Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-29

concerns that the greater part of the
proposed park land not yet acquired
must be bought Timber trains are
rushing deeper and deeper into the
great forests Of the Smokes" trying 10
get all they possibly can, until the last
minute. On the other hand. this virgin
timber can never be replaced once it
has been cut; these trees are the
growth of hundreds of years.
THE purchase of the Great Smokes
has been made possible by coop
Grafton. The State Legislatures of
North Carolina and Tennessee and pri-
vate enterprises have combined TO raise
5000. 900 from the people of that region
toward the project. This Spring. the
Laura Spellman Rockefeller Memorial
Fund gave a matching 100000, thus
making the entire project financially
possible.
AS the United States Government
does not purchase lands for national
parks the work of buying up the land
obtainable at a reasonable price has
progressed steadily under other auspices.
since the bill creating the Great
Smokes National Park was passed BY
the Sixty-ninth Congress and signed by
President Coolidge in May. 1926. When
the entire acreage has been acquired,
it will be turned over formally TO the
United States Government in fee sim
pie. and accepted by the Secretary of
the Interior Then the National Park
Service will begin development, restock-
ing with bears. deer and other wild life
found indigenous to the mountains.
There are 10 peaks, some of them still
unnamed, that tower more than 5000
feet high in the chain of sentinels
guarding the boundary line between
North Carolina and Tennessee. This
chain forms the backbone of the Great
Smokes. Many people have confused
the Great Smokes with the extension
Of the Blue Ridge Mountains. believing
them to be one and the same but this
is not true. The Great Smokes are a
part Of the Unaka system of the APP
palachian Range and run parallel to the
lower part of the Blue Ridge.
The highest mountain point In the
Blue Ridge is 1884 feet, whereas Mount
Mitchell, that is a neighbor cousin Of
the group comprising the Great Smokes
/ Is 6.7ll feet high (the highest peak east
OF the Rockies. and the dominant peak
IN the Smokes" proper is Clingman s
Dome. $3.50 feet high Others in thu
f9IuUklEs are. MOUNT A1uVOL, B, $50 leet
Mount LeConte, $500 feet: Mount Ster-
ling. $500 feet: Thunder Bald and
Mount Collins. 5000 feet each. Between
and around these mountains. peak on
| peak, lies rolling ocean of green
rounded tops each summit q wave
crest in the levels between 5000 and
5000 feet in altitude.
Biologists says the Smokes arc
among the oldest mountains In the
world. and the erosion Of untold ages
/ has worn of the sharp pinacies that
originally rose above the rounded tops
As result, IL will not require a great
! feat Of engineering to build along the
top skyline highway from the Indian
Gap 10 the Tennessee River, about IS
miles. most Of which would be from
1000 To 5000 feet above the surround
/ ing country
Horace Kephart. authority on the
subject. says. 1t is the intention Of
the Appalachian Park Commission to
have this road constructed and to con-
meet 1t with three transrnontane roads
running from the Tennessee border
10 the Carolina border Of the park. "
~
/ 4 SIDE from the spectacular beauty
Of the mountains in their genera
! aspect, perhaps the most unusual fea'