Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1899-08-17
NATIONAL PARK IN THE EAST.
Some Talk About Establishing Ono In the
Mountains, Near WalhaIIa.

estry and gamo reserve in Northern
Minnesota, embracing 100000 acres
around the headwatcrs Of tho hIissis-
sippi River, with many lakes of rare
beauty, we'll stocked with fish, will be
advocated beforo CongTuss next winto,
by prominent citizens Of Chicago and
Minnesota. The promoters of tho plan
arc not liltoly to experience much difli-
Guilty in interesting Congress. Tho
game and tho virgin forests of tho Uni
ted States aro disappearing so rapidly
that it is exceedingly important that
measures DO taken, before it is too late,
to save somo of tho great wooded acres
of tho continent.
1t is ono Of tho marked features of the
legislative and popular indifference to
thoir best interests common to those
regions that such enterprises as this
never originate in our Southern States.
Yot thoro, it would seem, wo have the
most promising, most adaptable, and
tho most accessible regions for such
purposes to bo found anywhere within
our national limits. Nearly all of tn;
forestry reserves that havc beer cstab
lishod up to tho present timo arc in tho
far Northwest; tho chief of thom, the
Yellowstone National Park, is iuacccssi.
bio to tho great majority of the people
Nothing Of national scope is to be found
East of the Mississippi River.
Within about days travel of New
York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Wash
ington and most of tho Atlantic Sea
board, and quito as accessible to Pitts
burg, Cincinatti, Louisville, Indianap-
oils and st. Louis, there arc vast
stretches Of virgin forcsts-along the
line of tho Great Smoky Mountains, on
the border between Tennessee and
North Carolina-that arc thoroughly
suited to tho purpose Of great gam,
and forest preserve. Going up from the
' lowlands at Walhalla, S. G., to tho high
plateau surrounding Highlands, n. c.,
stage trip CT about thirty miles, the
late Prof. Gray, the eminent botanist OF
Harvard tells us that he encountered d
greater number of species of indigenous
trees than could be observed iii u trip
from Turkey to England, through
Europe, or from tho Atlantic coast to
the Rocky Mountain plateau. The
region surrounding that described by
Prof. Gray, especially to tho west, with
tho headwarters of tho Tennessee. the
French Broad and the Savannah Rivers,
all within few miles of each other
with fertile valleys and mountain clc-
vatio MS of 5 900 feet Or more and den
sity of vcrdure unapproachcd elsewhere
is an idoal spot for n preserve, where
every sort of North American animal on
fish would thrive and where almost
every tree or plant found within oul
would grow uncarcd for. The land in
this region is still purchasablc "for 4
song,' certainly at as little as or even
less than that obtaining in the North
west. The climate, while sufficiently
severe in tho winter to suit the more
northorn species of animal life, is never
sufficiently so to kill great quantities of
game, either by freezing or through
lack Of winter food, rs is not uncommon
in tho Northwest woods.
Added to the climatic and the varied
physical characteristics of this region,
which especially fit it for the purposes
in Wow, there is no like region obtaina-
bic whnrc the varied and picturesque
seen cry so admirably adds to the dcsira-
bilitY of tho location. While these
lcadwaters are singularly devoid of
lakes, there are ample streams running
through deep valleys and gorgcs which
render the production of artificial lakes
and reservoirs a matter of detail and of
slight expenditure. Cascades and even
waterfalls Of very considerable dmcn-
tions abound on every hand, vast
stretches of virgin forests, with an
evergreen underground of laurel kalma,
rhodO dendron, etc, AFFORD ample shcl-
tor and browsing for the winter, while
tho steep mountain sides, largely GOV
cred with powders and rocky lodges,
from every Granny of which dense vcgc-
tati on springs FORTH furnish safe homes
for all varcties Of our smaller animals.
A park that would take in the region
along tho Smoky Mountains around
Clingman's Dome, or the Southern
SlOpcS "uCIC INoIlll anu IOOllJll
Carolina and Georgia meet, in the mid
die of the headwatcrs of the Savannah
River, or whcrc Tennessee, North Caro-
lima and Georgia meet, would not be mis-
placed. The timber and mineral wealth
of the region mentioned arc such that it
can only be question of q few decades
when these mountain slopes III ho de-
Dudcd and when the people o. the vast
valleys that depend on these watersheds
for their water supply will suffer from
tho blindness of generation that could
not fOresee the otherwise inevitable and
combine its prevention with tho benefits
OF an enduring national park in tho
pOpulOus East.--rSccntilic hmcrican
August 18th.
Mrs. Pickens, widow of Ex-Gov. +. w.
Pickcns, diod on August Sth at her home,
"Edgowood" at EdgcGcld. She was one
of tho most brilliant women Of the
South. She was bride when her has
band was appointed minister to Russia
by President Buchanan, and while at tho
Court of st. Petersburg, the Czar pre-
sonted hor jewels valued at 1000. Her
picture adorned the $lCJ bills of the
Confederate States. At the time OF her
death Mrs. PickcnS was State regent Of
the Mt. Vernon Association, and she was
tho originator of that organization which
now keeps Mt. Vernon, the home of tho
Father of his Country, in such splendid
order.
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