i'-()Ki-:sT ]'ki:si-:rvation. 451 



that time the state had acquired something in the neighborhood 

 of twenty-three thousand acres of land, then most of it cut over. 

 The United States appropriated two hundred and twenty-five 

 thousand acres of land for that purpose. This government ap- 

 propriation of this land provided that ninety-five per cent of the 

 timber could be taken off this land. I think the probabilities are 

 that the appropriation was not made entirely for the benefit of 

 the river, but for the purpose of keeping this timber on Govern- 

 ment land, but it provided that ninety-five per cent of the timber 

 could be taken from the land. The result has been that after the 

 taking off of this ninety-five per cent of the timber, a great por- 

 tion of this five per cent that is left for the purpose of reforest- 

 ation, owing to the open condition of the country and the lack 

 of protection from winds, is blown down and lost. The conse- 

 quence is that we have about two hundred and fifty thousand 

 acres of land, all cut-over land, in that region for the purpose of 

 protecting the headwaters of this great river. 



Now, let me call your attention, for the purpose of compari- 

 son, to what they have done in New York, for instance, which 

 will give you some idea of what is necessary for the protection 

 of this water supply. In the Adriondacks, in the State of New 

 York, the state provided an appropriation for three million acres 

 of land. Some of the land has been cut over, but a part of it is 

 forest land still, and I understand that nearly all of this three 

 million acres has been acquired for the purpose of protecting the 

 waters of their rivers, and more particularly the Hudson River. 

 We have then in New York three million acres of land reserved 

 in that region for the purpose of protecting the waters of their 

 rivers, and we have for the purpose of protecting the waters of 

 this great Mississippi River, that flows through nine states in 

 the Union, a reservation of two hundred and fifty thousand acres 

 of cut-over land. 



This is the situation as it exists at the headwaters of the river 

 at the present time, and it is unnecessary for me to say to you 

 that unless something is done beyond what has been done we 

 will wake up some fine morning and find we have no river. It 

 will not be tomorrow or next year, it may not be while you and 

 I live, but some time, if this condition is not remedied, our river 

 will disappear. 



The great difficulty that confronts us and that we should 

 take into consideration is that those people who have settled in 

 that part of the country are interested in its development. They 

 are interested in settling it up and naturally so. They have cer- 

 tain rights which we are bound to protect, and being citizens of 

 this state it is necessary that we should protect them, but there 

 is land there that is of no great benefit for any purpose except to 

 keep up the water supply of the river, and if it is necessary, we 

 ought to get a further appropriation from the state or from the 



