quired by private parties. This the State should 

 have immediately obtained by purchase at a fair 

 price, or by condemnation proceedings, rather than to 

 delay and pay a higher price. If this policy had been 

 adopted, the State itself could have saved money, 

 and also could have had any mature timber carefully 

 cut and disposed of that ought to have been cut, and 

 thus prevented some of the injuries that resulted, 

 from logging by lumber companies. On two occa- 

 sionsChapter 303, laws of 1899 and Chapter 250, 

 laws of 1903 the legislature has expressed the policy 

 of preserving the park in a state of nature, and in 

 Chapter 90 of the laws of 1907 it declared that the 

 primeval forest should be preserved intact and no 

 part be cut "except weak, diseased or insect-infested 

 trees." 



The law of 1891 establishing the park placed it un- 

 der the supervision of the state auditor and under 

 the direct care of a commissioner, to be appointed by 

 the Governor with a salary of $600 a year. It was 

 made one of the duties of the commissioner to en- 

 deavor to obtain title for the State of land within the 

 park limits. In 1895 the sum of $1,000 was appropri- 

 ated for the construction of a dwelling for the 

 commissioner. J. V. Brower was appointed commis- 

 sioner May 4, 1891, and from that time till 1907 six 

 different commissioners served on an average, each, 

 for a term of about two and a half years. In 1907 

 the park was placed under the supervision of the 

 Forestry Board. 



Section 7 of Chapter 106 of the laws of Minnesota 

 of 1895 required the Attorney General, when request- 



30 



