TO the already existing attractions of Itasca park where 

 are found the springs in which the mighty Mississippi 

 has its beginning; where "the forest primeval" yet cov- 

 ers a wide area; where woodland and meadow, glade and 

 swamp, lake and upland, afford an endless variety of scenery; 

 where colonies of beaver build their dams unmolested, and 

 furry and feathery creatures of all kinds multiply in free- 

 dom has just been added another in the shape of a fine 

 herd of elk. 



Elk from Wyoming. 



These elk, of which there are fourteen, were purchased for 



e state forest service, by Forester Cox, from Howard Eaton 

 Wolf, Wyo. The elk were brought from Jackson Hole, 



yo., a wild and picturesque valley, surrounded by snow- 

 apped mountain peaks, a hundred miles south of Yellow- 

 stone park. 



The long trip of the herd from Jackson Hole over the Teton 

 Mountains to Victor, Idaho, was accomplished without acci- 

 dent, except that one of the female elk was lost over a preci- 

 pice. From Victor, with various transfers, the journey to 

 Itasca park was performed by rail. 



The addition of another attraction to Itasca park is, how- 

 ever, but secondary to other more important objects sought 

 in bringing this herd of elk to Minnesota. The main object 

 is the repopulating of our state with this most magnificent 

 of American game animals. In their present quarters a mile 

 square of forests, lake and swamp, surrounded by an eight- 

 foot wire fence they will multiply just as they have done in 

 the Yellowstone and in Jackson Hole; and by transferring 

 small herds to other forests, the whole state may ere long 

 be supplied with elk in such numbers that, by their regulated 

 killing, Elk steak may again become a common article of 

 food among our people. 



17 



