Download or read book A History of Mt. Mitchell and the Black Mountains written by S. Kent Schwarzkopf and published by North Carolina Division of Archives & History. This book was released on 1985 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Black Mountain range of the Appalachians is the highest mountain range in the eastern United States and has a diverse ecology with plants and animals usually found much further north. Heavily deforested in the late nineteenth century, the range was the site of the nation's first natural resources preservation movement in the early 20th century. Subjects discussed include intitial habitations by scientist Elisha Mitchell's exploration of the range, developing tourism in the 1850s, the Clingman-Mitchell highest peak controversy, and geographic explorations of Arnold Guyot, exploitation and preservation at the turn of the 20th century, and the return of tourism.