FISHERIES, GAME AM) FORESTS. 34I 



rooms. The accompanyiny; illustrations of tent life on the Lower Saranac will give 

 some idea of the delightful possibilities attainable in these canvas cottages by our 

 forest lakes. 



The question i.s often asked, What harm is there in my putting up a little shanty 

 here? Now, our experience and observation in the matter of the "little shanty " is 

 this : The shanty is built. The next year a shingle roof is put on and it is clap- 

 boarded. The next season or so reveals a piazza in frf)nt and a summer kitchen in 

 the rear. In time, further additions are made and it is painted. The owner sells out 

 to some summer resident who makes further improvements. The little shanty has 

 become a $5,000 cottage, with pleasant surroundings and an artistic interior. It 

 occupies some desirable site, free of rent, and to the exclusion of the public. Other 

 people demand that they, too, shall have the privilege of building cottages, and when 

 refused point querulously to the complacent owner of the cottage that was evolved 

 from the primiti\e shant\'. This is one of the reasons why the Commission draws the 

 line on any wooden structure whatever. The shanty, in an\- case, is a permanent 

 occupancy ; the tent, is taken down in the fall. 



Then, again, the little shanty is apt to be an unsightly thing, marring the beauty 

 of some charming spot. Its owner, too often, is not a desirable neighbor. His abode 

 is not only an eyesore, but it is too often surrounded with a litter of old tin cans, fish 

 scales, offal, hair and hides, with some howling cur tied to a tree. 



It is conceded that in traveling through remote parts of the wilderness, where 

 there are no hotels or even hunters' camps — the Red Horse Chain or Moose River 

 Townships, for instance — the use of tents is not always practicable. Boats and pack 

 baskets must be carried, and there is little opportunity to carry the additional heavy 

 load of a tent. This is especially the case where parties are making a long journey 

 from one locality to another and do not intend to make a stay at any one point, 

 but merely need shelter wherever night or a storm overtakes them. To properly 

 provide for such a situation the Commission have under consideration the advisability 

 of erecting, or allowing others to erect, open log camps at suitable places and distances 

 along these routes, in which travelers, sportsmen or guides can find a resting-place. 

 By open camps are meant the low structures built of logs, inclosed on three sides, 

 but with a good roof, which furnish shelter from wind and rain, even though they 

 ma\- not be warm. But with protection from the storm, a good camp fire opposite 

 the front or open side will always furnish warmth, while the balsam boughs, and 

 blankets taken from the pack basket, will insure a comfortable sleeping-place. 



The public may rest assured that the Commission will do all in its power to grant 

 every privilege on the Preserve consistent with proper management and observance of 

 constitutional restrictions. 



