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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



ant federal laws through the machinery 

 of Congress. 



Few persons not members of Con- 

 gress, or among those who know him 

 intimately, are aware of his great work 

 for the birds. He is modest to a most 

 unusual degree. Perhaps that is one 

 reason why his colleagues esteem so 

 highly his opinion; they know he is 

 not trying to make political capital 

 of his achievements. After he has won 

 a great battle for the birds in Wash- 

 ington, he does not boast of his accom- 

 plishments, but straightway gives the 

 credit for his work to others. Here is 

 a typical example : After the Govern- 

 ment appropriation above referred to 

 was secured, he sat down and wrote 

 the Secretary of the National Associa- 

 tion as follows : 



"Too much praise cannot be given 

 to your Association for its assistance in 

 the fight for the appropriation. We 

 carried the Senate by more than two- 

 thirds on both votes. This could not 

 have been done but for the intelligent 

 and timely appeals to senators emanat- 

 ing from the Audubon Societies and 

 friends of the birds throughout the 

 country." 



Everybody loves a generous man, 

 and Senator McLean is generous, as 

 well as strong, influential, and power- 

 ful. He first entered the Senate in 

 191 1, and, for the good of the birds and 

 the benefit of mankind, let us pray that 

 he may remain there for very many 

 years to come. — Bird-Lore. 



We gain the heaven, not only of feel- 

 ing and duty, but of intellect and imag- 

 ination, by hardened muscles and tire- 

 less climbing. — Dr. George M. Gould. 



Logging a River Bottom. 



BY EDWARD F. BIGELOW. 



(Reprinted from "American Forestry," 

 Washington, D. C.) 



For some two decades, beginning a 

 half century ago and ending thirty 

 years ago, Big Rapids, Michigan, was 

 one of the famous lumber centers of 

 the United States. Here were the 

 tallest, biggest trees. Here existed the 

 typical methods of lumber cutting of 

 that period. Lumber was so plentiful 

 that it was gathered recklessly. The 

 methods of taking a claim were such 

 as to attract large numbers of lumber- 

 men, and for a hundred miles up the 

 river, the sound of saws and axes was 

 heard on every side, and far back into 

 the country. Logs in a profusion seem- 

 ingly endless filled the river. They 

 filled it not only on the surface, but 

 they filled the entire river to the bot- 

 tom of the deepest places in the chan- 

 nel- They were piled in the river in 

 such numbers that logs on top pushed 

 other logs to the bottom, and still 

 others came on top of these, till the 

 river for many miles was, in places, a 

 solid mass of logs. 



A year ago last summer, the dam at 

 Big Rapids, Michigan, was carried 

 away. In some eastern places the 

 breaking of such a dam would be fol- 

 lowed by an abnormal supply of fish. 

 Old settlers tell of their experience in 

 carrying off fish by the wagonload and 

 the cartload ; but here was revealed to 

 the present generation the amazing 

 fact that the entire bottom of the river 

 was a matted mass of logs. When the 

 dam broke, great was the astonishment 



THE RIVER BANK IS LINED WITH LOGS. 



