The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1892-09-01
A NATIONAL PARK

ton for the Southern Alleghanies.
We desire to call the attention of
North Carolinians to the opportuni-
ty that is before them, if they will
only strive for it's attainment We
have done this before, we do it now,
and we shall do it again and again,
for the object is worthy of our high
est effort. The article from the
Brooklyn Times we print entire, be-
cause it is not only interesting, but
it is written with marked ability,
scientific knowledge and literary
skill. 1t is valued contribution to
subject that should be very dear
to CaroIinians.
sit is by no means well understood
that the highest land east of the
Rockies is on the Appalachian range
in our Southern Sta ties, notably
along the divide between Tennessee
and North Carolina. Unfamiliar as
it may be, it is fact none the less that
there is cloudland down there which
overtops even Mount Washington
and maintains a level plateau sur
face of considerable extent at very
nearly the altitude of that peak.
The history of the Adirondacks in
our own State, of the Alleghanies in
Pennsylvania, of all the timber clad
ranges in the vicinity OF settlement
everywhere, is now repeating itsef
in this Roam Mountain country OF
North Carolina. The saw mill is
steadily creeping up the sides of the
mountains and leaving desert behind
1T. 1t is prudent to take the alarm
now when the mischief is not beyond
remedy, and not to wait until not
even time and nature can heal the
ruin of the land. Such a question is
never merely local. it is far-reaching
The unrestrained axe and mill of to-
day mean inevitably a ruined coun-
try side few years hence. The ruin
respects not the innocent farmstead,
miles, it may be, from the despoiled
mountain slopes. When the trees
are gone the rain often passes over
the heights without letting fail its
freight of moisture When it does
come the timber covering overhead
and the rOtting sponge of mold be-
meath are absent and the rain, find
ing no longer it's natural containing
reservoir, runs in torrents to the
valleys, bringing now a flood and
now a drought. These successive
steps of disafforestation are beyond
dispute: unhappy experience ofmany
communities has proved them be-
yond a doubt. 1t is this condition
which confronts all those for whom
the Roam Mountain highlands act as
a climatic modulus, being Immediate
ly the whole of that quickened and
energetic territory which we have
learned to admire as the "new
South" for it lies all within sharp
sight ofRoan Mountain, and second
ariIy of the whole of Tennessee and
Kentucky and the valley States down
to the Gulf on one side and Virginia
and the two Carolinas to the sea on
the other.
The menaced territory has been
aroused to a sense of the danger
which impends, and. with the new
blood working down there, to awake
means to go to work. With attest
ing uniformity the press of the region
protection. That it is held an i'm
portant, even a vital, matter is seen
from the fact that it is allowed dis
cussion in the clatter OF political
times
The most rational measure of re-
lief seems to be that strenuously adj
vocated by the SENTINEL, of Wins
ton, N. c. This town lies we'll at the
edge of the zone of the immediate
disastrous results of wholesale tim
Der cutting on the Roam Mountains
and alta distance of nearly 100 miles.
But the editor has taken the matter
up with vigor and is zealously press
ing his suggestion, which is indeed a
good one. He appears to have
studied carefully the conditions OF
the national parks, with particular
reference to those in California, where
lively interest is manifested in the
question. He offers as the solution
of the problem the suggestion that
the National Government park the
watersheds of the Roam Mountain
plateau as it has parked the Yellow
stone, the Yosemite and the Big
Trees.
The suggestion is on many &C
counts a good one and should bear
fruit. Weare protecting distant and
scarcely accessible parts of the coun.
try; why should we neglect that
which lies close at hand and is GER
tainly of at least equal Importance
1t is a worthy object to preserve the
few remnants of the herds of bison; it
surely should be equally important
to preserve the deer with which the
Appalachian chain once swarmed
Ii viewed solely on climatic grounds
there are other waterways aswell en-
titled o protection as the Missouri
and the San Joaquin. The Tennes
see and the Ohio, the James and the
Roanoke, are they the rivers of Da
mascus and without honor in Jewry?
If the Government can be induced to
adopt this measure of protection for
the threatened districts there will be
a chance for a preserve of the char
acteristic fauna of the East, which
shall equal in interest the collections
now maintained at the Yellowstone,
with no more expense than lies in the
employment of few of the soldiers
now busy in brass-huttoned idleness.
But the matter of such an Appal-
achian park is not presented on the
score of beauty, art or science, but
as the crying need of a people who
see a hard fate overhanging and who
ask that something be done to pro
tect them in their homes and their
industries. 1t is properly a Federal
concern, because several States are
conformity in interest and they can,
not act alone"