Evening star., 1924-09-21
BLUE RIDGE SITE
LIKELY CHOICE FOR
VAST FEDERALPARK
Official Inspection Party I'm.
pressed by Beauty of Sec
/ tion Near Luray, Va.
MEETS REQUIREMENTS
FOR U. S. RESERVATION
Area Under Consideration Within
Few Hours of Capital
by Auto.

great national park. embracing
an area Of thousand square miles
. euualing in beauty and recTeatlonai
OPPORTUNITIES the Vests famous lel-
iawstone reservation, but truly tSPl-
cal Of the old South, may be creale leu
within a few hours automobile rlue
of Washington as result OF tour
Government officials have just COM
uleted through the Stony Man
Mountain section near Luray, Va.
The visit was undertaken in con-
nection with the Governments search
for the site of such a national reser-
walton, possibly to be known as the
Arualachian National Park, in which
there might be preserved the native
flora and fauna of the South In their
wild state. just as the Government is
now preserving the life that Is typi-
cal of the West in it's numerous reser-
vations there.
Col. smith Heads Party.
Col. Glenn S. Smith, acting chlef
Typographical engineer of the Unlteo
.:tates Geological Survey. who per-
sanally represented the secretary OF
the Interior, headed the inspecting g
rarty. assisted by Maj. w. A. W alsn'
general manager of the fallSaoes
Interstate Park. With them were
q number of prominent ofhclais anu
business men from Washington ana
Virginia.
col Smith is secretary or the South
ern Appalachian National Park com
mittee. which has been invested with
authority to examine various sites lor
the proposed park throughout tne
South. and whose selection prooaoly
T., J., n q
Commission. His visit, together with
Mai Walsh. also a member of the
committee, was made in his official
capacity.
Meets Requirements.
So impressed were both memb mbers
of the committee at the end or their
tour that they declared they "ould
persuade the entire committee TO
visit the Stony Man section of the
Blue Ridge Range early next Spring
and see for itself the advantages that
area contains for the purposes de-
sired by the National Park Commits
sion. 1t embraces virtually every re-
quirement for the proposed Appa-
lachian reservation and many addl-
tional advantages besides
-Four thousand feet above sea levei
and more than 5000 feet above the
historic Shenandoah Valley, itself an
integral part Of the South's glorious
history, il is one of the few large
areas in the East where the onward
march of civilization or the dread
fire demon of the forest has not
devastated it's natural wild life. There
for hundreds of miles over wind-torn
mountain peaks nature thriveS In
primeval wildness.
col. Smith and Maj. Walsh began
their tour Wednesday from Luray,
near the famous caverns or that
name. They were met at the train
there by an official committee OF
business men from all parts of Viz
ginia, officers of the Norfolk ana
Western Railroad and interested per-
sons from Washington and first es-
corted to Skyland, scenic resort
4.031 feet above sea level on the sum-
nit of Stony Man Mountaip.
Visit Highest Peak.
From the moment they were
greeted at Skyland by George F.
Pollock, owner of that entire section,
the park committee officials were
treated to one surprise after another.
Going first to the topmost peak of
the mountain, 1850 feet above sea
level, they gazed in silent wonder
at the rich floor of the famous Shen-
andoah Valley, more than 1900 feet
below them.
For hundreds of miles that valley
stretched out before them like tiny,
checkered garden, banked on the
opposite side by the great. silent
Allegheny Mountains and melting
into dazzling distances at either end
that the human eye could not hope
to penetrate. Five hundred square
miles was spread out before them
like some great, painted road map,
laced here by family lined highways,
and there by silvery strands that
were rivers.
Reluctantly turning from Stony
Man summit, they rode from peak to
peak-Little Stony Man Cliffs, Thor
oughfare Mountain, Old Rag Noun
tain. Robinson's Mountain and Indian
Spring Mountain-through acres of
rich pasturc-land on mountain
plateau, coming at last into White
Oak Canyon. Dusk was falling over
the mountains, tinging the ridges
with that faint blue hue that has
given them their name-the Blue
Ridge Mountains.
Ride Across Ridges.
Thursday morning the party start
ed out again on horseback and rode
across ridge after ridge through
Madison and Rappahannock Counties
OF Hcy lOOh III luc Ia
nous Nigger Mountain and it's gor-
geous cataracts, scenery that is so
beautiful that 1t defies description,
yet has been beheld by comparatively
few persons. Turning back to White
Oak Canyon, the tourists then fol-
lowed its winding course for miles,
climbing sheer cliff walls, leaping
over. gushing cataracts, or wander
ing entranced through primeval for
ests whose rugged wildness seemed
almost inspirationaL
Emerging suddenly from the can
yon, itself several thousand feet
above sea level at its lowest altitude,
and climbing steadily up to more
than three thousand. the party found
itself on the brink of Spitler's Knob,
with the Shenandoah Valley stretch
ing out in luxurious panorama
beneath. Turning back
across HawksbiH Peak. the highest
on Stony Man Mountain. they stopped
for a few minutes at the Crescent
Rock Cliffs, where they gazed down
sheer 1,5oo feet to the forest 7carpeted
bottom OF the Ide Valley.
Thursday night the party returned
to Luray, after having dinner at Sky
land, admittedly much impressed by
what they had seen. Friday was