Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1904-02-24

stne ueer, tne turkeys or the grouse,
which are known i'm the mountains as
pheasants. The trained ears OF these
rangers hear the explosion OF dyna-
mite "a great distance, and they track
the onenders as a bloodhound would
track them. into other counties, and
even into Tennessee.
Through this great Pisgah reserve,
which now is leased for use by one
OF the most exclusive hunting and fish
Ing clubs in this country. there are rs
trails, the latter leading alongside each
trout stream. These roads and trails
are always kept cut out and ready
for use. There are miles of what are
known as shooting paths" 15 feet
wide, which branch out right and left
from certain OF the roads, SO that when
deer are driven by the dogs they must
cross these paths, and by means OF the
latter alone can they be seen in time to
afford "a shot. Deer can stand in the
rhododendron thickets in 10 feet of a
hunter, and yet be absolutely invisible,
so dense and so perfect is this paradise
OF, game In which there is so much OF
wild animal life. The foot prints OF
the deer are constantly seen, and once
seven superb specimens were noted in
group, drinking from Looking Glass
creek. High overhead a golden eagle
was soaring and later on the ranger
showed a mounted specimen OF this
noble bird, which he had killed with
his revolver as he sat i'm u tree top so
yards away
Mr.. Vanderbilt began to acquire Pis-
gah Forest IL years ago, and he
promptly began the work OF restocking
the streams with trout, in the simplest
manner. that is, by protection, without
any artificial protection. III some OF
the streams rainbow trout have been
placed, but these are not nearly SO
satisfactory as the native trout. The
number of trout in this particular re-
gion was years ago incredibly great.
In the old days, before there was any
protection, there were caught in two
days by three fishermen 1850 trout, ana
most of this needles slaughter was alb
solute waste. Pisgah Forest has large
ly been chosen as the place for the
study of forestry, under the direction
of the very talented DR.. Schenck, who
succeeded Clifford Pinchot, now the
all the world knows, Mr.. Vanderbilt
has at Biltmore, which adjoins and
with it's 10000 acres forms In a way
a part of Pisgah Forest. an arboretum
Of over 100000 trees and shrubs. Pts
gah Forest is the complement of this
arboretum, and in these magnificent
woods Dr. Schenck has a lodge, where
he spends much OF the summer with
his class, making n tree study under
wonderfully favorable conditions. In
these classes are youths OF wealth and
high social position, who study forest
ry, study sorely needed in this coun-
try, where there is SO much destruc-
ton. Nowhere east OF the Pacific slope
are there nobler trees-tulip trees or
poplars, Spanish and red oak, hem
locks, chestnuts, black walnuts, Gu
cumbers and pines of half q dozen
kinds, rise in stately symmetry, this
being one place where the lumbernan
has never injured the primeval forest.
II is this great covering of woods
which gives that tender blue to the
mountains, which Is the reason for the
name of the Blue Ridge.
There is a trail to the very peak OF
Pisgah, and on the mountain crest are
found lovely meadows, lush with ten
derest grass and studded with dwarf
picturesque. The trail along this crest
leads by Pnsgah lodge, the finest col
lection of log houses in this country,
built in imitation of Swiss chalets, only
the finest selected logs being used, and
the furniture being all of native work
and of mountain woods. sportsmen
will be charmed with this lodge, with
it's stately dining hall. the walls OF
which are covered with dressed skins
of the deer, fox, wildcat, skunk, etc,
mainly those of the wildcat, all these
animals having been shot or trapped in
Pisgah forest, while great eagles peer
down from the beams upon the visi-
tors. The view of Biltmore house from
Pisgah peak or front from this lodge is
nearly like n vision of enchantment.
The house seems to hang in the middle
distance, like Aladdins palace, snowy
white and vast, and quite near it is
ASheville.
Four counties corner on this peak.
Southward there spreads the unbroken
mass of Pisgah forest, to the eastward
is the rich valley of the famous French
Broad river, bounded by the cloud
touching wall of the Blue Ridge, while
to the westward there is wild and
rugged view of mountain piled upon
mountain, finally bordered by the Great
Smoky range, which towers like the
wall of a world. Within the sweep OF
vision one sees the elimination Of the
great Appalachian system with no less
than 43 peaks exceeding 5000 feet in
altitude, there being the Smoky, the
Balsam and the Black ranges, Mt
Mitchell in the Black dominating them
all with its Gill feet. In it's entirety the
view is the very noblest which the
eastern part of America affords.
The conservation of game in the for
est viii he promoted still further. as
great care is to be taken in limiting
The grouse have greatly increased.
hardly any hunting having been done
in the dozen years, and there are many
turkeys. Squirrels are, OF course,
abundant, both the gray and the small
cr brown ones, the latter being univer-
sally known in the North Carolina
mountains as the boomer" There is
another kind of game in this regionk
which is not so much esteemed, this
being the Tattle-Snake, which shares
with the general public the Appreciation
of the Pink Beds. The rattlers are of
the black variety, and while short are
unusually large, three inches in diam
ctcr sometimes. One of the rangers
keeps a tally-stick with a cut for each
rattler killed, and said that during one
season he killed 26 himself; his three
employees saying they had killed as
many more.
A watchfuI eye is, therefore, neces-
sary when one is out of a road or Il
| trail. The rattlcrs, as Il rule, arc very
peaceablC," as the mountaineerS say,
so much so that when they think per-
sons do not sec them they lie quiet and
do not coil and rattle. That there is
really little danger from these snakes
| is shown by the fact that surprisingly
| few persons are bitten and of these but
| few die, Whiskey being Instantly taken