DESTROYING MT. MITCHELL 



89 



our forests, I will do it; for in the pro- 

 tection of the forests we are protecting 

 the fields, we are protecting the place 

 where crops must grow, and where 

 men and women must grow in North 

 Carolina; we are protecting the whole 

 State." 



As the result of the widespread 

 interest by the people of North Carolina 

 in the preservation of the Mt. Mitchell 

 area, under the leadership of 

 Governor Craig and prominent 

 business men, State Senator 

 Zebulon Weaver has intro- 

 duced in the North Carolina 

 legislature a bill which provides 

 for the purchase of a large 

 area on Mt. Mitchell and the 

 establishment of a park there 

 so that the scenic value of the 

 peak may be preserved for 

 future generations. 



The bill recognizes the value 

 of Mt. Mitchell because of its 

 being the most prominent peak 

 east of the Rocky Mountains 

 and because the region is the 

 source of many important 

 streams of the State, whose 

 value will be damaged if the 

 forests are cleared away and 

 destroyed at the headwaters. 

 State Senator Weaver's bill 

 provides for the creation of a 

 Mitchell Peak Park Commis- 

 sion, consisting of five practi- 

 cal men who shall be appointed 

 by the Governor and who shall 

 hold office until the desired 

 area on Mt. Mitchell needed 

 for a park shall have been 

 purchased and a deed made 

 to the State of North Carolina. 

 The members of the commis- 

 sion will receive no compen- 

 sation but their expenses. 



The total amount to be expended 

 under the act shall not exceed $20,000. 

 The bill provides for the appointment 

 of a valuation board of three competent 

 men in all cases when the park commis- 

 sion and owners of the land cannot 

 agree as to its value. While this bill 

 will provide for starting the State in the 

 purchase of the land for a Mt. Mitchell 

 Park, it is believed by persons familiar 



with values in the vicinity that the 

 limitation of the amount of $20,000 will 

 not permit the accomplishment of as 

 much as is needed at this time. 



As is generally known the destruction 

 of the forests of the southern Appa- 

 lachians is not a new movement and it 

 was because of conditions caused by 

 deforestation in the whole region that 

 the Congress of the United States four 



HERE THE 

 TH 



A Picture of Desolation. 



FIRE, FOLLOWING THE CUTTING OF TIMBfiR, HAS BURNED 

 E SOIL AND DESTROYED THE TREE SEED DEPOSITS. 



years ago 



passed the Appalachian 

 National Forest Bill, providing for the 

 purchase of lands necessary to preserve 

 the regularity of stream flow. Under 

 this act more than 1,200,000 acres of 

 land have been purchased. Much of 

 the more valuable timber land, however, 

 is still in private ownership and only 

 through State action or cooperation of 

 State authorities with timberland 



