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WCU - Great Smoky Mountains - A Park for America

Proposed Appalachian Forest Reserve from a Climatological Point of View

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Proposed Appalachian Forest Reserve from a Climatological Point of View

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Proposed Appalachian Forest Reserve from a Climatological Point of View

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  • Reprint from the Charlotte Medical Journal The Proposed Appalachian Forest Reserve from a Climatological Point of View. By C. P. Ambler, M. D. Asheville, N. C. The climatological condition of the Southern Appalachian mountain range has, during the past twenty years, become generally recognized as the most desirable of the eastern half of the Continent. For many years before the war this section was frequented by the lowland Southerners during the summer on account of the stimulating, bracing effect of the cool mountain air. fmmediately after the war, the section was brought into prominence by the writings of Dr. Gleitsmann, now of New York ; Dr. Henry O. Marcey, of Boston ; Dr. Geddings, of South Carolina, and many other prominent medical writers, who showed that the Southern Appalachians were particularly free from malaria, and that but extremelv few of the natives died from tuberculous diseases. The absence of malaria is explained by the fact that the whole section contains neither swamps nor standing water. Dr. Gleitsmann for many years resided in Asheville, N. C, and it was during the period of his residence here that he pointed out to the medical profession that while the summer climate was practically ideal, both from a standpoint of humidity and temperature, that the winter months were equally enjoyable to the tourist and invalid, because, being situated so far South the rigors of the Northern winter were not met with. He truthfully showed that while some cold weather was encountered, the winter months, as a whole, were such that an outdoor life was practicable. Following Dr. Gleitsmann's writings the Northern tourist turned to the Southern mountains as a winter resort, and later many invalids from the North followed, until to-day the Southern Appalachians has the unique reputation of being the best all-the-year-round resort in the country. The Asheville plateau offered the greatest advantages, and continues to be most popular, with the result that Asheville has grown.from a small town of 2,000 inhabitants twenty years ago to a city of 25,000 (including the suburbs within a radius of two miles). This plateau, and particularly Asheville, has become cosmopolitan, inasmuch as its inhabitants are from almost every State in the Union. Like Asheville, all the surrounding towns have rapidly developed, until to-day there are a dozen towns of fair size with modern conveniences, which depend upon the tourist and health-seeker for their support. Twenty years ago the county was entirely covered with forests, ft had, and still has, an annual rainfall of forty inches, but the extreme roughness of the country, the absence of level valleys, and the geological formation of the soil and underlying strata is such that, even with an annual rainfall of 40 inches, the relative humidity averages for a year between 50 and 55 out of a possible 100. Following the demand of the tourist, the railroads invaded the territory at a great cost. Other timbered sections of the country had been, to a great extent, cleared, with a result that the railroad companies encouraged lumbering operations, and the demand for lumber increasing, the operations rapidly assumed immense proportions, and each year has seen great increase in the number of saw mills, tanneries, pin mills, pulp mills, shuttle mills, and all kinds of lumber manufactories. At first, the lumbering operations were confined to the valleys and more accessible mountains, but as the price of lumber has advanced, the mills have pushed higher up the mountains, and to-day the price of lumber is such that the lumbermen have penetrated the most inaccessible spots. With the railroad, also, came a host of home-seekers, who preferred to live out of the towns; many were poor ; the mountain sides could be bought for a song; they cleared the land and attempted to raise crops on land which experience has shown should never have been cleared. Many of these clearings were cultivated but for two or three years, when the wash became so great and uncontrollable that the fields were abandoned. Before the war, the best part of the agricultural South was along the lowlands of the rivers at the foot of the mountains. The water supply was constant, floods and drouth were unknown. The forest-covered mouutains acted as a reservoir and fed the rivers regularly and' evenly from the thou-* sands of springs which abounded in the uplands. Hundreds of thousands of the lowland acres have now been abandoned 011 account of the floods and drouths, whole river valleys, as for example, the Catawba, have been ruined by a sea of sand and detritus from above, which only appeared as the mountains were cleared. The stieams of the mountains themselves have changed. The high and low water
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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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