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ONE TELLS OF THE ADIRONDACKS 



lOYS and girls, 

 )big and little and 

 young and old, 

 , have written to me 

 ' about the stories 

 .here set down. 

 I One says she likes 

 I them, another 

 wants to know where I get my twisted 

 history, and another tells me about my 

 foolish notions on some other point. 

 Mainly the letters have told that the 

 readers like to know of the children 

 about whom I write, or that other 

 children have learned to look for in- 

 teresting facts in forestry. 



/^NE boy, sixteen years old, has put 

 down what he learned at first hand 

 about forestry in the Adirondacks, the 

 wooded mountains in northern New 

 York. He went up there last year as 

 a boy scout, to help protect those for- 

 ests from fire, and to do his part in 

 building trails into the wilder parts of 

 the mountains. What he saw and 

 heard he has written ; and because it 

 seems good to me I am passing it on 

 to you. 



This year, boys of his age have 

 worked in garden and grain field; their 

 camps have been headquarters for 

 farm labor rather than for the more 

 pleasant and more exciting work in 

 the woods. All of us have had to do 

 what we could to help the food sup- 

 ply ; next year we shall have to do 

 even more. I am hoping that there 

 will be built up a habit of work, and 

 that many Americans will get away 

 from the present plan by which they 

 "let George do it." 



This boy who wrote about the Adir- 

 ondacks is Beverly Galloway, and his 

 father knows about all there is to know 



about plants. The first thing that 

 strikes Beverly about the Adirondacks 

 mountains is that they form one of the 

 largest pieces of wild woods in the 

 country, and that they are in the same 

 state that contains the largest city in 

 the world. He tells how they first be- 

 came known, through the discovery of 

 deposits of magnetic iron. "A number 

 of these mines,'" he says, "were worked 

 in the hope of getting good rich ore, 

 but they never amounted to much. 

 Many people went there to help de- 

 velop the mines, so when the mines 

 failed, the workmen had to find other 

 ways to make a living. 



<<pARMING was out of the question : 

 the region was too rocky, even 

 if the forest were removed. The for- 

 est was there; why remove it? Pos- 

 sibly it could furnish a means of live- 

 lihood. Indeed it cou'd, as they soon 

 found out. Within its borders were 

 many creatures which could be trap- 

 ped during the winter for their furs, or 

 shot all-the-year-'round for their meat. 

 And there was the forest itself. So the 

 two industries cf trapping and lumber- 

 ing were started. Since new traps and 

 other supplies had to be obtained from 

 the outside, a means of traffic was 

 started. As the output of the region 

 grew, so did the traffic grow. But the 

 lines did not go into every nook and 

 corner of the mountains, but were main 

 roads going north and south. So we 

 have the Adirondacks of today, — easy 

 to get at in a general way, yet with 

 large portions out of the usual lines of 

 travel. There are only a few railroads 

 open to the general public, but a great 

 number of private logging roads and 

 railroads. 



"Recently with the coming of the au- 



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