The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1901-01-12
vANDERBILTs PIsGAH FOREST
It's Fish And Game And The Guar
dian Rangers Of The Place.
From Forest and Stream.

The Pisgah forest, in the western part
of North Carolina, has cost Vanderbilt
something like quarter of IA million OF
dollars, or about 50. so per acre. He has
bought it in great or small tracts as rapidly
as possible, and now his rangers are the
only denizens. There are five of them, all
picked men of the mountains, of fine ply
sique, good riders and dead shots One Of
them comes to meet the pilgrims and looks
at their permit, which is very important
piece of paper. This forester, whose name
is Kearns, is type of the rangers, good
humored, tall and strong, well mounted,
with repeating rifle slung at his back, sad
BILE bags and poncho. To him these noun
tain wilds are like an open book, and upon
him and his associates great and incessant
responsibility devolves They must keep
open the roads and the trails, see that the
boundary fence, 800 miles in length, is all
right; keep out poachers, look after the
game and the trout, and always be on the
alert for timber stealers. The poachers
would come from near and far to catch the
trout, or rather to kill them by exploding
dynamite cartridges in the deep pools where
the Zig fellows lurk; or to kill the deer, the
grouse Cor pheasant, as they are known
popularity or the wild turkeys At an
incredible distance the trained ear of the
ranger will hear the explosion of dynamite,
and he tracks the offender unerringly, even
into other counties, and once into Tennes-
see
There are 265 miles of trail in this forest,
the trails leading alongside each trout
stream. There are seventy miles of road
passable for wagon Trail and road are
always kept in readiness against Mr.. Van
derbilt's coming. He is, as the rangers
say, liable to come any time There
are miles of shooting paths, the latter fif-
teen feet in width and cut out right and
left from the roads When deer are driven
they must cross these paths, and by means
of the latter alone can the hunter see them
in time to get shot.
The absence of noises other than those
made by the streams is one of the most
noticed things. Rarely is the note of a
bird heard, and schooner still is any feath-
cred thing seen. So perfect and so dense
is the cover that deer can lie unseen only
few feet away. Numerous as the turkeys
are, only one was flushed, and only a very
few pheasants were seen. The sharp foot
marks of the deer are constantly visible in
the trails, and alongside the streams are the
footprints of the wildcat High overhead
the golden eagle is seen soaring, and Ranger
Kearns shows mounted specimen which
he killed with revolver as it sat in tree
top eighty yards away
Though Mr.. Vanderbilt is not a sports
man, but student, yet, as stated, all things
are kept ready for him. His pleasure i.
the pleasure of others. On his last visit
he only caught one trout, nor did he fire a
gun. His wife was with him. She is Q
good horsewoman, and rode pony up and
down the steepest trails Under protection
native trout are rapidly restocking the
streams without artificial propagation In
some of the streams rainbow trout from
California have been placed, but these are
not so satisfactory a fish, They rapidly
lose their rich colors and have to be quickly
eaten to be palatable, while the trout of the
locality. properly dressed, keep well. In
the old days, before there was protection,
there were caught in two days in this very
forest 1850 trout, and most of this needless
slaughter was pure waste.
At Biltmore, Mr.. Vanderbilt has an ar
boretum, one of the largest in the world
and the pioneer in the United States.
This was formerly under the direction Of
Clifford Pinchot, who is at present head
forester of the United States; it is now un
der the direction of Dr. Schenck, as fores-
ter. In this arboretum more than 3OO,-
900 trees and shrubs have been planted.
Pisgah Forest is the complement Of the
arboretum, and in these wild woods DIR.
Sohenck has lodge, where he spends
much of each summer with his class. In
the latter are often youths of wealth and
high social position who wish to study for
estry--a study which the United States
sorely needs, since so many millions are
daily devoting themselves to the task Of
forest destruction and 80 few to conserva-
ton. sGA