428 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1963 



enterprises. After retiring from business in 1886, lie returned to 

 his boyhood home to develop a tract for wildlife on the grand scale. 

 In this he did amazingly well. The early years of the Corbin Pre- 

 serve were reported by Spears (1893) in a paper which the Smith- 

 sonian Institution reprinted 70 years ago in its Annual Keport for 

 1891. The present account aims to review those early experiences and 

 trace the history of the tract to the present. Additional biographical 

 data on Corbin are included in an appendix to this article. Unfor- 

 tunately, his untimely death in 1896 prevented his seeing this favorite 

 project mature. 



ESTABLISHMENT OF CORBIN PARK 



Corbin selected an area a few miles north of Newport, centered 

 upon Croydon Mountain and falling within the townships of Cornish, 

 Croydon, Grantham, and Plainfield (fig. 1). Starting in 1886, Cor- 

 bin and his agents, under the direction of Sidney A. Stockwell, bought 

 up more than 350 individual parcels of land, including 60 sets of 

 buildings and comprising a tract of about 22,000 acres. To this, 4,000 

 acres more were later added. This area was then surrounded by 36 

 miles of elkproof fence, from 9 to 12 feet high. The fence was of 

 woven wire net to a height of 6 feet for keeping out cats and dogs 

 and keeping in small game. Above this were as many as 10 lines of 

 barbed wire. This fencing was secured to posts 10 feet apart, with a 

 pine or willow planted at each post to serve as a living replacement 

 when necessary. In this fashion 18 miles of fencing were erected; 

 only barbed wire was used the rest of the distance. The fence was 

 completed at a cost of $74,000. It had nine gates, at each of which 

 there was a keeper's lodge; a telephone line atop the fence connected 

 all the keepers' lodges with a central headquarters. The average cost 

 of the land was a fraction over $5 per acre. 



From the start there was much resentment on the part of some local 

 residents to the park Corbin was developing. This resulted from the 

 feeling that they were being preempted by the affluent, despite the 

 fact that Corbin paid full value and sometimes more for the land, 

 and that subsequently he provided employment for more men than 

 could have made a living by farming the lands. From the time of its 

 establishment, the park has been the largest taxpayer in the town of 

 Cornish, and likewise has contributed heavily to the three other town- 

 ships of which it forms a part. Nonetheless, the antagonism has 

 continued, and threats to cut the fence frequently have been carried 

 out. An attitude of withdrawal and an avoidance of publicity have 

 naturally developed on the part of park personnel. 



In 1888 the Corbin Park Association, with Austin Corbin as presi- 

 dent, was formed as a private club. In 1890 the enclosure was stocked 

 with about 30 bison, 140 deer, 135 elk, 35 moose, some European stags, 



