158 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
the South was about to begin, had the opportunity 
and the task, in many ways difficult, of giving the 
people their first training In the ways of the world. 
But it has done more than this. Besides disciplin- 
ing the people and giving them an object lesson in 
the practical development of the natural resources 
of the country, It has, as we have seen, — and this 
will seem to many Its highest value, — shown how 
to beautify the mountains while transforming them. 
Of course Biltmore Is not the only Influence which 
has been at work transforming the life and work of 
the people. Every one who has come from the out- 
side world to live In the mountains, and who has 
employed, or taught, or come In any kind of real con- 
tact with the native people, has had a share In their 
advancement. There are many, too, who have lived 
and worked directly for them, but there has been no 
other single Influence so large, so varied, and so far- 
reaching as Biltmore, and none other has dealt so 
practically and so thoroughly with the all-Important 
subject of forestry. 
The large hotels at Toxaway In the " Sapphire 
Country," with a holding of twenty-eight thousand 
acres, have employed the mountain people In clear- 
ing the land, building the dams, and otherwise 
preparing for the lakes that were made by flooding 
valleys. They have also made roads, but on a com- 
paratively small scale, and their forest is held as a 
game preserve, where deer are plenty, but where no 
forestry is practiced beyond keeping out fires. 
It Is the presence of Biltmore, the Toxaway hotels, 
