Show 7 1 1 r n ak 1111 7 aca E fit W J OC at ES s t Z I 1 on AAa AlvASSA typical great smoky icv mountains cabin prepared P re by national geographic c society washington bared Vas hington D C service i r r HE 1500 species of flowering THE plants that blossom before june 1 are spreading their color over the slopes of the great smoky mountains haze shrouded the great smoky mountains dominate the horizon of eastern tennessee visitors often are amazed to find such lofty wild and unspoiled mountains straddling the tennes see north carolina state line in 1923 when public spirited men and women of the two states organized to encompass soaring heights and plunging valleys in a national park even the mountain aers grandchildren of pioneers w who ho had aad braved the arrows of cunning cherokees had not explored the whole area A few naturalists natura lists and surveyors visited parts of the hunters sought their qua quarry ty amid the stately trees and dense cover that sheltered bears deer and numerous smaller animals revenue officers occasionally tried to penetrate the wilderness and lumbermen with dynamite axes and saws pushed their roads and railroads only as far as the most recent cutting to business men of eastern tennessee and western north carolina the great smokie long were a trade barrier no road leaped the rugged ridge along which the state line rambles for 71 miles commerce east and wrest west in this latitude still moves around either end of the mountains but the barrier now is is an asset as the great smoky mountains national park life there was primitive 4 t A few years ago it took more than a week to go to knoxville and return to the cabins in the hills in those days there was little reason for the mountaineer to leave the mountains A few sheep supplied wool for clothing and the mountain woman was an adept spinner and weaver when cows and oxen became useless and were dispatched shoes were made of their hides bears deer and birds brought down with five foot rifles or caught in traps supplied the family meat platter nearly all the land in the great was privately owned when the park movement was initiated arrangements had to be made for its purchase before the land could be turned over to the national park service for development an briten intensive money raising campaign was planned private subscriptions aggregated gre gated appropriations by the adjoining states brought the fund to but this was only half the funds required the campaigners f for or many months sought vainly for the other half then john D rockefeller jr announced that the laura spelman rockefeller memorial would match dollar for dollar dolla r any money raised in the campaign in 1926 congress authorized the establishment of the great smoky mountains national park on condition that the citizens of tennessee and north carolina present acres of acceptable land in on one e solid tract the acreage to be equally divided between the two states officials who had investigated were enthusiastic nature is at her choicest there they reported development of the area area as a national playground began and today the thousand resident families have shrunk to about four hundred aundre d some sold their holdings outright and moved out of the mountains highways are being built for six six years now government agencies under the supervision of the national park service have been building roads and trails and re stocking forests and streams the work is just begun only seventy miles of high standard roads twenty five miles of secondary roads and fewer than miles of trails have been completed yet for the last three years this infant of our national park system not yet dedicated has been attracting more visitors than any other of our 25 national parks less than a mile east of gatlinburg tennessee a white and green I 1 sign announces the boundary of the great smoky mountains national park at the end of a long curve a short distance beyond the highway forks you stop and peer through the haze at the steep tree blanketed slopes of mount le conte and Su garland mountain whose lofty summits are often hidden in hanging low clouds there is only one modern road over the mountains between tennessee and north carolina it winds through the scenic valley of the west prong of little pigeon river crossing and re crossing the stream to the state line at newfound gap the chimneys rugged twin peaks thickly forested stand like sentinels guarding the bridge which carries the highway across the west prong from the bridge all the way to newfound gap the traveler is hemmed in by steep wooded mountain slopes unbroken except where a waterfall too high above and too far away to be heard gleams in the th e sun like a white silken ribbon as a mountain stream sweeps over a precipice toward the noisy river cascading below at newfound gap along the state line the mountain top has been excavated and space provided for parking parkin several hundred automo biles here the arboreal wonderland that L the great spreads before you in both states down into north carolina from this point the highway descends into north carolina along the oconaluftee river through the qualla dualla indian reservation toward asheville and bryson city north carolina gateways to the park southwestward from newfound gap the skyway one of the high est highways in the country is taking shape it has been completed nearly to Cl ingmans dome the loft iest peak in the great ultimately it will wind forty miles over and around peaks along the state line until it reaches the western end of the park affording amazing vistas of jumbled mountains and billowy valleys portions of the skyway are already feet above sea level it is alon along 9 the trails that the hiker meets isolated mountain families in their cabins and stumbles upon the remnants of abandoned mills thal thai not long ago ground out the mountaineers tai turn of cornmeal nearly everything one observes in and around a mountain cabin is homemade trundle beds high backed chairs spinning wheels and looms are usually heirlooms heir looms one of the first known white men to study the wonders of the great smoky mountains was a botanist william bartram of philadelphia who climbed among these heights about the time patriots i in n independence hall signed the declaration of independence after him came other botanists who have found the mountains their paradise one of the largest and last vestiges of the native forest that swathed the hills and valleys of colonial america orchids and ferns so diversified are the wild flowers of the great that visitors from many sections of the country find species that grow abundantly in their fields and woodlands among others that are rare to them awen ty two orchids find a natural habitat in these rugged and well watered mountains there are 50 kinds of lilies 7 of trilliums 22 of violets and 5 of magnolias the native wild orchids while not so large as the more familiar cultivated species have all the exquisite form and dainty coloring of their civilized cousins like many other plant families in the the orchids are found throughout a long blossoming bloss oming season certain species make a bold debut in the vl very ry early spring others appear reluctant to yield sway to chilly autumn ferns range from the most delicate with lacy fronds to t the b e most hardy types there are lush carpets of mosses and lichens of many varieties and hundreds of mushrooms and other fungus species range from almost microscopic sizes to the large and showy varieties many of which are prized edibles |