Logging
“These are the heaviest and most beautiful hard-wood forests of the continent,” read a 1901 report from President Theodore Roosevelt to Congress. Lumber entrepreneurs were impressed, and the Little River watershed was sold that year for about $9.70 per hectare ($4.00 per acre)—all 34,400 hectares (85,000 acres) of it! Throughout the Smokies, entire watersheds were staked off like mining claims. Largest of all was a timbered plot owned by the Champion Coated Paper Company. It included Deep Creek, Greenbrier Cove, and the headwaters of the Oconaluftee River.
Horse team hauling logs
Logging came to the Smokies on a large scale about 1900. Settlers had always cut trees here, but the lumber companies and their money and methods injected a major new element. Instead of a few oxen dragging heavy logs to mill, the lumber companies introduced railroads, steam loaders, and steam skidders on the landscape. As you drive from Elkmont toward Townsend along the park road, you are driving atop the old railbed that was laid down by the Little River Logging Company.
New towns sprang up: Elkmont, Crestmont, Proctor, Ravensford, and Smokemont. These provided something new to the Smokies, a cash market. For a time, one egg would “buy” a child a week’s supply of candy. Local families sold farm products to the loggers and sawmill men.
Steam-powered saw
Cut lumber
The Smokies yielded board feet of lumber by the millions. Cherry was the most valuable wood, and most scarce. Tall, straight yellow-poplar turned out to be the most profitable because of its large volume.