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1.The
Trail --
The beginnings of an Appalachian
trail already exist. They have been established for several years -- in
various localities along the line. Specially good work in trail building has
been accomplished by the Appalachian Mountain Club in the White Mountains of
New Hampshire and by the Green Mountain Club in Vermont. The latter
association has already built the "Long Trail" for 210 miles thorough the
Green Mountains -- four fifths of the distance from the Massachusetts line
to the Canadian. Here is a project that will logically be extended. What the
Green Mountains are to Vermont the Appalachians are to eastern United
States. What is suggested, therefore, is a "long trail" over the full length
of the Appalachian skyline, from the highest peak in the north to the
highest peak in the south -- from Mt. Washington to Mt. Mitchell.
The trail should be divided into
sections, each consisting preferably of the portion lying in a given State,
or subdivision thereof. Each section should be in the immediate charge of a
local group of people. Difficulties might arise over the use of private
property -- especially that amid agricultural lands on the crossovers
between ranges. It might be sometimes necessary to obtain a State franchise
for the use of rights of way. These matters could readily be adjusted,
provided there is sufficient local public interest in the project as a
whole. The various sections should be under some sort of general federated
control, but no suggestions regarding this form are made in this article.
Not all of the trail within a
section could, of course, be built all at once. It would be a matter of
several years. As far as possible the work undertaken for any one season
should complete some definite usable link -- as up or across one peak. Once
completed it should be immediately opened for local use and not wait on the
completion of other portions. Each portion built should, of course, be
rigorously maintained and not allowed to revert to disuse. A trail is as
serviceable as its poorest link.
The trail could be made, at each
stage of its construction, of immediate strategic value in preventing and
fighting forest fires. Lookout stations could be located at intervals along
the way. A forest fire service could be organized in each section which
should tie in with the services with the services of the Federal and State
Governments. The trail would immediately become a battle line against fire.
A suggestion for the location of
the trail and its main branches is shown on the accompanying map.
2.
Shelter Camps --
These are the usual
accompaniments of the trails which have been built in the White and Green
Mountains. They are the trail's equipment for use. They should be located at
convenient distances so as to allow a comfortable day's walk between each.
They should be equipped always for sleeping and certain of them for serving
meals -- after the function of the Swiss chalets. Strict regulation is
required to assure that equipment is used and not abused. As far as possible
the blazing and constructing of the trail and building of camps should be
done by volunteer workers. For volunteer "work" is really "play." The spirit
of cooperation, as usual in such enterprises, should be stimulated
throughout. The enterprise should, of course, be conducted without profit.
The trail must be well guarded -- against the yegg-man and against the
profiteer.
3.
Community Groups --
These would grow naturally out of
the shelter camps and inns. Each would consist of a little community on or
near the trail (perhaps on a neighboring lake) where people could live in
private domiciles. Such a community might occupy a substantial area --
perhaps a hundred acres or more. This should be bought and owned as a part
of the project. No separate lots should be sold therefrom. Each camp should
be a self-owning community and not a real-estate venture. The use of the
separate domiciles, like all other features of the project, should be
available without profit.
These community camps should be
carefully planned in advance. They should not be allowed to become too
populous and thereby defat the very purpose for which they are created.
Greater numbers should be accommodated by more communities, not
larger ones. There is room, without crowding, in the Appalachian region
for a very large camping population. The location of these community camps
would form a main part of the regional planning and architecture.
These communities would be used
for various kinds of non- industrial activity. They might eventually be
organized for special purposes -- for recreation, for recuperation and for
study. Summer schools or seasonal field courses could be established and
scientific travel courses organized and accommodated in the different
communities along the trail. The community camp should become something more
than a mere "playground": it should stimulate every line of outdoor
non-industrial endeavor.
4. Food and
Farm Camps
These might not be organized at
first. They would come as a later development. The farm camp is the natural
supplement of the community camp. Here is the same spirit of cooperation and
well ordered action the food and crops consumed in the outdoor living would
as far as practically be sown and harvested.
Food and farm camps could be
established as special communities in adjoining valleys. Or they might be
combined with the community camps with the inclusion of surrounding farm
lands. Their development could provide tangible opportunity for working out
by actual experiment a fundamental matter in the problem of living. It would
provide one definite avenue of experiment in getting "back to the land." It
would provide an opportunity for those anxious to settle down in the
country: it would open up a possible source for new, and needed, employment.
Communities of this type are illustrated by the Hudson Guild Farm in New
Jersey.
Fuelwood, logs, and lumber are
other basic needs of the camps and communities along the trail. These also
might be grown and forested as part of the camp activity, rather than bought
in the lumber market. The nucleus of such an enterprise has already been
started at Camp Tamiment, Pennsylvania, on a lake not far from the route of
the proposed Appalachian trail. The camp has been established by a labor
group in New York City. They have erected a sawmill on their tract of 2000
acres and have built the bungalows of their community from their own timber.
Farm camps might ultimately be
supplemented by permanent forest camps through the acquisition (or lease) of
wood and timber tracts. These of course should be handled under a system of
forestry so as to have a continuously growing crop of material. The object
sought might be accomplished through long term timber sale contracts with
the Federal Government on some of the Appalachian National Forests. Here
would be another opportunity for permanent, steady, healthy employment in
the open.
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