The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-06-19
The Long Trail.

The completion of thirty-fve miles
of the Long Trail over Killington, Ia
co, Camel and Horrid, is no sooner
an accomplished fact, than work is
begun at the other end on the glori-
Gus stretch of wilderness lying be-
tween the Hump and Loncoln Noun
tain.
A crew of woodsmen left this city
Yesterday under the direction OF X.
NJ. Ross of the State forestry service
to begin the work of making this link
of the trail. The task will probably
take upwards of month to COM
pIete. In this way. quietly and un-
pretentiously. the greatest mountain
pathway in America is being carved
out.
1t was fortunate for the Long Trail
that the State forestry department
Immediately appreciated the value or
this undertaking as an auxiliary In
the fight against forest fires, in pro-
viding a beat for fire-wardens TO fol-
low with convenient lookouts along
the route, and in opening up a way
over which men can be rushed to
fight such fires as may be found.
The camps must be equipped and
provisioned by private subscriptions
which the Green Mountain club col
lects. But the direction OF the work
and good deal of practical help is
contributed by the forestry depart
ment Furthermore when link OF
trail is once opened up, the firewar-
dens tramping too and fro over II,
prevent its becoming obliterateu.
This is a great work, the finding
of path, the building of a very al
Turing kind of road. Rome built
roads and they have lasted into a
day when Rome is not Rome. The
native red-men of this continent
built trails and today many OF them
have become the steel highways over
which locomotives run their race
with time. A road or trail is more
than a thing in the external world. 1t
is something that gets its place deep
in the brain of man. And the pas
sion for the Long Trail is a primeval
instinct. AS long as there are men
there will be those who use the open
road. AS long as there are men
their feet, for-as magazine writer
puts it-"men were born with legs
and not cylinders" AS long as there
are mountains, forests and streams,
something in the breast of every
man will respond to the lure OF them
or long to respond.
Not very many will walk the
whole length OF the Long Trail. But
many will be attracted by the fame
of this unique thoroughfare to tramp
over parts and to find release from
city cares and tolls in the shade of
the Green mountains which IL trayers
es. And the men and women who
come here to climb and tramp the
Long Trail will bring many others
content to lift up their eyes unto the
hills without lifting up their car
cases. For the men ard women
who walk are the men and women
who write and talk, and in their
wake come others who build homes
and help develop the community
Even from the narrowly selfish point
of view we can never be amiss in
making the most of Vermonts attrac
llOnS dS a place " i've III anu All
opening them up for others.
The Long Trail will be there when
our grandsons' sons are first feeling
the lure of the road and the thirst for
the unusual and venturous. The hills
and rocks and streams are touched
very gently by time. II will be the
same trail that is now so rapidly
nearing completion crawling serpent
like through the intervening low
lands under big-bodied. ancient ma
pies and sunlit hemlocks. over cush-
iony moss and prattling streams with
the maiden-hair fern bending above
them, climbing up through pines and
above the pines to the shade of giant
spruces. and yet again climbing
above the tall spruce through slashes
in which briars grow rampant and
berries ripen with no one to pick
them, through thick growths OF scrub
spruce over lodges and across fisures
TO sun-bathed SUBMITS where the max
edness of the rock Is covered only by
a matted growth of the Labrador tea,
and where the world stretches out on
either hand like an etched and pen
ciled scroll up-turned on the farther
edge to meet the sky.
II is a great work and a lasting one
-BurlingtOn Free Press