188 



SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION. 



[Washington I'osl, .liumnry ;i, liiOO.] 



The location in western North Carolina of a great national park 

 would be a cause of more pleasure and benefit to more people than any 

 other public institution we can think of at this moment. 



[Brooklyn Eagle, .Iiuiuiiry 14, 1900.] 



It ought to go without much pushing. All that is needed is to set 

 the people thinking about it. 



[Prof. N. S. Shaler. in Thu North Amcrioiin Review, December, 1901.] 



It may be charged that the legislation which established these reser- 

 vations is, in its tendencies, socialistic, but the most inveterate enemy 

 of that political theory, if he he open to reason, will not be disposed 

 to contend against such action. He will have to acknowledge that 

 these gifts to the community are very helpful to its best interests, and 

 that they could not have been secured ])y private or corporate endeavor 

 oi' even by the action of individual States. They can be obtained by 

 national action alone. * * * 



Although a national reservation in the southern u]jland will, per- 

 haps, most commend itself to the people from their interests in the 

 noble forests which it will permanently preserve, there are economic 

 considerations that would of themselves warrant the undertaking. 

 The etfect of such a forested ai'ea on the streams whit-h have their 

 headwaters in this mountain district would be considerable and most 

 advantageous. Properl}" located, this park would include the tribu- 

 taries of rivers which flow to the Ohio, as well as streams that course 

 to the Atlantic. It is evident that, in the future, these water courses, 

 like all others in settled countries, are to be extensivel}^ utilized as 

 sources of electric power. Owing to the form of the country, it will 

 not be possible, as it is in New England, to hold back the stream water 

 in reservoirs for use in the dry season of the 3'ear; the only econom- 

 ical method will be to have the water stored in the spongy mat which 

 naturally forms in an unbroken forest, and which to a great extent pre- 

 vents the water courses from becoming beds of torrents in rain}^ sea- 

 sons and in other times dry channels. In proportion to its area and 

 rainfall, in relation to the whole of the drainage of the rivers flowing 

 from it, such a forest reservation would serve to diminish the floods 

 which, year by 3^ear, become more destructive to the tilled grovmds and 

 towns along the lower reaches of our great waterwa5^s, and more inju- 

 rious to their value for navigation. This evil, already great, is con- 

 stantly becoming a more serious menace, as the steep sides of the 

 mountains are further stripped of ttieir woods. * * * 



