As a result of Director Mather’s concerns, Secretary of the Interior Hubert Work, in 1924, established a Southern Appalachian National Park Commission to make an investigation of the southern Appalachian Mountains region and to determine whether there were suitable areas for national parks. The initial committee appointed by the Secretary was composed of public-spirited men who served without compensation. The only funds available for the Commission’s use were those provided by private individuals. The Commission devoted much personal time in reconnaissance of the area, meeting with local groups and investigating the feasibility of areas to be recommended for national parks. From these studies, Congress drafted the necessary legislation in 1925 authorizing the securing of lands in the southern Appalachian Mountains for perpetual preservation as national parks.
By 1926 enough public support had been generated so that enabling laws in both the State legislatures and in Congress led to the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee and the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Later the Mammoth Cave National Park was established in Kentucky.
In the Commission’s 1924 report to the Secretary of the Interior, the following comment was made on the Blue Ridge area of Virginia that became the Shenandoah National Park:
The greatest single feature, however, is a possible skyline drive along the mountain top, following a continuous ridge and looking down westerly on the Shenandoah Valley, some 2,500 to 3,500 feet below, and also commanding a view of the Piedmont Plain stretching easterly to the Washington Monument, which landmark of our National Capital may be seen on a clear day. Few scenic drives in the world could surpass it.[1]
It was this vision that led ultimately to the construction of the Skyline Drive in the proposed Shenandoah National Park.
Pioneer Road Construction
By 1930 the work initiated in 1924 for the National Park Service on the improvement of park roads was a significant part of the total direct Federal construction program. A system of national park roads had been selected for improvement, involving some 1,500 miles of road. The cost of improvement was $50 million, and $22.5 million had been authorized between 1924 and 1930, of which $20 million had been actually appropriated. Of the planned system, 302 miles were already improved at a cost of approximately $9.2 million, and construction was underway on 241 miles on which the cost was estimated to be approximately $9.6 million.[2]
The initial project in 1924 of surveying the transmountain highway in Glacier National Park and the work on the Zion-Mount Carmel Road illustrate the difficulties to be surmounted in pioneer road construction. The transmountain highway project was only accessible by saddle horses, and in the very early stages of work, the average load for a packhorse was very small. The project was on the west side of the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains and was 15.7 miles long. It started at an elevation of 3,537 feet and, for the major portion of its length, climbed along the “Garden Wall” to Logan Pass at an elevation of 6,648 feet. In the upper reaches, the location followed virtually a vertical cliff for long distances.
On the Zion-Mount Carmel Road in Zion National Park, Utah, which was completed in 1930, a tunnel was necessary.
In the 4.6 mile stretch of the Zion Park Road in Upper Pine Creek Canyon, there is more than a mile of tunnel. The tunnel is sufficiently near to the cliff face so that it has been possible to cut openings or galleries through the face from which views of the canyon may be obtained. . . .
Before actual construction work began much had to be done in preparation. A feasible route had to be found by which to climb from the floor of the valley, 1,400 feet in elevation to the park boundary at 4,100 feet. The survey involved weeks of arduous labor, climbing rocky slopes, cutting through dense thickets, hanging from hazardous points, and at all times maintaining an accuracy of measurement which would allow computations to be made closely enough for proper control and close estimate of the work to be done.
In starting the tunnel work, it was necessary to begin at several points along the line and excavate the galleries first and then complete the tunnel between these points. All measurements had to be made from the outside, carried in and projected through the tunnel. Scaffolds were built on the outside of the cliffs, and all supplies and materials were lifted to these galleries.[3]
The National Park System
On June 10, 1933, President Roosevelt signed an executive order establishing the national park system which was to be administered by the National Park Service. The components of the system were identified in six groupings: (1) The National Capital Parks, comprising the lands reserved by the Federal Government after the founding of the District of Columbia in 1790 on which today are found the Capitol, the White House, the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials with the connecting mall and park area, the Rock Creek Park authorized in 1890, and other areas and buildings in the Nation’s Capital of great historical significance; (2) 21 national memorials; (3) 11 national military parks and 9 national battlefield sites; (4) national cemeteries, including the Gettysburg National Cemetery and 10 other similar cemeteries established at the sites of historic battlefields; (5) 10 national monuments on military reservations; and (6) 21 national monuments on national forest lands. Altogether, there were 137 areas in the national park system.[4]
Between 1933 and 1940, six new national parks were established: the Everglades National Park, Florida, 1934; the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee, 1934; the Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, 1935; Big Bend National Park, Texas, 1935 ; the Olympic National Park, Washington, 1938; and King’s Canyon National Park, California, 1940. BPR’s activity on park road construction was thus greatly expanded.
As a result of the 1933 executive order, Commissioner MacDonald, in January 1934, established the Eastern Parks and Forests District in Washington, D.C., to provide an organization to undertake the location, design, and construction of park and forest and such other highway work in the eastern section of the United States as might be entrusted to the Bureau. The result of this action was to bring under
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- ↑ U.S. Department of the Interior, Final Report of the Southern Appalachian National Park Commission to the Secretary of the Interior, June 30, 1931 (GPO, Washington, D.C, 1931) p. 8.
- ↑ T. MacDonald, The Bureau of Public Roads and Its Work (BPR, Washington, D.C, June 1930) pp. 42, 43.
- ↑ Id., pp. 40–42.
- ↑ R. Lee, supra, note 1, pp. 21–35.
