Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-07-04
IN MOUNTAIN REGIONS
SOUTH HOLDS BIG CARD
But Does Not Seem to Know 1t Alto
gether as Well as She
Ought To.
UNMATCHED on ALL THE EARTH
Real Home of Raw Material Sur
passes in Size Anything In England
or Scotland-Rockies Fail to Show
Better Than Virginia and Carolina.


How little the South knows about
( itself and how little the country knows
about he South may be typlfied In the
vague. indefinite knowledge of this sec
f. tion and of other sections, of the won
( oerIui mountain regions which stretch
. from Virginia TO northern Alabama -
: with tire above remarks as n starter
writer in the Baltimore Manufacture
ers' Record lectures Southern folks Sc
! Nerely on their failure to foot their,own
/ horn. and incidentally on their ignor-
ance Of some of the glories Of their
, own grand country
Here and there are found spots"
SAYS this writer. such rs some of the
summer resorts in the Virginia and
! carolina mountains and a few places
/ noted as winter as we'll as summer re-
! sorts which are known to the general
: public" But dim and hazy is the
( knowledEe of the country, and dim and
nazy, indeed. is the knowledge of the
South itself of this wonderland of ma
/ turc, which, il ii existed elsewhere in
/ the United States or I'm Europe. would
long ago have been heralded broadly
/ to the whole world with such unceas-
! ing activity as to have made il known
| as the worlds playground and health
| resort, as we'll as a section whose po-
! tentialitieS in material resources and
| in climatic advantages are such as to
/ JustilN It's becoming the worlds work
| shop
! As Good for Industrial Deveiopmcnt
Nowhere else on earth, it is believed,
| can there be found A spot which COM
| btncs such marvellous advantages as a
| pleasure and health resort and as a
center for the largest development Of
| industrial activities and diversified ag-
| riculture. This region is as infinitely
| great in potentialites. Indeed. il is
probably greater in personalities for
the support OF population and the de-
! vclopmcnt of industry under the most
| gion on earth.
| In Our southern Highlanders," BY
Horace Nephart. there are some strik-
/ ing facts regarding this wonderland
or the South. we are" says he, won't
to think of the South as low country,
| with sultry climate: yet its mountain
chains stretch uninterruptedly south
westward from Virginia to Alabama.
900 miles in an air line. They spread
! over parts of eight contiguous States
and over an area some what larger than
/ England and Scotland or about the
same as that OF the Alps In short,
/ tho great mountain system of eastern
( America is massed in, the Southland.
B III Its upper zone one sleeps under
blankets the year round - -
In all the region north of Virginia
and east of the Black Hills OF Dakota
]
ton. in New Hampshire) that reaches
! 5000 feet above sea level, and there
are only dozen others that exceed
! 5000 feet BY contrast. south of the
/ Potomac there are forty-six peaks and
forty one miles of dividing ridges thar
rise above 5000 feet. besides 2SS noun
iains and some 800 miles Of divide that
stands more than 5000 feet above the
sea. In North Carolina alone the
mountains cover 5000 square miles.
with an average elevation OF ZOO feet
and with twenty-one peaks that over
top Mt. Washington"
some Thoughts on the General Subject.
And then the writer asks himself in
view of these facts. why so little is
known about this region The Alps
ana the Rockies. the ryrennees and
tn. HarZ,' said he. ARE more familiar
10 the American people. in print and
picture. II not by actual visit. than are
me Black, the Balsam and the Great
smoky Mountains. II is true that sum-
mcr tourists flock TO Asheville and Tox-
away, ihnVille and Highlands. passing
thcir time at modern hotels and motor
ing along a few macadamizcd roads
but what do they see OF the hillowy
wilderness that conceals most OF the
native homes? We read more and
talk more about the Filipinos. see more
\ OF the chinese and the Syrians. than
LOT those 100000 next door America ms
who are OF colonial ancestry and mostly
of British stock"
Referring to the section OF ,his
mountain region known as the Unaka..
attention is called TO the fac, that
Wh!!e the Blue Ridge has seven peaks
That rise above 5000 feet, the I'nakas
have l25 SUBMITS exceeding 5000 feet
ana ten that nre over 5000 fee, Con-
Meeting the Unaka chain with the Rlue
Ridge are several transverse ranges
ne stone. heech. Roam. Yellow. Hack.
NEt ia
Nantahal, Tusqu!tee and few minor
mountains, which AS whole are much
higher than the Blue Ridge. 1856 sum
mits rising over 5000 feet. and thirty
six over 5000 feet above the sea Ievei"
Referring 10 the beauty of this noun
mountains. which justify the name
era ndfather given TO one Of North Car
olina's mountain peaks, Mr. Kephart
SAYS
The foreground of such a landscape
in summer. is warm. soft. dreamy
gentle and Turing solituhcs the re.
mot" ranges are inexpressibly lone
some, ISOLATED and mysterious: but
every where the green forest mantle be-
speaks vital present; nowhere does
cold bare granite stand as the sebulche
Of nm immemoTial past
Very Oldest Ton Side OF Earth.
And yet these very mountains Of
Carolina are among the ancients OF the
earth. They were old. very old, before
the Alps and the Andes. the Rockies
and III" Himalavas were nodded int O
their primal shapes. Upon them. in
after ages. were horn the first hard
woods Of Amer!ca-perhaps those of
Europe. too-and upon them to-day the
last great hardwood forests OF our
country stand in primeval majesty,
mutely awaiting their imminent doom.
The richness Of the Great Smoky
forest has been the wonder and the
admiration Of every one who has ira :
V"rscd II. As one climbs from the
liNcr 10 one Of the main peaks ne
RAISES successfully through the same
floral zones he would encounter In trav-
cling from mid-(;corEia to Southern
o. nada
Starting amid sycamores elms.
gums, willows. pcrsimmons. chinoua
= pms. ne soon enters n region Of beech
nirch' password magnolia, cucumber