PRODUCT REVIEW: WHISTLE OVER THE MOUNTAIN
Publisher: Graphicom Press, P.O. Box 6, Yellow Springs, OH 45387. Price: Whistle Over The Mountain (Timber, Track & Trails in the Tennessee Smokies) by Ronald G. Schmidt and William S. Hooks $22.50 each plus $3.00 each shipping.
WHISTLE OVER THE Mountain is a first rate publication from cover to cover. It describes the history of the Little River Lumber Company and its railroad from its origin at the turn of the century to its abandonment in December, 1940. The book's focus is the lumber company rather than the railroad but because the railroad was so central to the logging activities, coverage is more than adequate.
The operation was on the western slopes of Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains, almost entirely in what is now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The book contains more than 150 historical and contemporary photographs, 33 beautiful line drawings, and a number of maps.
The quality of the paper, the type, the photos, and the illustrations is superior and eminently tasteful. The book abounds with railroad photos, descriptions of logging activities and techniques, anecdotes, and delightful excerpts from personal interviews. It provides more than a factual account of the company's history; it offers an insight into attitudes and personalities of the owners, employees, and local residents. It is more a slice of life than just another train book.
Still, you will find enough photos of the railroad's locomotives, Barnhart loaders, right-of-way, bridges, camps, mills, and facilities to satisfy you. You even will find trackplans. And if you always wondered how they hoisted logs with diameters up to twelve feet from remote gulches to the trains, the book chronicles the development of hoists, skidders, and less glamorous equipment and explains how they worked.
Do you like logging? Are you ready to expand your horizons beyond the West Side Lumber Company? Are you curious about eastern logging? Here is your book. And it is excellent.-RR