Evening star., 1925-02-22

passed legislation fatty naming it as
one of the two areas that shall be-
come such a reservation in the South
ern Appalachian Mountains, and ap-
propriated public funds for a survey
of the territory to determine it's value
in dollars and cents, Virginia must
still overcome the menace of agrees
sive friends of the other site, that lies
partly in the State of Tennessee and
partly in North Carolina.
The site in the Blue Ridge Noun
tains, just 80 miles over the new Lee
Highway from Washington, has the
jump on all other contenderS, it is
| true. Not only was it selected by the
unbiased Southern Appalachian Noun
| tain National Park Commission as
the one outstanding site in the East,
| but it is geographically ideally situ-
ated as the seat of a great outdoor
playground and natural museum.
There is STILL however, the deter
mination of North Carolina and Ten
| nessee to pilfer first honors" from
| the Old Dominion State if that is
| humanity possible. And North Caro-
| lima proved in the past two months
| that when it sets out to get a thing
| 1t will just about move heaven and
| earth to accomplish it's purpose. Vir-
| ginia and Tennessee alike felt the
| teeth of the Tar Heelers of most re-
| cent date.
Had Three Entries.
North Carolina had about three en-
| tries in the race to win the approval
! of the commission when it first set
| out last Summer to find suitable
site least of the Mississippi River"
| for real national park for DR.. HUI
bert Work, Secretary of the Interior.
I he RI nf
| on numbers, if nothing else.
| But the one site that North Caro-
| lima favored is a beautiful little
| stretch of mountain wonderland
known as the Linville Gorge and
| Grandfather Mountain area. Unfor-
| tunate as it may seem, the spot was
| too small and too populated to be
| considered in the final selection. and
the choice fell first to the Blue Ridge
Mountains of Virginia, with a hope
| expressed that later-very shortly
after the first park was established
| a second reservation would be created
in the wonderful Great Smoky Noun
tains Of Tennessee and North Carolina,
North Carolina Starts Fight.
North Carolina was not through
however When DR.. Henry w. Tenn
| pie, chairman of the committee that
|
| in the House from Pennsylvania, in
troduced a bill asking Congress tc
| name the Virginia area the Shenan-
| doah National Park the Tar HeelerS
got busy with both feet-and before
! they got through the bill almost died
The commissioners argued in vain
that they had given North Carolina a
| park, figuratively speaking. No per-
son in touch with the situation doubt
| ed that the Great Smoky area would
| be taken over within a very few
months after the establishment of the
| Virginia park. DR.. Temple even ac-
| cepted an amendment to his bill
| formally naming the area the Great
| Smoky Mountain National Park and
asking for an appropriation for its
! survey.
Still North Carolina was not salts
| fed. 1t wanted the Linville Gorge
! site or nothing, apparently, and steps
| were even taken to ask Congress to
| appoint n congressional committee tC
go over the different contending areas
| again to pass on the work of the COM
| mittee appointed by DIR. Work. The
Secretary of the Interior, in return
| fatty announced that were such a
thing done his official interest in the
| whole matter would be at an end.
| BILL rs f2SScd.
! That meant the end of any hope for
any national park anywhere this side
of the Mississippi. North Carolina
realized that, and finally a compro-
mise was reached BY which DR.. Tenn
pie accepted an amendment to his
bill which authorized the Secretary
of the Interior also to select, in ad-
dItion to the Blue Ridge Mountain
and the Great Smoky Mountain areas
any other places he might deem
suitable" for national park purposes
Not only did that clause give the
hackers of the Linville Gorge sector
hope that sometime after the two
big parks are established their IA
vored site might be considered, but
it also put the Great Mammoth Cave
district of Kentucky back in the run
ming for the race that is sure to be
started again in the distant future.
Needless to say, the bill then went
through.
But the fight of the North Caro-
linians had had it's effect. Together
with the Shenandoah National Park
the Great Smoky Mountain National
Park has been created-on paper, at
least-and now Virginia is face to
face with the proposition of having
the next Congress decide which of
park. The question of cost is going
to count heavily when that battle
starts, and there is a question OF
whether or not North Carolina and
Tennessee have not got the edge on
Virginia.
Price Issue Raised.
If the decision were left to park
experts there would be no doubt as
| Il.
| Virginia. Not only could it be made
a national park in less than half the
time and at half the expense, but il
is accessible to 40,0O8,0O0 people, sc
per cent of whom could even visit II
during week end vacations. But il
the land in that area costs a dollar
an acre more than that in the Great
Smoky Mountains it will not make a
very good talking point.
| Whether the land in the Blue Ridge
area will actually cost more is not
definitely known yet. Owners of the
property down there declare they will
be able to undersell their opponents
in the most distant South acre fol
acre. If they do that there is nc
reason just now why this time next
year the land should not have beer
almost taken over for the park. On
the other hand, they will cut their
| own tnroatS II tney ask eXorb1tant
prices under the hallucination that
the Government must have the prop
erty.
State May Give Aid.
Not only must the owners of the
property, much of which has been al
most valueless up to the present time
ask only reasonable prices, but the
State of Virginia will probably be
called upon to buy up part of 1t and
| dnnafA ff tn the Eadaral Gnvarn r,nant