48 AMEKICAN FOKESTKY 



killed by the senate. Crosbie kept up his agitation and work, however, and 

 lived to see his hopes realized. 



DEVELOPMENT OF TIMBER RESOURCES 



OPTIONS on over 250,000 acres of timber land in western North Carolina 

 have been secured by the Asheville Timber Company and there has 

 been undertaken the greatest development of timber resources ever 

 known in that section. 



The properties secured include over 250,000 acres and contain about one 

 billion two hundred and fifty million feet of spruce, six hundred million feet 

 of hemlock and one billion, one hundred million feet of hardwoods. Practically 

 all the properties are virgin forests and of the very highest grade. Among the 

 hardwoods are the best stands of poplar and cherry that ever grew in this 

 section. 



A feature of the woods management will be the placing of the operations 

 substantially under the United States forestry supervision which has opened 

 headquarters in Asheville and is taking options on large tracts of land. The 

 government is planning to install a fire protecting system which will minimize 

 the risk from forest fires. 



A notable feature of the development is the complete utilization of all 

 the saw dust and other mill waste from all the mills, at one central power 

 plant, converting it into electric power to run all the mills and factories from 

 which the waste is produced, besides a surplus to operate the big ground 

 wood pulp mill, which is a large consumer of i)Ower. The operation of all 

 the plants by electric power eliminates the tire risk to the utmost, and it i» 

 contemplated that practically all the buildings will be of concrete. 



FIRST PURCHASE UNDER WEEKS LAW 



^^=;;^nE first purchase of land under the Weeks law authorizing the creation 

 ^^^ of the Appalachian forest reserve was authorized at a meeting of the 

 national forest reservation committee in the office of Secretary of War 

 Stimson, chairman of the commission, on December 0. Ten tracts of moun- 

 tain land, aggregating 18,500 acres in McDowell County, North Carolina, were 

 decided upon by the committee for purchase. The tracts range from 100 to 

 10,100 acres in size and are located near Mt. Mitchell in the western part of 

 the state and are declared to be excellent for practical fin-est work. The 

 prices range from three to six dollars an acre, the total cost amounting to 

 about §;l 00,000. All the tracts are on the watershed of Catawba Itiver, an 

 important tributary of the Wateree Kiver, which with the Congree forms the 

 Santee, a stream of much industrial importance, which with its tributaries is 

 navigable for 250 miles in South Carolina, In taking favorable action upon 

 these tracts the commission was unanimous in the conclusion that it had 

 selected one of the most favorable localities of the southern Appalachian region 



