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The Foothills
G B r d n e r ~ W e h b C o 1.1. e s p I. :i. b r a r 'r^
S F e cia1 Collections
Box 836
B o i 1 i ri ^ Springs* N C
28017
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IVrmit Ntx 15 Address C opcc(ion Rcqucsicd
lilk. I’osiagc Paid
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.
Cone Mills Closes The Dust Bird Gets A Clean Up
Road To River
The old Steel Bridge Road,
which once led to the Broad
River, has been cut short by a
recently-erected barricade, and
the state highway department
has dropped it from
maintenance.
Officials in the Shelby office
of the State Division of
Highways say the closure, on
the dirt part of the road about
half a mile south of where the
pavement ends, was requested
by Cone Mills, the only lan
downer on that portion of the
old road. The barricade is just
beyond the last private dwell
ing, and blocks traffic to the
river.
The steel bridge that once
crossed the river was judged
unsafe and removed several
years ago. But the road con
tinued to serve as a river access
for fishermen, blackberry
pickers, Indian artifact hunters,
drunkers, carousers and others
seeking wild sohtude for good
and ill.
“Cone Mills owns the proper
ty and they’d had right much of
a problem,” a state official said.
‘They requested that we aban
don the road, and give permis
sion to put up a gate. We had
little reason to keep it open;
people do go down there, but
no one lives there anymore.”
No one has lived there in
many years; the property was
once owned by the Haynes
Cotton Mill, which then sold it
with the Cliffside holdings to
Cone. Fallen chimneys now
overgrown with brush, and a
couple of wells filled in by Mill
engineering crews are most of
what is left of early riverside
settlement. The nearby junc
tion of Sandy Run Creek and
the Broad was once the site of a
community and later a busy
recreation area.
Since the Cone takeover, the
land has been maintained for
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Chuck Stewart and Zeke Walker, part of a two-helicopter crop dusting team highly visible
over the Cleveland area this summer, are cleaning up the specialized MK 58 helicopter, call
ed El Tomcat,” after a busy day over local fields. Both pilots are Navy veterans, where
Stewart learned to fly helicopters. Walker learned to fly as a helicopter specialist for the
Volusia County, Fla„ Sheriff's Department. Dusting, over a 9 by 20 mile strip of fields in this
area, is being done by Southern Helicopter Enterprises, of Gaston County.
This Wild Pig Keeps ‘ ^Expanding
9 9
From Wildlife Reports
A study team composed of
biologists and other specialists
with the N.C. Wildlife
Resources Commission, U.S.
Forest Service (National
Forests In North Carolina), Na
tional Park Service (Great
Smoky Mountains National
Park), and representatives of
sportsman’s groups is reviewing
factors involved in the possible
expansion of the range of the
wild boar in western North
Carolina.
The study was undertaken in
response to interest expressed
for possible boar introductions
in several mountain counties.
and began in December of
1983.
“We have not yet reached
any conclusions or developed
any recommendations, but
have identified a number of fac
tors that need evaluation before
any action is taken,” said
Mickey Beland, wildlife staff
officer for the U.S. Forest Ser
vice in North Carolina, and
chairman of the study group.
“Factors that we’ll examine in
clude the boar’s impact on
other species, economic
benefits to local areas, legal
restraints involved on federal
lands, and public health and
safety. A group of consultants
who are knowledgeable in
social, biological, environmen
tal, and economic fields will
help the team evaluate these
factors.”
Expansion areas under con
sideration include portions of
Cherokee, Clay, Macon,
Jackson and Swain counties.
To establish new populations,
wild boar would be live-trapped
from the Great Smoky Moun
tains National Park. One of the
objectives of the program
would be to reduce the boar
population in the park, and the
animals would be relocated to
areas that would discourage
their return. Currently, wild
boar are removed from the park
and relocated to select areas on
the Nantahala National Forest
in Graham County.
The wild boar was first in
troduced to western North
Carolina by George Gordon
Moore in 1912. Moore was ac
ting for English investors who
wished to establish an English-
style shooting preserve in the
mountains on a 1,000 acre
fenced site on Hooper Bald. In
addition to stocking boar in the
preserve, elk, mule deer, Rus
sian black bear and buffalo
were also introduced. These
other animals have since disap
peared, but wild boar quickly
escaped through the fence and-
diluted with feral hog stock-are
now found throughout much of
the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park, portions of
Graham County, and adjacent
lands.
Crawley
Offers Class
For Weight
Reduction
All too-bountiful ladies are
invited to join Crawley
Hospital’s Monday evening
club called “Weight Control
Plus,” which meets weekly at 7
p.m. in the hospital conference
room.
The group, which began
March 26, has a current atten
dance of 28, who at the June 1
weigh-in had dropped a total of
226 pounds by following
special menus given for each
week.
Enrollment cost is $10 and
the weekly fee is $4. For infor
mation call Daphne Bridges at
434-7770, or Betty Bridges at
434-6193.