RESERVES FOR WILD LIFE IN CANADA 239 



carved valleys. The names of certain of these mountains, 

 such as Sheep and Black Bear Mountains, testify as to the 

 fauna within the park. Rocky Mountain sheep, and black 

 and grizzly bear, are comparatively plentiful, and both 

 black- and white-tailed deer abound and are increasing. 



The following extracts from the diaries of the wardens, 

 early in 1919, furnish evidence of the increase that is taking 

 place in this park as a result of protection: 



Saw between eighty and one hundred deer near Horseshoe basin. 



Two hundred deer were within a mile of Cabin all through bad weather. 



Saw seventy-five deer about two miles up Pass Creek. 



While going up Pass Creek I saw seventy goats, about sixty sheep, 

 and between fifty and sixty deer. I also saw ten or twelve deer at the 

 Superintendent's ofiice; was within two or three rods of them; they are 

 quite tame. 



The acting superintendent observes in April, 1919: 



It is noted that elk are making their appearance in this district, and 

 Warden Simpson also tells me he has observed moose tracks in here. 



Elk Island Park. — About three miles from Lamont, Al- 

 berta, on the main line of the Canadian Northern Railway, 

 a small reservation known as Elk Island Park has been 

 established for the preservation, originally, of the wapiti or 

 elk — but now other members of our wild Hfe are included. 

 The area is mostly wooded, the woods in the north end of 

 the park being very thick, and suitable for moose and deer; 

 in the southern section it is more rolling, less brushy, and 

 suitable for buffalo. It contains Island Lake, a beautiful 

 sheet of water about 1,040 acres in extent, and studded 

 with fourteen wooded islands, on one of which a colony of 

 cranes nest. The present estimated population (1919) of 

 the larger animals in this park is as follows: 



Buffalo 195 Wapiti .106 



Moose 57 Mule deer Ill 



