T^OLLOWING an announcement by the state forestry board 

 r that a bill will be introduced at the 1913 session of the 

 Legislature authorizing the board to purchase all lands 

 within the boundary of Itasca park and to acquire adjoining 

 land for use as a state forest, the St. Paul Pioneer Press has 

 come out in active support of the proposal and declared that 

 "the Legislature should do its duty by preserving for pos- 

 terity a magnificent remnant of the primeval forest." In an 

 article printed Sunday, September 22, the paper declares that 

 the Legislature should not longer overlook the immensely val- 

 uable asset Minnesota has in the possession of its great play- 

 ground at the headwaters of the Mississippi. 



The forestry board contemplates asking the Legislature for 

 an annual appropriation of $100,000 for use in obtaining lands 

 and timber for state forests. It purposes, if this appropria- 

 tion is made, to purchase lands adjoining Itasca with the 

 distinct object of using them for growing trees as a crop, 

 rather than as a park in the strict sense of the word. The 

 Pioneer Press says: 



A Little History of Itasca and the Struggle For it. 



"The forestry board is planning to secure to the state the 

 title to all land in Itasca state park and in addition all timber 

 that borders on the lakes and any of the roads and trails. 

 The board members and those who have been interested in 

 the development of the park have struggled more than a 

 generation against the handicap of inadequate appropriations. 

 The original plan was to purchase all the land and all the 

 timber within the area set aside as a forest park at the head- 

 waters of the Mississippi. The park was designed as a play- 

 ground for the people of the state and nation within which 

 is to be preserved for all time, a remnant of the primeval 

 forests that formerly covered the northern part of Minnesota. 



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