Western Carolina University WCU University of North Carolina Asheville UNCA

Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (21) View all
University of North Carolina Asheville (6) View all
WCU - Great Smoky Mountains - A Park for America

Problems in the Smokies

items 3 of 7 items
  • wcu_great_smoky_mtns-11446.jpg
Copyright Download
Item 1 - Problems in the Smokies
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-11444.jpg

Problems in the Smokies

GSMNP_10184_28_05_01
Item 2 - Problems in the Smokies
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-11445.jpg

Problems in the Smokies

GSMNP_10184_28_05_02
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-11446.jpg

Problems in the Smokies

GSMNP_10184_28_05_03
Item 4 - Problems in the Smokies
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-11447.jpg

Problems in the Smokies

GSMNP_10184_28_05_04
Item 5 - Problems in the Smokies
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-11448.jpg

Problems in the Smokies

GSMNP_10184_28_05_05
Item 6 - Problems in the Smokies
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-11449.jpg

Problems in the Smokies

GSMNP_10184_28_05_06
Item 7 - Problems in the Smokies
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-11450.jpg

Problems in the Smokies

GSMNP_10184_28_05_07
Item
?

Item’s are ‘child’ level descriptions to ‘parent’ objects, (e.g. one page of a whole book).

  • / thank you for sending me a copy of your bill (H.R. 10893) to provide for a National Park in the Great Smoky Mountains on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. . . . [a] popular error regarding the Smokies, is the idea that they are too inaccessible for a popular resort. So they were until within the past year. And to that very isolation they owe what they have left of arboreal beauty and the charm of the unknown. But the admirable new system of state highways in North Carolina is now linking this region up with the outer world. This road [Highway 10], with its connections, gives access by automobiles from anywhere in the North, East or South. . . . A good road for motoring runs through the Cherokee Indian Reservation to Smokemont, nine miles from the crest of the Smoky divide, at the Indian or Collins Gap. It can easily be continued to the summit, and our State Highway Commission has already provided for such extension as soon as Tennessee agrees to meet us there. Another graded highway is now building to the top of the Smokies farther west, along or near the Little Tennessee River, and it will be completed under a similar agreement. When these two extensions are finished to the state line, it will be a comparatively simple matter to run a scenic highway of easy grades forty miles along the crest of the divide itself, connecting the two roads mentioned. Such a sky-line road would be a mile or more above sea level; and from it one could look out clear across the great Appalachian Valley to the Cumberland Mountains, nearly a hundred miles away, and similarly in other directions. . . .1 do not know any other location in eastern America that offers such an opportunity for continuous outlooks from motor cars along the very top of a majestic mountain range. The wonderful invigora- tion and spiritual uplift of such a trip can now be enjoyed by none but those hardy mountaineers who go afoot, packing their supplies for days on their own backs. In many of his published articles, Dad expanded on this concept of a sky-line drive: One of the members of the National Park Commission recently, told me, when he was here exploring the Smokies, that the federal government, if it took over the park, would have to build not less than three hard- surfaced highways about fifty feet wide, across the Smokies from the Carolina border to the Tennessee border, connecting with state roads on either side, in order to accommodate the millions of tourists who would flock here as soon as the park was opened. These would be linked together by a sky-line highway running along the very crest of the Smoky divide for forty miles. . . . This road would cross most of the capital peaks of the Smokies; Mt. Collins, Clingman Dome, Siler's Bald, Brier Knob, Thunderhead, Gregory Bald, and other lookout points from which the vistas are sublime. . . . Vast spaces lying between the roads would be only for human feet to wander in. Other places would be allotted to bridle-paths, of which there would be several hundred miles for horsemen. The reality of today falls far short of the road system Dad outlined. Only one of the three trans-park highways has been constructed, this one crossing the divide at Newfound Gap, about a mile east of Indian Gap. Construction of the other graded highway, that Dad told Congressman Wheeler "is now building," was halted following intensive pressure from well-organized conservation groups, and the agreement for its construction was nullified. The only existing semblance of the suggested sky-line drive is a seven- mile spur road, from Newfound Gap, which dead-ends near Clingman Dome. Dad's interest was not only in a road system for motor travel. He also recognized the needs of those who would hike and camp in the park—a need, in fact, much more to his own tastes. Returning to his letter to Congressman Wheeler, we find these comments: There is no danger that this region may ever become over-civilized to such a degree that those who enjoy the hardy sports of mountaineering and adventurous exploration will shun it. I have mentioned the Indian Gap as the eastern terminus of a projected sky-line road for tourists who wish to travel comfortably in their cars. They would turn to the left. But to the right of this same gap, going necessarily afoot, one soon comes to one of the most rugged and difficult mountain ranges of our continent. Along the divide eastward and northeastward toward Mt. Guyot the Smokies are exceedingly sharp-edge and steep. Here is a country for mountaineering enthusiasts who glory in matching their own wits and muscle against wild Nature and fighting her almost to the limit of human endurance. It will test their skill and stamina, and no chance will there be of their being overcrowded by touring folk. Here is a wild Eden that will always remain wild, unpeopled and unspoiled. It is today, as it has always been, an unknown land to all but a few athletic and daring adventurers who yearn for the explorer's thrill. I consider this "sawtooth range" one of the most singular and impressive advantages of the Smoky Mountain region. There is nothing like it east of the Rockies. Obviously, Dad did not foresee the tremendous influx of hikers and campers into this area. In the 1920s it would have taken a Jules Verne imagination to suggest that one can, today, leave Chicago or Boston in the morning, by plane, and be camping along a trail in the park that same evening. Or to believe that improved equipment, concentrated foods and changing social attitudes would now permit a teen-age girl to venture out on these back trails, with camp gear and food on her back sufficient for several days of camping. Or that the back country would be invaded by hordes of individuals whose love of nature is subordinated to their search for unrestricted but gregarious existence, as free as possible from the restraints of civilization. I am sure those early sponsors of the park would be far more surprised and outraged by conditions in the back country than by traffic jams on the highways. 30 AMERICAN FORESTS
Object
?

Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).

Related items

Part of Collection

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...

View collection Read introduction
panzoom image
wcu_great_smoky_mtns-11446.jpg