fresh-water lakes in which visitors can observe sea and shore birds or fish for bass.

While the vast bulk of the island has the pristine beauty of unspoiled beaches and subtropical forests, civilized man has left his mark. The mark rests lightly on the island's beauty, however, and is in no way like the deep scars of neon civilization which have marred much of coastal America. Indeed the ruins of Dungeness and the faded grandeur of Plum Orchard mansion contribute to the visitor's feeling that he has withdrawn from the hurly-burly of the 20th century and has been reborn into Shangri-la.

Cumberland Island has no paved roads, only jeep trails winding under the expansive arms of ancient trees The primitive state of transportation on the island was brought home to the Interior Committee members who visited Cumberland last November and found one of the bridges impassable because of extraordinarily high tides. The present jeep trails, which lead to the island's points of natural and historical interest, will be excellent for hiking, bicycling, and horseback riding, once Cumberland comes under the administration of the National Park Service.

In addition to using the trails of the island, plans call for additional recreational facilities, none of which will destroy the natural beauty of the island. The beaches will be available for sunbathing, gathering sea shells, and swimming. The jetty at the southern tip of the island at the mouth of the St. Mary's River provides exceptional opportunities for surf fishing. There will also be areas available for camping for those willing to backpack in after bringing their gear over by ferry.

Plans for development of the Cumberland Island National Seashore have been carefully made so as not to impair the natural features of the island. The island will never become a jumble of neon lights, quick food dispensaries, tourist come-ons, and motels. Available will be a back-to-nature experience which can be enioved by almost anyone at minimal expense. Access to the island will be limited to ferries, depending upon a study which will be made by a group which will be formed hopefully to see that the ferries are providing adequate transportation.

Mr. TAYLOR. I believe in line with the Speaker's request we will have to recess now and we will pick up at that point when we get back. Mr. Stuckey, I hope immediately after the caucus that you can join me in getting back here in a hurry. The members will be notified by telephone just as soon as the caucus has ended.

Mr. SKUBITZ. Mr. Chairman

Mr. TAYLOR. The gentleman from Kansas, Mr. Skubitz.

Mr. SKUBITZ. Does that mean that if the caucus is not completed until 8 or 9 o'clock tonight we will come back at that hour?

Mr. TAYLOR. Of course, such action as is taken by the caucus will have to be ended by 11:50 but I believe they have gotten to the voting stage now and I don't believe additional speeches will be in order at the caucus, so I am hopeful that by 11 o'clock or maybe much sooner it will be over, but I can't promise anything. The subcommittee will recess until the caucus ends.

(Whereupon, the subcommittee hearing was recessed until further call from the Chair.)

Mr. TAYLOR. The Subcommittee on National Parks and Recreation

will reconvene.

Off the record.

(Discussion off the record.)

Mr. TAYLOR. Back on the record.

Mr. Stuckey, you may continue.

STATEMENT OF HON. W. S. STUCKEY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE EIGHTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF

GEORGIA-Resumed

Mr. STUCKEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, at this point I would like to just have my statement. included in the record. I think time is somewhat of a problem and I think it would speed up matters. We have quite a few people that own property on the islands, commissioners and interested people, from Camden County and as I said, the owners who do want to testify this morning, and I think it will help us establish the record if we do go ahead into their testimony as soon as we can.

If that is all right I would like to conclude my statement at this. point and answer any questions the committee might have.

Mr. TAYLOR. In the absence of objection, the full copy of the gentleman's statement will be placed in the record at this point.

(The statement of Congressman Stuckey referred to above follows:) STATEMENT OF HON. W. S. (BILL) STUCKEY, A RepresentativE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF GEORGIA

Mr. Chairman, it is indeed a privilege to appear before you in support of HR 9859, a bill providing for the acquisition of Cumberland Island for use as a National Seashore. I am particularly appreciative of the Committee for scheduling hearings on this matter.

I want to express my sincere appreciation to the members of the Committee who came to Cumberland Island for an on-site inspection last November. The visit of the Committee and now the holding of hearings give me reason to believe that a matter which has come to mean much to me personally will soon culminate in the enactment of legislation. The objective of this legislation interested me even before I was elected to Congress and I have had a continuing contact with the Interior Department, the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation over the past six years.

Cumberland Island is the southernmost of what for more than 200 years have been known as the Golden Isles. This string of off-shore islands extends the length of the Georgia coast from just below Savannah to within 20 air miles of Jacksonville, Florida. The area to be encompassed within the Cumberland Island National Seashore includes all of Big Cumberland Island and 300 acres facing the Island on the Georgia mainland. Development of Little Cumberland Island will also be regulated so as not to impair the use of Big Cumberland as a National Seashore.

Reminders of the Island's rich and varied past remain and would be a protected asset of the National Seashore. The Timucuran Indians who enjoyed Cumberland before the coming of the first Spanish soldiers constructed burial mounds which contain archaeological artifacts. Other earthen rises mark the sites of an early Spanish Jesuit mission and of an English fortification constructed by Oglethorpe, Fort Saint Andrew.

It was during the first years of English colonization that Cumberland acquired her present name. History records that the Island was named by Toonahowie, son of an Indian chief, in honor of the Duke of Cumberland after the latter presented a gold watch to the Indian during a visit to England.

During the early days of the Republic and continuing until the War Between the States the arable land of the Island sustained a flourishing plantation economy producing indigo and long-staple Sea Island cotton. An early planter was Revolutionary War hero General Nathanael Greene who constructed a four-story 30 room tabbey house on the site of Oglethorpe's hunting lodge at the southern end of the Island. It was while visiting at the Greene mansion that Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. Another guest at the Greene's mansion was "Lighthorse Harry" Lee, the father of Robert E. Lee. The elder Lee died on Cumberland and was interred there until 1913 when his remains were removed to the Washington and Lee Chaple in Lexington, Virginia.

Following the War Between the States the freed slaves either left or moved to the northern end of the island where some still own plots. A planter named Stafford burned the cabins of his slaves upon learning they had been emancipated. The chimneys which served the cabins now stand in three parallel lines, mute witnesses of a bygone culture. In the absence of slave labor, agricu'ture proved economically unfeasible and activities on the Island went into eclipse.

The somnolence of the Island was broken during the last decade of the nineteenth century when some of the industrial elite of America discovered the attractions of Cumberland and other of the Golden Isles as vacation retreats. Andrew and Thomas Carnegie purchased approximately 80 percent of the Island. The Candler family, made wealthy by the development of Coca Cola, acquired much of the northern end of the Island. The families constructed mansions such as Plum Orchard and Grey Field which still stand in decaying splendor. To enter these massive houses, which are fully furnished in pieces of the period, is to step into a time machine and be carried back to the opulence of the nation's first generation captains of industry. These spacious mansions with heavy wooden fixtures, indoor swimming pools, and rococo furnishing, if preserved, would be interesting as museums. Impressive in ruin is the three story skeleton of Thomas Carnegie's Dungeness at the southern end of the Island.

The allure of Cumberland as a vacation spot was short-lived, with it being supplanted as a favored retreat before the Great Depression. Nonetheless the Carnegie and Candler families retained most of their holdings until recently. The fact that the Island has been controlled by a very few people has proven fortuitous since these wealthy families prevented the development of the Island as has occurred on Jekyll and St. Simons islands to the north.

Since it is still almost totally undeveloped, Cumberland Island has the potential to become an integral part of both the National Park System and of the nation's growing program of National Seashores and National Lakeshores. Designation of Cumberland Island as a National Seashore would, as the National Park Service has recognized, be a significant addition to the nation's public land holdings. In 1955 the Park Service, after an extensive evaluation of the entire Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, concluded that Cumberland Island has one of the two best undeveloped beaches along this vast stretch of coastline ard that it "deserves to be preserved so that it can be enjoyed by the greatest number of people." (Cumberland Island: A Challenge in the Golden Isles, p. 1.) With the amount of privately owned beach declining and with additional miles of beach being consumed annually by hotels, shore side communities, etc., coupled with more people having more leisure time, the availability of beaches to the public becomes increasingly critical.

Cumberland Island is the last large island along the Atlantic coast which remains almost entirely in its natural state. While the Island once sustained a thriving plantation economy, most of it gradually returned to a primeval state after the War Between the States. The interior of the Island is heavily forested with giant live oaks, cedars and numerous species of palms. The trees are hung with flowing Spanish moss and various vines and creepers. The forests shelter wild pigs, deer, wild turkeys as well as smaller animals.

The sea coast boasts what may be Cumberland's most impressive feature, 18 miles of gleaming white beach. If a visitor to the Island has not been overcome by the solitude of the island while in the forest, he cannot help but notice the absence of man when on the beach. A multitude of shells in infinite variety cover the sand The white sand is free of the litter of man-no soft drink cans, no candy wrappers, no cigarette packs. Indeed, standing on the beach, buffeted by the winds, you can look up and down the coast and in your reverie easily imagine that you are the discoverer of this lush isle, that yours are the first feet to mark the sand.

Back from the shoreline the winds have whipped the sand into ever-shifting dunes, some rising as high as 50 feet. The dunes protect the interior of the Island from the sea and the wind and in their lee are fresh water lakes in which visitors can observe sea and shore birds or fish for bass.

While the vast bulk of the island has the pristine beauty of unspoiled beaches and subtropical forests, civilized man has left his mark. The mark rests lightly on the Island's beauty however and is in no way like the deep scars of neon civilization which have marred much of coastal America. Indeed the ruins of Dungeness and the faded grandeur of Plum Orchard mansion contribute to the visitor's feeling that he has withdrawn from the huriy-burly of the twentieth century and has been reborn into Shangri-la.

Cumberland Island has no paved roads, only jeep trails winding under the expansive arms of ancient trees. The primitive state of transportation on the Island was brought home to the Interior Committee members who visited Cumberland last November and found one of the bridges impassable because of extraordinarily high tides. The present jeep trails, which lead to the Island's points of natural and historical interest, will be excellent for hiking, bicycling, and horseback riding, once Cumberland comes under the administration of the National Park Service.

In addition to using the trails of the Island, plans call for additional recreational facilities, none of which will destroy the natural beauty of the Island. The beaches will be available for sunbathing, gathering sea shells, and swimming. The jetty at the southern tip of the Island at the mouth of the St. Mary's River provides exceptional opportunities for surf fishing. There will also be areas available for camping for those willing to back-pack in after bringing their gear over by ferry.

Plans for development of the Cumberland Island National Seashore have been carefully made so as not to impair the natural features of the Island. The Island will never become a jumble of neon lights, quick food dispensaries, tourist come-ons, and motels. Available will be a back-to-nature experience which can be enjoyed by almost anyone at minimal expense. Access to the island will be limited to ferries, which ultimately will dock at three points on the Island, Plum Orchard, Brick Hill, and Dungeness. The ferries will dock on the mainland at Cabin Bluff which will serve as the administrative and maintenance headquarters for the Park. Visitors will be able to leave their cars at Cabin Bluff, or stay in accommodations to be built there. On the Island, a vehicular shuttle, probably operating along todays jeep trails, is envisioned which will link the primary points of interest.

In addition to the potential recreational use to which the island can be put, it has examples of flora and fauna not currently found in the national park system. There are no live oak-palmetto forests or longleaf slash pine forest in the National Parks. A number of types of plants on Cumberland are not found in any of the National Parks and the Cumberland Island pocket gopher is found no where else in the world. Nor do any of the constituent units of the park system possess the range of landscape encountered on Cumberland-shore, dunes, marshes, fresh water lakes, and the flat Pamlico Terrace. The National Park Service has reported, “A representative example of the islands would move the Nation closer to a well-rounded, logically-balanced system of scenic-natural parks." (Cumberland Island, p. 37.) Cumberland Island is unique. We have a rare opportunity to preserve this enchanting isle for posterity.

Presently there are eight National Seashores and four National Lakeshores. Of the Seashores, five are on the Atlantic Coast, two on the Gulf Coast and one along the Pacific Coast. The authorized Lakeshores border on the Great Lakes. Cumberland Island would be only the second National Seashore between Cape Lookout National Seashore in Carteret County, North Carolina, and Padre Island National Seashore south of Corpus Christi, Texas. Along this coastline of thousands of miles the newly authorized Gulf Islands National Seashore is the only enclave of federal parkland at which the American public can enjoy the beauty of undeveloped, unexploited, unravished expanses of beach and coastal forest. The southeast is one of the nation's fastest growing areas yet relatively little of the coast has been preserved in its natural state for recreational purposes. The Cumberland Island National Seashore is only 20 air miles from the residents of Jacksonville, Florida. Population projections indicate that by 1976 more than 16.000.000 people will live within 300 miles of Cumberland and in excess of 40,000,000 people will be less than 500 miles from the Island seashore. Further

predictions are that by 1976 some 5.5 million vacationers will pass by Cumberland Island annually as they motor down the Georgia coast to Florida. Thus there are minions of Americans who would be potential visitors to the Cumberland Island National Seashore, located a few miles off Interstate 95.

The potential usage of Cumberland Island, while predominantly recreational in nature, is not exclusively so. The Island, so long as it remains undeveloped, offers opportunities for scientific research. Archaeologists can probe the secrets of the Indian burial mounds and the sites of early European fortifications. More significantly, the Island is an outdoors laboratory for those interested in learning about the ecology of coastal islands. Segments of Cumberland Island will in all probability be reserved for research. It has been suggested that there be facilities at Plum Orchard to be utilized as a study-research center.

Steps taken by the National Park Foundation to preserve Cumberland Island came just in time. The Island, after having been owned almost entirely by two families for decades, was on the verge of subdivision and development when Stoddard Stephens, a trustee of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, became interested in preserving Cumberland for future generations. Upon Stephen's advice the Mellon Foundation donated several million dollars to the National Park Foundation to be used to acquire a significant portion of the Island. National Park Foundation efforts halted the plans of Charles Fraser, developer of the beach resort at Hilton Head, South Carolina, who had acquired acreage on Cumberland and intended to convert it into another commercial seaside playground. Acquisitions of the National Park Foundation will be a gift to the American people once the Cumberland Island National Seashore is created. Cumberland Island which might have become a preserve for the rich will instead be open to all citizens who love nature.

Elsewhere on the island lots have been sold to people interested in building vacation cottages. Thus while Fraser's large-scale development has been nipped in the bud, time remains critical. The greater the delay in authorizing Cumberland Island as a national seashore, the more numerous become the landowners who must be dealt with and the more likely that the Island's beauty will be marred. Currently there are several hundred acres open to subdivision. Poentially this could mean as many as a thousand new landowners and residences if this tract is divided into one-third of an acre lots.

Another motivation for speedy action on HR 9859 is that with each passing year the cost of land on Cumberland increases. The longer we delay, the more expensive the land will become, increasing at perhaps as much as 15 to 20 percent a year. While these prices are probably in excess of the fair market value, some of the small lots are now being sold for the equivalent of $21,000 per acre.

Slightly more than two-thirds of the Island is presently owned by the National Park Foundation. The remainder of the Island, slightly less than 4,500 upland acres, is largely held by five people. The National Park Foundation is presently negotiating to acquire more of the privately owned lands and is very close to concluding at least one major acquisition.

I hope that the Committee will move expeditiously to insure that future generations of Americans will be able to enjoy the natural beauty of Cumberland Island. Failure to preserve Cumberland for posterity may be an irrevocabu decision. Should we fail to prevent the development and despoilation of this unblemished jewel of the golden necklace along the Georgia coast, we cast die which cannot be changed for centuries. Our coastline has been transmogrified; great cities with soaring skylines, bustling ports, and opulent hotels, crov ded public beaches, and resort areas have replaced the natural beauty in many places. While it is right and proper that the mask of civilization replace some of the tractless forests and unmarred shore, a great nation must not sacrifice all of its natural heritage before the icon of progress.

Cumberland Island is the only one of the Golden Isles which can be maintained in all of its primitive beauty. Indeed it offers the best opportunity anywhere along the Southern coast to set aside an unspoiled strip of beach, and coast for public enjoyment. Our position now is one for which the words of the poet James Montgomery are appropriate :

What (we) preserve can perish never,

What (we) forego is lost forever.

Thank you.

Mr. TAYLOR. I do commend Congressman Stuckey on his cooperation. We do have a time problem. I know of his interests in this proj