Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (20) View all

Along The Sawteeth west of Porter Gap

  • wcu_great_smoky_mtns-15393.jpg
  • Paul M. Fink (1892-1980) of Jonesborough, Tennessee, was an early advocate for the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This collection of photographs from 1914 through the 1930s was taken while Fink thoroughly explored the Great Smoky Mountains and surrounding area. A banker and a conservationist, Fink kept a journal of his explorations and published his entries in Backpacking Was the Only Way (1975). This photograph was taken during a ten-day trip in 1919 to explore the Eastern end of the Great Smokies. Present were lifelong friends Walter S. Diehl and Paul M. Fink. On the back of this photograph Fink wrote: Along the "Saw Teeth" west of Porter Gap. At first glance one wouldn’t call this much of a trail, would he?