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Fate linked two champions of the Smokies

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  • Roaming The Mountains jf ate Linked Two Champions Of The Smokies By JOHN PARRIS CHEROKEE - Credit for the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park belongs to no one man nor group of men. But, as the park celebrates its 40th anniversary this coming Saturday with ceremonies here and in Gatlinburg, you should know about two men—one living, the other dead. Between them—the native and the ontlander—they championed the Great Smokies as a park to the nations. Their names: Dr. Kelly Bennett of Bryson City, long known as the "Apostle of the Great Smokies." Horace Kephart, "Father of the Great Smoky Park." Fate brought them together on a spring day in 1913 and for the next 18 years they focused the attention of the American public on the beauties of the Great Smokies. JOHN PARRIS Kelly Bennett, who counts his years at 84, remembers the moment. "One day while meeting the train at the Bryson City station," he recalled recently, "a stranger stepped down from one of the cars and introduced himself to me. "He told me his name was Horace Kephart. He said he was a librarian from St. Louis and he was looking for a place where he could get away from all the hustle and bustle of civilization. "Kephart spent two days with me. He wanted to know all about the mountains and the mountain people. He was full of questions. He wanted a place where he could get off by himself. I sent him down to Hazel Creek." Bennett and Kephart became fast friends. Bennett led him to the high —Turn To Page Five-A ■iiiiitiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinniMmlllllillllllllllMlllllllllllMllllltllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllltltlllllllllllllllllllllllllllMtlllllltlllllllMIIIIIIHIIIIIII
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