D.H. RAMSEY LIBRARY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES OF VERNE RHOADES, ASHEVILLE,  NORTH CAROLINA

Born in Nodaway County Missouri, September 10, 1881.  
Son of Dr. M. M. Rhoades and Mary Bond-Rhoades .
Schools :  Grade schools of Nodaway County; High school ,  Clarinda,  Iowa;
William  Jewell College; Liberty,  Missouri,  4 years. Graduated  with B.A. degree.
Biltmore Forest school,  Biltmore,   N. C. Graduated with degree of forest  engineer in 1907.    This was the first forestry school in America and was founded by Dr.  C. A. Schenck, Forester for the Biltmore Estate.  Employed 1 907-08 by Bolinger Lumber Company of Shreveport,  La.,  as forester for their timber lands in Choctaw County,  Alabama.     1908-09 employed by C. A. Schenck and Company, Biltmore,  N. C.,  as a timber estimator in mountain hardwoods and in estimating damages to forest trees by sulphur fumes around Ducktown,  Tennessee.      In 1910 entered the United States Forest Service as forest ranger on the Alamo National Forest in Otero County,   New Mexico, with a wide range of duties.

1911-14..   Promoted to Forest Examiner and placed in charge of the first field party in the Southern Appalachians to value and report on mountain lands of­fered for sale under the Weeks Act of 1911.    Reported on the first tract pur­chased by the U. S. Forest Service.    This was a tract of 9,000 acres  near Old Fort,  in McDowell  County,   North Carolina.     This  was the same  tract within which  the U.S. Forest  Service erected a  plaque,  or  tablet,  in honor of Dr. Chase P. Ambler of Asheville,   N.C.,  who was the earliest of pioneers endeav­oring to have Congress enact legislation for the preservation of some  portion of these mountain areas as National Parks or National Forests.      Made a reconnaissance of the Linville-Blowing Rock-Wilson Creek area and recommended a purchase boundary and named it the Boone Purchase Area in honor of Daniel Boone who lived in this section in early days.    Made a similar reconnaissance of the timber lands around Etowah,  Tennessee,  and recommended them for in­clusion in a purchase unit.    Named it the Cherokee in honor of the Cherokee Nation.    Made a reconnaissance of the South Mountains near Morganton,   N. C. and recommended it as a secondary purchase unit when the primary units were bought up.    Examined lands around Hot Springs,  N.C.,  and recommended their inclusion in the Pisgah Purchase Area.    Also examined lands around Erwin and Unicoi.  Tenn.,  which were incorporated within a purchase area. 

1914-25    Placed in charge of the Pisgah  Purchase Area as Forest Examiner. Promoted to Forest Supervisor and became the first supervisor of Pisgah National Forest and Game Preserve which was proclaimed by President Wilson in October 19l6.    Served in this position until 1925 except for resignation in 1918  to attend Officer's Training Corps in Field Artillery at Camp Taylor, Kentucky.    Commissioned as a captain.    At the close  of World 1,   was  reinstated as supervisor of the Pisgah National Forest until 1925.      Employed as executive secretary for the North Carolina Park Commission and charged with the  responsibil­ity of buying the lands within the boundary drawn for the Great Smoky Mount­ains National Park on the North Carolina side.     Five years required for this assignment.

project until 4/5 of the acreage had been acquired.

1933-34.    With the PWA in Washington as Engineer- Examiner.    Transferred to TVA in Knoxville,   Tenn., as Assistant Chief of the Forestry Branch.  Resigned in 1935  and was employed as  co-trustee with the  Wachovia  Bank and Trust Company in Managing downtown business properties.    During this period he erected the  Penney Store Building,   the  first substantial  new retail structure  in downtown Asheville since  1926.

During  the  period from 1 935-1 965 served as a  member of  the  local  board of managers  of the  Wachovia Bank  & Trust Company;  as a. member of  the  board of directors  of the Asheville  Savings and Loan Association;  From 1946 as a member of the board of directors of the Carolina Power & Light Company; as treasurer of the board of trustees  of the Daniel Boone  Council of the Boy Scouts of America  and as honorary member of the council;   member  of the board of trustees and one of the founders of the Asheville Country Day school; member of the  Society of American Foresters and a member of its  council for a  two year period; Life  member of the  Carolina Mountain Club and one  of its early organizers ; member  of Biltmore Forest Country Club,  Downtown Club. Mountain City Club.   Listed in Who's Who in Commerce and Industry.  In late  years  was much  interested in  the  Cradle  of Forestry Project  as  conceived  by author John  Parris and undertaken for development by the  U.  S.  Forest  Service to memorialize  the  early efforts  of Gifford,   Pinchot,  George   W.  Vanderbilt, Dr.  C.S.  Schenck in introducing forestry practice in America.

In 1926 married Dorothea Johnston Weaver,  daughter of Captain  William T. Weaver and Annie L.  Johnston Weaver.    Two sons : Verne,   Jr.,   and William W Rhoades,   of Berkeley,   California,  and one daughter Anne Rhoades Farquharson of Toronto,   Canada,  who is  the wife of Dr. Robert H. Farquharson of the University of Toronto. Three grandchildren in the Farquharson family.