58 



furnished liiiii protection against the cold. Through the forest glades, 

 when returning from the chase, his cries of triumph were echoed. Here, 

 in a land of plenty, his wants were few and easily satisfied; his ambitions 

 lowly, his hopes eternal. 



But to this, as to all things peaceful, there was an end. From across 

 the seas came that "prince of parasites," the white man— self-styled heir 

 to all the ages— so-called conqueror and civilizer— but in reality the great- 

 est devastator that Nature has ever known. First as a discoverer came 

 he. Then as a trapper and trader among the Indians; last as a settler of 

 the future State. His first permanent hamlets or settlements were, like 

 those of the Indians, located on the larger streams. From these he 

 penetrated farther and farther the forest, building his cabins wher- 

 ever a spring purled forth from a hillside to furnish water. In less than 

 two centuries— a mere second as compared with those measureless eterni- 

 ties before he came— the white man has changed beyond recognition the 

 "Indiana of Nature." Only its outlines remain as they were. 



From its Itounds he has driven forever the buffalo, bear, panther, elk, 

 deer, wild turkey, ivory-billed woodpecker, paroquet and wild pigeon, 

 together with the noble Red Man, the one-time contemporary and lord of 

 them all. From its surface he has cleared that dense forest of tall trees— 

 of which no domain could boast a better— leaving in its stead a mere 

 remnant of what would have been termed underbrush a century ago. 

 Following the felling of the forests came, as a direct result, the drying up 

 of springs and the, dwindling to mere rivulets of former creeks and 

 streams. To gain control over a few more acres of mother earth, he has 

 dredged deep ditches and so lessened greatly the size or brought about 

 the total extinction of 90 per cent, of those crystal lakes which once gave 

 variety and beauty to the northern fourth of the State. 



He has caused the picturesque trails and woodland paths of the 

 Indian to disappear, and in their stead Ave find, at intervals of a mile or 

 two, those broad unshaded roadways, many of which are floods of dust 

 In summer and seas of mud in winter. As a complement to these he has, 

 in nearly every county, leveled hills, filled up valleys, bridged streams, 

 and stretched long bands of steel spiked to wooden ties. Drawn by the 

 harnessed forces of Nature, he rushes over these at almost lightning 

 speed; while along them he sends, with many a roar and rumble, those 

 necessities and luxuries of his artificial life. 



