XIX. 



LONG LAKE COLONY A LOON FORKED LAKE. 



Forked Lake, August. 



Dear H- 



Taking Mitchell along with me, we embarked on 

 Monday in his birch bark canoe for Forked and Ra- 

 quette Lakes. Paddling leisurely up Long Lake, I 

 was struck with the desolate appearance of the settle- 

 ment. Scarcely an improvement has been made since 

 I was last here, while some clearings are left to go 

 back to their original wildness. Disappointed pur- 

 chasers, lured in by extravagant statements, have 

 given up in despondency and left — the best people 

 are all going away, and in a short time there will be 

 nobody left but hunters. This wilderness will be 

 encroached upon in time, though it will require years 

 to give us so crowded a population as to force settle- 

 ments into this desolate interior of the State. 

 8 



