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WCU - Great Smoky Mountains - A Park for America

Our Mountain Forests

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Item 1 - Our Mountain Forests
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Our Mountain Forests

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Item 2 - Our Mountain Forests
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Our Mountain Forests

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Item 3 - Our Mountain Forests
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Our Mountain Forests

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wcu_great_smoky_mtns-13862.jpg

Our Mountain Forests

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  • COUNTRY LIFE IN AMERICA May, 1902 St. Louis and the Gulf States. It is, therefore, within easy reach of the masses of our people, while those parks and reserves already established, as the Yellowstone, are so far from the centers of civilization that none in the East but the wealthy and those having plenty of time can afford or hope to visit the same. The short season of the Yellowstone, together with the high price of all foodstuffs (which cannot be raised in the country) makes it imperative that excessive rates be charged all tourists visiting this reserve. In the Appalachians, the tourist of the most modest means would find living no higher than at home, this being a vital point with the masses when considering an outing. The Government can easily secure a large part of this most beautiful and attractive country, as the same is to-day held in large tracts by corporations, estates and wealthy individuals. For this reason it would be working no hardship on any one if a large section of this Appalachian mountain region should be appropriated for the purposes mentioned. The lands could be bought at an average price of from two to five dollars per acre. For many years there has been talk of the necessity of the Government acquiring control of a portion of the Appalachian country. Dr. Henry O. Marcy, of Boston, in a paper on Climatology, read before the Academy of Medicine October 25, 1885, was one °f tne first to write in favor of this movement. It was not, however, until November 22, 1899, that any systematic effort was made to bring the attention of the Government to the matter. During the summer of 1899 private citizens of Asheville, N. C, started a movement which resulted in a well-formed and chartered organization called " The Appalachian National Park Association," with the aim of securing a national park and forest reserve in the southern Appalachian mountains. The territory which it is proposed thus to purchase and include in the reserve lies in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, Virginia, northern Georgia and northern South Carolina, embracing an area of approximately 2,000,000 acres, the territory thus included covering about ten miles of country on each side of the North Carolina-xennessee state line. The original memorial presented to Congress by the Appalachian National Park Association December 19, 1899, defined a boundary which for many reasons it would be desirable to include. It was pointed out, however, that there were other locations equally desirable and available. Senator Pritchard, of North Carolina, secured the passage of a bill by Congress in January, 1900, appropriating $5,000 for a preliminary investigation of the southern Appalachian forests. The investigation was left in the hands of the Secretary of Agriculture. This department, with the assistance of the Geological Survey, mapped the whole region from Virginia to South Carolina and Georgia during the summer of 1900. On January 16, 1901, the President of the United States, in a special message to Congress, sent the report of the Secretary of Agriculture to that body and recommended it to favorable consideration. The Secretary's report was also accompanied by a map (see Calendar No. 2227, Senate, 56th Congress, Report 2221), which again called particular attention to this area already referred to along the North Carolina-Tennessee state line. Following this, Senator Pritchard introduced a bill into the Senate praying for an appropriation of $5,000,000. This bill was referred to the Committee on Agriculture and Forest Reservations and was favorably reported back by this committee to the Senate. More important matters crowded the question out, and a vote was not taken at the last session of Congress. The movement, however, has warm friends in both Houses, and the indications are that the bill will receive favorable consideration when the opportune time arrives. Q ^ 1- 3. \ it r\ At least a portion of this beauty should be handed down to posterity"
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Great Smoky Mountains - A Park for America

This digital collection was created to contribute to the public's understanding of the forces and ideas that led to the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1934. The most vi...

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