Smoky Jack was a German Shepherd that was trained by Paul J. Adams to walk, by himself from the top of Mount Le Conte, elevation 6594, to the nearest town, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, elevation 1,289, and there to pick up supplies and walk back to the LeConte Lodge, a distance of more than 20 miles. Adams was the custodian of the Mt. Le Conte Lodge in 1925 and 1926 years before 1934 when the Great Smoky Mountain National Park was created and took over the Lodge and the mountains around it. The Lodge is still in operation for those who wish to take a long hike and have a somewhat primitive restaurant and hotel, supplied by pack animals, for the overnight stay http://www.lecontelodge.com/. The family of Paul Adams moved from Illinois to Burnsville, North Carolina, when he was 13, and to Knoxville four years later, affording him ample opportunity to extensively explore the area that became the National Park before he worked at Mt. Le Conte. Adams and Jack visited the Smokies often after their short tenure at Mt. Le Conte. Smoky Jack died in 1935 while Adams was living in Crab Orchard, Tennessee. UT Press issued a companion volume, Mount Le Conte, also this year. Both books are edited by Anne Bridges and Ken Wise who both work at the John C. Hodges Library at the University of Tennessee.
Edited by Anne Bridges and Ken Wise. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 2016. 179 pages with photos and a Selective Bibliography. Trade paperback.