<P> As white settlers arrived , logging grew as a major industry in the mountains , and a rail line , the Little River Railroad , was constructed in the late - 19th Century to haul timber out of the remote regions of the area . Cut - and - run - style clearcutting was destroying the natural beauty of the area , so visitors and locals banded together to raise money for preservation of the land . The U.S. National Park Service wanted a park in the eastern United States , but did not have much money to establish one . Though Congress had authorized the park in 1926 , there was no nucleus of federally owned land around which to build a park . John D. Rockefeller , Jr. , contributed $5 million , the U.S. government added $2 million , and private citizens from Tennessee and North Carolina pitched in to assemble the land for the park , piece by piece . Slowly , mountain homesteaders , miners , and loggers were evicted from the land . Farms and timbering operations were abolished to establish the protected areas of the park . Travel writer Horace Kephart , for whom Mount Kephart was named , and photographers Jim Thompson and George Masa were instrumental in fostering the development of the park . Former Governor Ben W. Hooper of Tennessee was the principal land purchasing agent for the park , which was officially established on 15 June 1934 . During the Great Depression , the Civilian Conservation Corps , the Works Progress Administration , and other federal organizations made trails , fire watchtowers , and other infrastructure improvements to the park and Smoky Mountains . </P>
<P> As white settlers arrived , logging grew as a major industry in the mountains , and a rail line , the Little River Railroad , was constructed in the late - 19th Century to haul timber out of the remote regions of the area . Cut - and - run - style clearcutting was destroying the natural beauty of the area , so visitors and locals banded together to raise money for preservation of the land . The U.S. National Park Service wanted a park in the eastern United States , but did not have much money to establish one . Though Congress had authorized the park in 1926 , there was no nucleus of federally owned land around which to build a park . John D. Rockefeller , Jr. , contributed $5 million , the U.S. government added $2 million , and private citizens from Tennessee and North Carolina pitched in to assemble the land for the park , piece by piece . Slowly , mountain homesteaders , miners , and loggers were evicted from the land . Farms and timbering operations were abolished to establish the protected areas of the park . Travel writer Horace Kephart , for whom Mount Kephart was named , and photographers Jim Thompson and George Masa were instrumental in fostering the development of the park . Former Governor Ben W. Hooper of Tennessee was the principal land purchasing agent for the park , which was officially established on 15 June 1934 . During the Great Depression , the Civilian Conservation Corps , the Works Progress Administration , and other federal organizations made trails , fire watchtowers , and other infrastructure improvements to the park and Smoky Mountains . </P>
when did the smoky mountains became a national park
when did the smoky mountains became a national park
15 June 1934
15 June 1934