The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1933-02-15
NEWSPAPERS OPINIONS
GREAT SMOKES ARE DESCRIBED

A descriptive editorial on the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park published in the FEB
ruarv issue of The Evening Star, Washington,
D. C.
The paper is edited by Theodore w. Noyes. The
editorial follows:
"Onlv twelve hours from Washington is prime
val wilderness Just as unspoiled as ever it was, aud
that it NAV remain unvioated the Federal Gov
eminent has added it to the list of national parks
The area is dominated by the Great Smoky Noun
tains, and the sanctuary will take its name from
the lofty range which men of science say was old
before the Rockies began to rise.
ga forester who is familiar with the region says
that there are 100000 acres of trees, representing
more than hundred varieties, in the park. lie
lists, in addition, one hundred and fifty species o.
shrubs and mentions two hundred kinds of birds
and thirty-fve species of animals and reptiles.
Much of the territory is junge-like in the density
of its growth Spruce trees, one hundred and sew
enty-fve feet high, thought to be six hundred
years old are hedged about with hemlocks seven
feet in diameter, which in turn are protected by
birches and by rhododendrons. Over the tangle
loom the mountain peaks, six thousand feet above
sea level To imagine the coorful beauty of the
preserve it is but necessary to call the roll of the
blossoms which adorn and decorate it: Anemones,
vioetS trilliums azaea laurel, asters daisies, or
chids and more than a hundred other flowers
animals elsewhere unknown south of the Cana
dian border roam the woodland in undsturbed
peace. Streams which never have been fished come
down from the ridges The Government has author
lied explorers to chart some of the Businesses and
few naturalfstS have been admitted to study the
Acro owl hut ,,1osto
contemplated.
"When the first white settlers arrived in the
Western World practically the entire terrain was q
tangle comparable with that of Smoky Mountains
National Park. To reduce that confusion to human
uses was the business of the colonies through the
first two centuries of American history No vastcr
enterprise ever was undertaken by a peoplc, II
demanded of the pioneers the best thew had C.
brain and Drawn. Remaking the map, thew remade
themselves; a new race grew up in new land. II
was inevitable that the civilization so carved ont
OF the wilderness, so created, should have institr
tional expression. The Declaration of InGcnen-
dence and the Constitution of the United States
were manifestOes of the idealiSm of the forest
clearerS. The governors of nature had no fear of
the task of governing themselves
Granted that the struggle still continues that
millions OF acres remain to be subjected that vast
resources are as yet untouched it nevertheless i,
true that what once was a wilderness is now q
garden. That generations to come may have visual
evidence of the magnitude of the conquest, such
reservations as the Smoky Mountain territory are
protected by Federal ownership. They serve other
purposes, Of course, but perhaps their best use is
that of the testimony they afford of the victory of
the Americans of yesteryear over the natural an
archy into which, but poorly prepared, they came
from the old lands over the restless sea-"