A bit of green.The year was 1946, Harry was president and I was five, just at the crack of dawn, my Grandfather, uncle and I were at the Tuckasegee River checking the fishing lines we had set the night before.
The river flowed thru the southern end of the Great Smoky Mountains. The Smokey got its name because it was a natural filtering system for the industrial part of America, Being the highest point on the East side of the US. Much of the industrial machines of the north dumped their air pollution thru large smoke stacks which settled on our mountains, lifted into the atmosphere and helped destroy our ozone layer. The Tuckasegee River caught all the waste from the Mead Paper Corporation, just north of our farm.
There was a disgusting smell both from the river and the air. At my age that didn’t mean much to me because I thought it was a normal smell and sight at my age.
My Grandfather (Papa, I called him) often remarked with disgust as to the condition we were turning the earth into. Today I am the age he was then and only now do I realize how wise this man with only a third grade education really was.
The environmental and energy issues have been passed down the generations until now and present a major problem to today’s generation of American problem solvers, solve it they will. And life in America goes on.
While watching the Olympics from China and seeing all that smog reminds me of America during my youth. God have mercy on us what we have done to your planet.
The Tuckasegee River now flows clear down a pristine valley under the beautiful Carolina blue skies. I suppose it looks much like it did when the Indians loved the earth and lived along its banks.
Remains from the era of time can be seen 30 miles to the north of the Tuckasegee at Clingmans Dome in the heart of the Smoky Mountains, dead and dying trees remind me of our industrial age.
