The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1927-08-18
Mountain Empire To Become Forest Reserve

August 18th issue contained the fol-
lowing interesting and splendidly il
Illustrated article on the National For
est to be established by the Govern
ment in Grant and Pendleton counties,
West Virginia, near neighbors of Gar
rett county, and as such is thought to
be of sufficient local interest to be re-
published in the columns of The Re-
publican by permission of the pub
fishers of the Sun.
The article is from the pen of Dew
ey Fleming and aside from being of
present-day interest it also contains
some highly historical facts, and is as
follows:
The Independent State of Pendle-
ton is about to make its great contri-
button.
Charmingly secluded for now some
hundreds of years, unprecedented by
railroads, ignored by the flow of i'm
migration and barely touched by the
tides of ommercialism-this little
mountain empire, which has been sue
cessively the hunting ground of row.
ing Indian tribes and the habitat of a
peaceful Anglo-Saxon hill folk, is to
yield the nation new playground
and vast extension of its forest re-
serve.
To speak of the Independent State
of Pendleton" is to indulge in fgura-
tive language and to adopt house.
hold phrase of the inhabitants of this
rugged domain. But it does not follow
that the estate" is a mythical place.
On the contrary, it is gloriously real
"a mejestic sector of mountain finery
that nestles between the stately Blue
Ridge and the towering Alleghenies, a
little to the north of the highlands of
Virginia and little to the south of
the valley of the Potomac.
In strictest terms, it is the county
of Pendleton, State of West Virginia,
and out of it's heart the National For
est Reservation Commission has seen
fit to designate an area that is to be-
come the newest addition to the coun-
try's reserve of perpetual forest
growth.
Vast Store of Timber.
The commission selected it because
of it's spacious acreage of virgin tim
Der and because it offered logical
extension of the Monongahela Forest
on the west, but hastenened to say of
it that "it is doubtful if there is an
other area of equal size in the entire
length of the Blue Ridge and the Ale
gheny mountains that offers as many
and as varied recreational features
as are found here"
So that while the Government
moves to increase and maintain its
forest reserve, to prevent the erosion
of these jagged mountains and to i'm
prove the navigability of the streams
that course the narrow valleys, that
well-known institution, the American
tourist, will revel in the grandeur of
the rugged mountains the majestic
cliffs, the crystal springs, the spark
ling streams, the restful coves and
natural camp sites with which the
area abounds. He will follow the bay
ing hounds in pursuit of the game
that ranges the hills and will cast
many a tempting lure to the fishes
that populate the streams.
Examiners for the Forestry Com
mission have drawn their lines around
$4,000 acres of this mountain fastness.
Fifty-seven thousand of these acres
lie in Pendleton and $4,000 in the adj
joining county of Grant. Of this area
some 5000 acres are utilized today as
agricultural or grain glands and
1000 are best adapted for farm wood
lots.
$4,000 Acres Left.
Thus $4,000 acres are left available
and particularly suited to national for
est purposes. For the most part it is
virgin growth of pine, spruce, hem
lock, hickory and walnut and few of
the owners hold it in sufficient quanti-
ties to justify the heavy expense nee
essary to it's operation.
The tourist will be interested to
know that this campers paradise is
but days motor journey from Wash
ington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Rich
mond and other cities of the Middle
Atlantic seaboard. From Franklin,
the county seat, the airline distance
to Richmond and to Charleston, w.
Va, is 131 miles.
To Hampton Roads, the harbor of
the Old Dominion, the distance on
trade routes is 279 miles; New York,
the commercial center of America, is
415 miles away, while Washington,
the political center, is only 1877 miles
distant. To Chicago, metropolis of
the Middle West, the distance is TIA
miles.
Readily Accessible.
- But even with State road program
5nly partially complete, Pendleton and
Grant counties today are readily ac-
cesible. Semi-hard-surface roads lead
into them from the north and from