to recommend the creation of these parks. The Virginians are now seeking to raise a fund of $1,000,000 for the purchase of the Shenandoah Area. North Carolina and Tennessee have set out to raise a similar amount for the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Upon their success depends the attitude.of Secretary Work in his report to Con gress next winter. Upon their success fessor Saville the creation of the pro-, . , , , , 1 • .u 1 o ^ depends also the attitude of Congress posed national park m the headwaters' , , , . • ^ • • -It u • i. toward the whole project.—The Great of these rivers will be an important o / n/r .^ • , ty’ , r-, - ^ Smoky Mountains National Park Cam- factor in the protection of these streams. ■ TT J • m. • .L f • J • .,.1. paign Headquarters. The interest of industry m the pro-1 tection of these streams rests on the | fact that the waters of these Western ; AUTOS AND TELEPHONES North Carolina rivers are clear, virtually ^ There are three times as many auto- ^olorless and soft. They are peculiarly | mobiles as there are telephones on free from any suspended matter, and ■ farms in the South Atlantic seaboard their chemical character makes them ; states, according to a farm survey of particularly available for use in certain : the American Research Foundation. New , England has become prosperous during the last few years by trafficking with the tourists, who visit that region every summer in countless, numbers. Along every well-travelled highway in New England today are prosperous farms, whose produce is sol{5 almost exclusively to the auto tourists. Stands with neat displays of fruit, vegetables, jars of honey, and so on are placed by the roadside in front of the farmhouses, and the passing motorists, attracted by the produce, stop to do their trading. Such a system of marketing is bound to come into vogue in North Car,olina, Major Welch believes, once the stream of tourists begins to flow over the high ways of the state, leading to the national park or other natural wonder lands of the mountains and plains. Vehnont, Major Welch pointed out during a recent speaking tour of the state in the interest of the proposed natioflal park in the Great Smokies, netted in 1926 more than $170,000,000 from its tourist trade, and New Hamp shire and Maine did fully as well. The mountains of these states, it is admitted, possess neither the majesty nor the ex tent of the mountains of North Caro lina; the roads of these northern states are not sufficiently improved to make manufacturing processes, particularly those involving dyeing, tanning, bleach ing, and paper-making. Preservation of the purity of these streams will be assured. Professor Saville believes, by the creation of a national preserve in their headwaters. Pollution of the streams would be pre vented, and, while, the waters within the confines of the park could not be utilized for manufacturing or other commercial purposes, the utilization of the streams would be possible butside the park limits. HOW PARK PROJECT STANDS Curiously, it was through the efforts of a Massachusetts organization, the Appalachian Club, that the movement for a national park in the South began a quarter of a century ago. Shortly thereafter came the begin nings of a similar movement in Ashe ville, North Carolina, followed twenty- three years later by the creation of the Great Smoky • Mountain Conservation Farm-owned automobiles in the states in this section total 367,626, compared with 123,694 farm telephones, a bulletin issued by the foundation shows. Vir ginia ranks first among the states in rural telephones with a total of 33,482. Farm-owned automobiles ir\ the state number 73,677. North Carolina is sec ond in rural 'phones with 33,029, while its farm cars total 89,293. Then comes Georgia with 29,861 'phones and 69,169 cars. South Carolina with 10,943 rural 'phones and 62,179 cars, and Florida with 4,624 rural 'phones and 31,805 farm- owned automobiles. For the entire United States, the fig ures show, there are 1,333,014 more automobiles on farms than there are telephones. The totals are 3,831,607 farm cars and 2,498,493 farm tele phones. Preponderance of automobiles over telephones on farms, the bulletin points out, is due to the fact that automobiles have become an indispensable part of the average farm equipment. Cars are used for all sorts of farm liabor, includ- Association in Knoxville, ^ Tennessee, hauling, furnishing power for ma chinery, and doing farm errands.. That farms now enjoy most of the conven iences that were formerly exclusive to the city is indicated by sales statistics of Montgomery Ward & Company which show increased sales of automobile equipment, lighting and heating plants, radios, musical instruments, and home equipment in rural'districts. But auto mobiles are regarded as- the most im portant, for the survey showed that many farms reported automobiles where the farm house had no bath tub, run ning water, or* electric light.—Lexing ton Dispatch. which today cooperates with the North Carolina Park Commission. Early last year, Dr. Hubert Work, Secretary of the Interior, responded to these overtures from North and Soujth by appointing the Southern Appalachian Park Committee, consisting of Repre sentative Henry Wilson Temple, Penn sylvania, chairman; William C. Gregg, New Jersey; Harlan P. Kelsey, Massa chusetts; Col. Glenn S. Smith, U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D. C.; and Ma^r William A. Welch, General Manager, Palisades Interstate Park, New York. '
The University of North Carolina News Letter (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 17, 1926, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75