North Carolina Newspapers

Transylvania County Receives State-Wide Publicity <From Front Page—Second Sec.) and ladies’ hose—all made in the county widely known as “The Land of Waterfalls.” These products are produced by approximately 3,500 workers who receive around four million dol lars annually in wages and salar ies. These men and women are war workers and are highly essen tial to ultimate victory. Shoes and clothing are as essential as guns and tanks and without lumber there would be no airplanes, ships or army trucks. Like food and clothing, cigarettes are necessary to the comfort and morale of the fighting men, and without cigar ette paper there could be no cigar ettes! The management and employees of these varied industries realize the heavy responsibilities that rest upon them and despite the various handicaps caused by war, they are breaking all former production records. Most of the plants are operating on a 48-hour schedule, 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Loss of time resulting from absentee ism, inefficiency and accident is extremely small and there are no unions, no strikes and no threats of strike. Leather is made in the Transyl vania Tanning company at Bre vard and in the Toxaway Tanning company at Rosman. which employ nearly 700 people. Hides are pur chased from various states in the union and from South American countries, while the extract used in tannin is produced in the Ros man Tannin and Extract plant, as a by-product of chestnut wood ob tained from the Gloucester Lum ber company. These four firms are known as the Silversteen Industries and were established by Joseph S. Sil versteen. Western North Carolina's pioneer industrial leader who came to Transylvania from Pennsylvania in 1902 and started the Toxaway Tanning company, the county's WHY BE FAIN It's Easy To Reduce You can msi ugly pounds and have a more- slender, graceful figure No laxatives. No drugs. No exercising. Willi this \X 1 >S plan you don't cut I out any meals, starches, potatoes, meats or butter you simply cut them down. It's easy when you en joy a delicious (vitamin fortified) AVI )S before each meal. Absolutely harmless. 100 PERSONS LOST 14 LBS. TO 20 LBS. each in 30 DAYS, using AYPS under the direction ol l>r. e’. I \ on II 'over. Sworn to be* f ire a N' t rv Public. Try a large box of AVI is, so-day supply only VARNER’S DRUG STORE first industry. In 1910 he and his associates organized the Glouces ter Lumber company, the Rosman Tannin and Extract company in 1912 and the Transylvania Tan ning company in 1916. Today all of these industries are operating about 90 per cent on war con tracts.. Thread, which is being used for military purposes, is made in the county’s second industrial plant, the Pisgah mill. This mill was started in 1906 by a group of lo cal people and today it is manag ed by W. M. Melton and employs nearly 200 people and has an annual payroll of over $200,000. Lumbering has been a major ac tivity in Transylvania since 1880, but never before has it meant so much to the life of the nation as it does today. From the large mills of the Gloucester Lumber com pany at Rosman and the Carr Lum ber company at Pisgah Forest, millions of feet of fine lumber are being shipped to army camps, air plane factories, ship yards and army truck plants, which means that the trees of Transylvania have gone to war! Both companies own vast tim berlands in the county and oak, chestnut, poplar and hemlock logs are cut into all kinds of lumber at their mills. The Gloucester Lum ber company employs around 300 men and Carr works around 200. The Carr Lumber company was established in 1913 by Louis Carr and since 1924 W. W. Croushorn has been in charge of operations here. Many pairs of hose worn by WAACs, WAVES and SPARS were no doubt manufactured in the Wheeler Hosiery mill located at Brevard. This plant was establish ed in 1936 by A. W. Wheeler and his son, George Wheeler, who came to Transylvania from Henderson ville. Employed in the plant arc around 100 men and women. Thanks to the vision, brilliance and exceptional ability of Harry H. Straus, there is no shortage of cigarettes in America today, and it was he who greatly stimulated the industrial life of Transylvania county. Believing that a second world war was imminent and realizing that America might be cut off from its primary source of cig arette paper, Europe, Mr. Sti’aus started thinking and planning. In France cigarette paper, bought and used by our own factories in North Carolina, was made from linen rags. Linen, he knew, was made of flax and lie found out that flax was grown extensively in Minneso ta and California. Since linen was made of flax he thought that cig arette paper could be made directly from flax fibre, * too. Numerous experiments were conducted and finally a successful formula was discovered. The next major prob lem was to perfect machinery for making the flax straw adaptable for paper manufacturing purposes and to work out chemical processes for making out of the virgin flax fibre an acceptable sheet of cig arette paper. In time, all of these difficult problems were solved and then came the question of location and construction. The search for a suitable loca tion was made all over the United States, and finally in 1938 it was decided that a large, flat field on the Davidson river, at Pisgah For est, in Transylvania county, two miles from Brevard, was the ideal location. The determining factor was the large supply of clear, soft, pure water that flows out of the Pisgah National Forest. The In dian name of the river was Ecusta and that is why this name was chosen by the company. Construction on the huge $2,000, 000 plant was started in June, 1938, and on the very day that the sec ond world war started, September 3, 1939, the Ecusta Paper corpora tion turned out its first acceptable sheet of cigarette paper, thus prov ing that Mr Straus had clearly foreseen future events and assuring American cigarette manufacturers of an adequate supply of fine cig arette paper. Within a year it was necessary to double the capacity of the plant tc take care of ever - increasing demand. Today this huge, modern plant never stops. It operates 24 hours, 7 days a week, and employs 1.800 people. Paper made there is used by all the major cigarette com panies in the United States and under the lend-lease program many thousands of tons are shipped to South America anR to Russia. Mr. Straus states that he has never for a moment regretted the establishment of his firm in Tran sylvania county and that he is pleased with the native labor. On the other hand, local labor has every right to be pleased with him, too, because the company has a high wage scale, provides medical service, recreation and entertain ment for its employees. The Transy lvania Pipe company, a division of the Kavwoodie Pipe company. wras established at Bre vard jn September, 1940. This firm buys laurel and ivy burls and ope rates three plants, one at Brevard. Lake Toxaway and Highlands. Ralph Fisher, prominent Brevard The Times Business Directory DOES YOUR RADIO NEED REPAIRING? } Bring It To Us If It Does . . . We Do Guaranteed Repair Work . . . Authorized Philco, Zenith, RCA, Sparton Service . . . WOLFE RADIO SERVICE i McFee’s Jewelry Shop * West Main Street Blood - Tested BABY CfflX Baby Chick Feeders Baby Chick Fountains Purina Startena Poultry Litter Victory Garden Seed Flower Seed Lespedeza Seed Grass and Clover Seed Onion Sets Potato Seed Victory Garden Fertilizer Field Fertilizer Vigoro Garden Tools We pay highest market prices for— CORN CHICKENS EGGS POTATOES B&B Feed & Seed Co. Brevard, N. C. t--—— ■— — ■■ " - WE SPECIALIZE -In All Work Guaranteed Prices Very Reasonable McFEE JEWELRY SHOP “The Old Reliable” BEDSIDE RADIOS 60 West Main Street LEGAL FORMS Of All Kinds At— THE TIMES Phone 7 Quick, Reliable Trucking Service I for Southern Railway Short hauls I glady made i locally at § any time. I Frank Bridges Phone 4 | At the Depot—Contract I § Trucker f>lnniiiiii«ii»ii«imm»iMnmi»iii»iiiiiii»iiii»m«iiini»n PI CORN’S TAXI Prompt Service Day and Night Careful Drivers Phone 466 Moving. Get our rates Hale Siniard Brevard A*7 Asheville QA/M Phone *xl Phone 0UU1 BLUE RIDGE TRUCKING COMPANY Fast Dependable Motor Express Service Direct connections to all points, North, East, South and West. Full Cargo Insurance Ovemite to and from Knoxville, Chattanooga, At lanta, Charlotte, Greenville, and Spartanburg ICC No. MC—67500 NCUC Franchise No. 49» Top West Pointer CADET BERNARD W. ROGERS of Fair view, Kan., leads his class at the U. S. Military Academy where he has been named First Captain of the Corps of Cadets. Outstanding soldierly qualities and excellent scholastic standing won him the highest rank awarded at West Point. (International) man, is general manager of the company and the new “Breeze wood” pipe, which is sold all over America, is made from the blocks produced in Transylvania. Around 50 persons are employed by this pipe concern and a great deal of money is paid out regularly to farmers for burls. Extensive as the county’s indus trial contribution to the war effort may be, at the same time other home front war records have been and are being made in Transyl vania. Through the cooperation of prac tically every man, woman and child in the county, ^ver 300 pounds per capita of scrap metal have been collected and sent to war centers during the past year. In the state-wide, newspaper-spon sored scrap drive last fall, Tran sylvania won second place. Every month since the sale of war bonds was started in May. 1942. Transylvania has surpassed its quota and in the second war loan drive back in April this coun ty ranked second in North Caro lina in the percentage of sales over quota by more than tripling its assigned goal. In all other war drives. Tran sylvania has kept its record clean by exceeding quotas. With a slogan of a “Victory Gar den on every vacant lot and on every farm.” the county is living up to its food for freedom plans, and the farmers have gone all-out to produce more vegetables, more poultry and more livestock. Iii the Red Cross sewing rooms, thousands of surgical dressings are being made for the armed forces and all other war agencies are extremely active. In voluntary enlistments, reports show that Transylvania ranks high in the nation. With a population of 12.241, according to the 1840 census, the county now has around 1.200 men in service and a high percentage of these men volunteer ed. At Brevard College a large num ber of young men have been train ed through the CAA flight program and are now serving as pilots in the air corps. The college, which was founded in 1934 as the result of a merger of Rutherford and Weaver colleges, is stressing war emergency courses and in keeping with urgent educational needs of today, the institution is giving pre college training. It is the only col lege that is owned and operated by the Western North Carolina Methodist conference. It is a junior college and Dr. E. J. Coltrane is president. This month the twentieth an nual American Red Cross National Aquatic school was held at Camp Carolina, near Brevard, and the instruction given w'as designed to meet wartime emergency training needs in accident pi’evention, first aid and swimming. A total of 155 adult students from all over East ern America attended the school whose slogan was, “everybody sea worthy.” In spite of travel restrictions, Brevard and Transylvania county are looking forward to another successful tourist season. For a number of years, their many at tractions have drawn thousands of vacationists from all over the United States. They like the inspiring mountain scenery, the beautiful waterfalls, the green valleys, the cool climate, the varied and fine entertainment, the comfortable place in which to stay and the friendly people. They like Brevard, a beautiful little model city of 3,500 people, ideally located in the rich Sylvan valley, surrounded by forest-clad mountain peaks that soar majes tically to an altitude of over 5,000 feet. They enjoy the street dances that are held every week, the com munity sings and other recreation al features* They like to go through the famed Pisgah National Forest which offers one of the greatest varieties of nature scenery in the I south. In this 200,000-acre game reserve, there are waterfalls, camp ing grounds, 500 miles of trout fishing stream, thousands of deer and other game and nearly 100 different varieties of flowering plants. There are also many listed type ferns, vines and'over 25 for est shrubs, native only to this im mediate section and over 50 dif ferent trees. Rhododendron and Mountain Laurel grow in profusion through the forest and no where in Eastern America is to be found a more beautiful picture than that presented by the far-famed Pink Beds, 14 miles from Brevard. From early April, when the pink of the redbud and the white of the dog wood and otHer blooms begin their floral display and all through the summer until the breath-taking colorings of frosts in late October, the eye and mind of visitors are pleased with the exclusive flowers to be found in the Pisgah National Forest. The entrancce to this great masterpiece of nature is only two miles from Brevard. The tourists thrill as they visit the many waterfalls in Transyl vania, and have little difficulty in realizing why the county is known as “The Land of Waterfalls.” Sev eral of the falls are located close to the highways and three of the most popular falls are easily reach ed. These are the Connestee Falls which are located about seven miles from Brevard on the Green ville, S. C., highway; Looking Glass Falls, in the Pisgah Nation al Forest on the Davidson river and Toxaway Falls on the road to Highlands, near the old Toxaway dam site. Other falls include Bear Wallow on Bear Wallow creek, The Narrows, Drift Falls and Horse pasture on Horse pasture creek. Tourists like to see the famed Blue Ridge Parkway which runs across the mountain tops of^Tran sylvania county. Construction of the roadbed has been completed, but the Parkway is closed this season because of the war. Visitors who have traveled all of the fin ished portions of this Park-to-Park highway state that the section in Transylvania is the most beauti ful of all. Other popular recreational places in and around Brevard are the country club, the modern 10-hole golf course, the municipal swim ming pool. Many visitors become so inter I ested in the town and county that they look up its history. They ■ learn that the county was a part of the Cherokee Indian reserva tion until the close of the Revolu tionary War in 1783 and that it j was declared a county by an act of the legislature in 1861. The 1 name of the county is believed to have been taken from the ancient “State of Transylvania,” organiz- 1 ed by Daniel Boone and Richard Henderson. Transylvania lies in the south western part of the state, ad jacent to the South Carolina line and surrounding the headwaters of the French Broad river. The only white settlers prior to the Revolutionary War were oc casional hunters, trappers and fur traders. Following the war, the main valleys were selttled rapidly and the original stock was almost entirely English,' Irish and Scotch who migrated from other sections of the state. When the first set telers arrived in the French Broad Valley, they found a por tion of it treeless except for seven wild cherry trees at the place still known as Cherryfield. Despite the county’s rapid growth as a tourist, industrial and educa tional center, it still remains a fine agricultural county. Another significant feature about Transylvania county is its boys and girls summer camps. For more than 25 years, the youth of Amer ica has come to the county to attend one of the many camps, and today it is the number one summer camp section of the south. Outstanding among the natural resources qualifying the county for such a distinction are includ ed its streams of pure, crystal water, its numerous waterfalls, and its agreeably cool and invi gorating climate. Thirty years ago the first camp woo established near Brevard and now the county has a total of 11 boy and girl summer camps, which operate during the months of July and August and have an annual enrollment of around 1.000 from practically every state in the nation. All of the camps have one common purpose, that of provid ing two months of wholesome and enjoyable life in the open, with its interesting and appealing ac tivities giving outlet to youthful physical, moral and intellectual development. The camps are well equipped and are operated by a large staff of experienced men and women. Most of the camps have lake facilities for boating^ canoe ing, swimming, diving and other aquatic sports; sleeping cabins or tents, lodge and recreational hall, dining room and kitchen, building for arts and crafts, tennis courts, baseball field, playgrounds and equipment for other outdoor and indoor activities. Transylvanians are proud of their many natural advantages and they are eager to share them with others. At all times they extend a hearty welcome to all people to visit the truly magnificient and beautiful Sapphire region of West ern North Carolina and to behold the wonders of nature. Transylvanians are proud of their industries and of their coun try and the things for which it stands. They are as American as are the Stars and Stripes! FOR SALE — Steel files, indexed, 3x5. The Times office. Brings to Americans an op portunity to reflect on their heritage and to renew their fealty to their country. It also brings enjoyable diver sions of many kinds. Look your best on these occasions . . . our expert beauty ser vice is designed to this end. This shop will be closed July 5. RUTH’S BEAUTY SHOP West Main St. I’m the K. P. to an Army of Women Uncle Sam is taking a lot of Mrs. America’s time today, and women all over the country are depending on me to cook, clean, keep food prop erly, heat water, and do many of the other thing that help keep a home. Remember, though, that the job is easier if all the appliances I work with are in good shape. Check them in your house for that drop of oil or the minor repair that may put them back into useful, life, because they are go ing to have to last for the duration. Electricity Is Vital In War—Don't Waste It. DUKE POWER COMPANY Day Phone 116 Night Phone 16