Jfj* Jlacoman Price 6 Cents TOL. LXV? NO 4 rK^NKXIN, N. C., THURSDAY, FEBBUAB? 3. 19?fl EIGHT PAGES NANTAHALA FOREST HAS 30TH BIRTHDAY By PAUL H. RUSSELL v (Assistant Forcet Supervisor) . Nantahala National Forest cel ?Bt&ted Its 30th bl- thday on January 29, .according to Forest Supervise. E. W. Renshaw. Tucked down Into the south wast corner of North Carolina, it was one of the first of the national forests to be proclaim ed In the Eastern United States. ?ta* Nantahala and Savannah jMrchase units were established hk 1911 in accordance with the Ast of March 1, 1911, 36 Stat. Ml, kfewn as the Weeks law. Qm January 29, 1920, these units proclaimed as the Nanta hala National Forest by Presi dent Woodrow Wilson. The original proclamation cov ered those areas in South Caro lina and Georgia which are now the Oeneral Pickens district of the 8umter National Forest and the Tallulah district of the Chattahoochee National Forest. Also included was a portion of what is now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In the late thirties, the bound aries were revised and the Nan tahala berame a distinctively North Carolina National Forest. Its boundaries now embrace all of Graham, Macon and Jackson Counties, most of Cherokee and Clay, and parts of Swain and Transylvania. The only federa'ly owned lands at the time of establish ment were the 2. B. Otmstead grants of some 6,000 acres, which had been attached by the U. S. Treasury to satify postal fund shortages. From this be ginning, the National Forest has grown to a total federally own ed and administered 438,292 acres. Also within the forest boundaries is a portion of the Qualla Indian Reservation ad ministered by the Indian Serv ice and Eastern Band of Chero kee Indians, Many change* have occurred and many careers have been launched oh the Nantahala since Robert W. Shields was appoint ed as the first forest supervisor with headquarters at Franklin. Mr. Shields is now an assistant regional forester in Region 7 of the Forest Service; Mrs. Mamie B. Horsley, the first forest clerk, is still working in the same ca pacity, but under quite changed conditions. Other forest super visors who have served the Nan - tah la we e Arthu A. Wood, re cently retired as supeiv.sor o* the Mononaahela National For est; John B. Eyrne, deceased j Herbert Stone, now regional i forester for the Southern Res i n ol the Fo est Service; Phil 1d H. B*;rn, assistant regional forester, Southen Region; W'l liam R. Paddock, now supervis or of the Cherokee National Forest, Paul H. Oerrard, "?W supervisor of the Ozark Nation al Forest; Charles Me ichar, now an assistant divlsln chief Washington, D. C.; and E. A Schilling, "now assistant regi-rial forester at Albuquerque, New Mexico. E. W. Renshaw, the I present forest supervisor, has been on the forest since 1946. Other names are linked with the early days of the forest when good roads were pracUc ally non-existent and the wild erness of Graham County little known except to the lumber companies, who were pushing loeeine railroads back into the more accessib'e coves. Some of the ear'.y forest examiners and surveyors who are easily ed are James Denman. of Frank lin- W J Dam toft, n~w an of ficial of the Chamoion Paper and Fibre company; W. N Sloan, retlsed, of ; Roane Bradley, still on ^eob as surveyor; and John Waslllk, Jr., still on the job as dis^'ct forest ranger on the Wayah Ranger district. Early Forest Raneers well known In Western North Carolina inc ude ?rady Slier now forest engineer on the Plsgah National Forest '. Tom I Alexander, proprietor of Cata loochee Ranch; Ed Potts of Highlands, now ,?P"*"n|vrd i erocerv store; and Zeke Byrd. Thee, and others, were pioneers ! m the development and protec tion of Uncle Sam 8 forests in the Appalachians. A few of the vear after vear were Henry Baty of Highlands; Gilmer Set ter of Franklin; N. C. Grfint of Wesser and Grady Waldroop, still on the job as Kwkout-dis patcher on Panther Top Look : ?Uind'cative of the 'ack oftravel facilities with most national forest business handled over ground circuit telephone lines strung on trees, is a story told bv one of the original employes the chief clerk After abouWO vears on the job, N. C. finally had a chance to visit the supervisor's office in Fran - Vn and upon being introduced to the chief clerk, he acknowl edged the introduction by stat ing. "I ain't never met her per sonallv before, but we ve flt a | lot of fl^es over, the te ephone. In pointing out some of the fhin^es that have taken place Mr Renshaw calls attention to I the fact that U. S. Highways ,19. 23 and 64 now traverse the for est as well as naved state high ways in addition,, there are on | the forest road system Si miles of maintained roads, wlth?4 miles plann~d but not con structed Mu-h of the road de velopment orcur-ed during _the CCC days or tf-e thirties. The far flung syf *?> of forest tele rhone lines 1 is *en reduced to a mlmlmuni a y that the reason the Sanity Code is impractical is that con ditions vary at different insti tutions, particularly with refer ence to facilities for self-help. Football scholarships are the answer at some institutions, he I said. Coach Snave'v made humor pus and complimentary refer ences tp Macon County men who played football in other years .it Carolina, among them ! C. C. Poindexter, now of Hay wood county, and Lacey Har per. John M. Archer, Jr., was Blas ter of ceremonies at the ban quet. E. W. Renshaw, Rotary p-esident, we'comed the guests, and Fred Huffman, of Morg anton, introduced Coach Snav ely^ The Rev. C. E. Murray pronounced the invocation. Mr. Archer presented the coaches present, and Coach At kins introduced members of the football squad. Following the program, also marked by a black-face act done by B. L. McGlamery and foot ball film shown by Coach Snav ely, U. N. C. alumni met with Coach Snavely and Mr. Huff man ? to discuss the Education Foundation, which provides funds for football scholarships. A number of alumni agreed to make donations to the founda tion. Drink Drama Is Given By ! Local Group | A capacity audience Tuesday night witnessed the presentation 1 at the Franklin Methodist ' church of "Prisoner at the Bar", a temperance drama depicting the courtroom tilal of a man for the murder of his wife while he was Intoxicated The play was presented by the Franklin Methodist, Presbyter- , lan, and Baptist and the Car son's Chape] Methodist churches, and the entire cast, with two exceptions, wa? made up of local persons. The players Included W. W. Sloan, as the Judge; the Rev. C. E. Murray, defense attorney; John D. Alsup, sheriff; the Rev. Continued On P?f? Elite t? HERE ARE FIVE GENERATIONS? The e are five genera tions in this Macon County family and the photo above is the proof. Mrs. J. F. Fouts (lower ri;hti is the gieat-great-grand- ; mother of the fami y; Mrs. H. ?oper Hewer left), great grandmother; L. B. Roper (upper left) grandfather; and Mrs. Ca-o' Lee Townsend (upper rig.iti mother, holding her tin?; daughter, Elaine Townsend. Mrs. Fouts, the great-great-grand mother, is 87 years of age. Mrs. Fulton Former Teachsr, Dic? At Age Of 81 Mrs. John Fulton, widely known Macon County woman, died at her home in the Culla saja community at 10 o'clock Wednesday night of last week, following a long il ness. Mrs. Fu'ton, who was 81 years of age, at cne time was a teach er, having taught in th= srho Is of th'.s county for about 15 years. The former Miss Laura Jane Higdon, daughter of Jos eph H. and M s. Margaret Per ry Higdon, she was a native of the Higdoriville community. She nf rried Mr Fulton in lf'Xi, the third of last month having marked the golden wedding an niveraary. She was a member of the Sugarfork Baptist church. Survivors Include her hus band; one son, Mack Fulton, of Arlington. Va.; three daughters, Mrs. Tille y Hende-son, Mrs. Pritchard Peek, and Mrs. Myrtle Keener, all of whom live in Cal ifornia; two sisters, Mrs. Eva Keener, of Cullasaja, and Mrs. D. C. Higdon, cf Sy'va; three brothers, Mack Higdon, of Medi cine Hat, Alberta, Canada, T. B. Higdon, of Atlanta, and J. S. Higdon, of Sylva; five grand children, and one great-grand child. Funeral services were con ducted at the Sujrarfirk Baptist church last Friday at 2 p. m., with the Rev. William L. Sor rells. thi Rev. James I. Vinson, and the Rev. D. V. Mart n of ficiating Burial followed in the chu ch i imetery. P.?ilbe> rers were Troy Shook, Fur nan McConnell. Edgar Guf fey, Ear McConnell, Mack Nor ris, and Fohn Angel. A ranfc'jments were under the direction of Bryant funeral hoire. Board Will Reconsider 2 Changes The Macon County board of e'ertions will meet tomorrow ? Friday i morning at 11 o'clock at the courthouse to reconsider its prevail! action dividing F nnklln tnwnahlp 'into twn vot ns precincts and ordering a new county-wide registration of voter*, J. J. Mann, board chairman in announcing that he has call ed tomorrow's meeting, said considerable opposition has been expressed to both proposals. At its meeting tomorrow, he said, the board will hear both those who oppose and those who favor the proposed new regis tration and splitting of Frank lin township. Interested citizens are invited and requested to ap pear and express themselves, Mr, Mann said. The board early in December announced that it had divided Franklin township into two vot ing precincts, and had ordered a comp'ete new registration, to be held prior to. this sp ing's primary election. The township split, ordered then, was along the center of Dillsboro road, Palmer st eet, and the Murphy road, with all voters north of that line to vote at the courthouse, the pres ent polling place, and all those south of that line to vote at the Franklin school. The township, which is an approximate triang'e, extends fiom the old Lyle (now Hunni cutt) place on the Diilsboro road west to the old Lenoir place on the Murphy road, and from Foutstown, on the north, to Morrison church, on the south. Election officials estimate that roughly one-half of the voting population of the entire county lives in this township. Sheriff's Office, Of A!1 Places, Is Picked For Fight Of all places to pick as the site for a fight, a trio Tuesday j afternoon chose the sheriff's of- ; fice? or, at least, just outside the sheriff's office. The three ? George Guest, his j estranged wife, and her father, j Byrd Collins ? quickly landed In i tall for a brief cooling off per iod, and then paid fines and : costs totaling $7.20 each. The fight also cost them bruises, a little blood, and in Mr. Guest's case, a couple of black eyes. They were emerging from the sheriff's office, where two cases in which Mr. Guest charged Mrs. Guest with theft had been dismissed by Justice of the Peace John M. Moore. Mrs. Guest was said to have made a lunge for her husband; he ouicklv entered the frov: and i then Mr. Collins took his daugh ter's part. . There was an uproar In the courthouse hall, and the th-ee three fought their way Into the register 'of deeds oMce befo e I they were separated by Patrol man Vincent Bryson, Police Chief C. D. Balrd and others, and taken to jail. i Merchants Hear Smith Discuss Association Interested merchants last Thursday night heard Donald Smith, formerly of Iron City, Mich., but now a resident of Franklin, explain the workings of a merchants association and the functions of a retail credit bureau. The meeting was he'd at the courthouse. i Mr. Smith, who has had more than 20 years' experience in chamber 01 commerce work and owned and operated his own crsdlt bureau in Michigan for the past 17 years, to'd the i group that he felt the best way to organize a merchant's asso ciation was through the local chamber of commerce. He sug- i gested the first step for the local group to take was to ob- I tain as many memberships as possible from the local mer chants In the Franklin chamber of commerce. JANUARY WAS WARMEST EVER RECORDED HERE Only 2 Frc.?t? Noted; Rainfall Is Well Below Normal The Weather Man last month (orgot to look at the calendar, and Macon County has some thing like April weather in Jan- / uary. It was the warmest January . in the 15 years since a V. a. weather station was estah'iabed at the Coweeta Experiment For est, according to E. A. Jo'mson, technician In charge. Though there were many rainy days, It was not, hr veve , a wet January ? measmed in amount of rainfall. The total of 541 Inches, in fact, was 27 ->er cent below the January no.? for the 15-year period. With the temperature averag ing 22 per cent ? or nearly one fourth above normal ? January brought vegetation here out as far as It normally would be in April. Spring flowers have been in bloom for sometime, lawns are green, and fruit tree buds are swelling, or in some cases are open. If the weather continues warm for another week, and th?n t turns crld. the fruit c op will be destroyed. County A^ent 8. W. Mendenhall said yesterdaV. If cool weather should cwvie Im mediately, howe- er. the f'uit probably would not be severely damaged, he added. Pasture and hay crops and small grains also may be huit, and Mr. Mendenha'l recom nended very light grazing whe-e these crops a'e far enough ad vanced to be damaged by cold weather. The average high tempera tures last month was 58.9' de grees, or 15 per cent ab-ive the 15-year average of 50 1 decree*. The average minimum was 4? r>. or 34 per cent above the 15 year January average m'.nlmrm of 28 degrees. The mean temper ature for 'ast month was 7 degrees, or 22 ner cent above the 15-year average mean of 39.3. Frost was recorded onlv tw're last month, on the 8th the eld est day of the month, when the temperature dipped ti 14' de grees, and on the 9th. when the low reading was 26. The lowest January temperatu-e recorded at Coweeta during the past 15 years was 14 degrees below zero, on January 27, 1S40 I Though this January h?s hren the warmest on record. rwb'in 'Ie day set a January record in warmth. The high rea'1n?? nn January 19, 1949. was 75. Thi* was seven degrees hi? he- th"n the 68-degree high record last month. There were three days last month, however, when the temperature mounted ta 68 ? the 24th, 26th, and 31st. And one night last month ? the 6th ? the temperature never fell belnw 56. I The weather station at Co ! weeta in Januarv noted 26 days when more than half the sky was covered with clouds, three! when It Was 40 per cent over cast, and only two clear days. Band Will Be At Ott* Legion Cancels Dance; The American Legion, which sponsors a weekly square dance at the SHele Memorial building, has cance'ed Saturday night's dance. The Robinson string band, which plays, for the rvent, will be at Otto Satu'd-y eve ning, p'aylng for a polio bene fit square dance there. TUe weekly Legion dances will Be resumed Saturday evening, Feb ruary 11. The Weather >- Temperatures and precipitation fo? rfe* paat seven day?, and the low tfcapersttjr* yewerdty, as recorded at the Coweeta'E* perlraent ttation. Hl*h ] Wednesday 64 Thursday 6" Friday ? M Saturday 47 Sunday 63 Monday 68 Tuesday 68 Wednesday Lnw ! 54 O 5? 43 4* 52 67 50 free. .01 01 ?5 07 T <* 01 .17 franklin rainfai ? (A# recordrd by VI anion Slil.-i f?i TV At Wednesday, none; Thu:sda\ none: Friday. 48 of an inch; Saturday, trace; Sunday. tr?re; Monday, .18; Ttfeaday, trace; and Wednesday, .10.