162 



SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION. 



of its summer climate. For many years to tiiose wisiiiiio- to escape the 

 rigors of a Northern winter this plateau has been a place of favorite 

 resort. It has one of the best all-year climates in the world. 



The existino- national pai'ks can only be visited in siuninci- : snow 

 and ice bar the way at all other times. If a national pai'k were civated 

 in this favored mountain region it could l>e visited and enjoyed at all 

 seasons of the j^ear. 



LOCATION IS CENTRAL. 



This part of the Appalachian Range is but twenty-four hours from 

 New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Toledo, and the Gulf States. It is, 

 therefore, within easy reach of millions of people, and a park there 

 could be in fact, as in name, a national park. 



EASTERN STATES ARE ENTITLED TO A NATIONAL PARK. 



There is no national park of the character of the one suggested east 

 of the Yellowstone, which is considerably more than 2,000 miles from 

 the Altantic coast, nor is there even a forest reserve east of western 

 Dakota, which is but a few hundred miles nearer. 



The Chickamauga'battlefield, though called, it is believed, a "national 

 park," possesses none of the characteristics of such a park as is now 

 under consideration, and was created because of the historical interest 

 investing its localit}- and is of ver}" limited area. 



PARK WOULD PAY AS A FOREST RESERVE. 



It is confidenth^ asserted that no forest reserve of the country, with 

 possibly one exception, would jneld a larger return to the Government. 



The forests are very dense: the timber of valuable species, such as 

 tulip (poplar), oak, chestnut, hemlock, and pine, and of great size. The 

 undergrowth is still to a large extent uninjured b}- fire, and the forest, 

 when made accessible by Government roads and managed in a scientific 

 manner, would yield an immediate, a constant, and a comparatively 

 large revenue. 



The Government is now about to institute methods of scientific for- 

 estry. No better place in the United States can be found for the insti- 

 tution on a governmental scale of forestr}^ operations, and because of 

 the fine climate, summer and winter alike, it would be the only forest 

 reserve of the countiy where such operations could be carried on unin- 

 terruptedly throughout the year. 



The forests and the climate, both incomparable, ordain this as the 

 place for the commencement of forestry operations, and, jperhaps, as 

 the location eventually of a national school of forestry. 



