the commonwealth of virginia slowly acquired the land through eminent domain, and then gave it to the u.s. federal government to establish the national park. carson's brother suggested that virginia's legislature authorize condemnation by counties (followed by arbitration for individual parcels) rather than condemn each parcel. some families accepted the payments because they needed the money and wanted to escape the subsistence lifestyle. nearly 90 percent of the inhabitants worked the land for a living: selling timber, charcoal or crops. they had previously been able to earn money to buy supplies by harvesting the now-rare chestnuts, by working during the apple and peach harvest season (but the drought of 1930 devastated those crops and killed many fruit trees), by selling handmade textiles and crafts (displaced by factories) and moonshine (illegal after prohibition started).