ON THE COVER
Deep in the mountains of North Carolina, a Southern Railway freight train crosses the French Broad River near Hot Springs on the Knoxville division. From this point on, the train's progress is a steady climb to Asheville and the "Land of the Sky"-partly through a gorge where the rail line parallels the river.
Although the scenery in this area is a match for the most beautiful in the country, new factories and warehouses along the line mark this as an area of growing industry as well as one of America's playgrounds.