" SWITZERLAND OF AMERICA " 243 



five litters of four young rabbits each during the five 

 spring and summer months, and, if they were left alone, 

 as they were once in Australia for four years, they 

 would become an unmitigated nuisance. 



In this far northern part of the world, nature in her 

 wisdom has provided an additional safeguard by mak- 

 ing the rabbits susceptible to some contagious disease 

 that carries them off every four years, and this year is 

 the fatal year for them, and hence there are no rabbits 

 to be seen anywhere. For this reason the lynx has 

 hunted pastures new, for without the rabbit he has 

 such hard picking that he needs must emigrate. 



I have read much of the glories of Switzerland, of its 

 mountains and its valleys, and have seen many pictures 

 of the same, but I cannot believe that they surpass or 

 even equal the grandeur and beauty of the mountains 

 and valleys of this comparatively unknown country. 

 There have been undoubtedly many timber speculators 

 there looking the timber over, but the first stick of 

 wood has yet to be cut by a lumberman to be shipped to 

 the outer world. Whatever timber has been cut there 

 would not amount to more than 10,000 feet in a year, 

 and that would be for Kibbee's or McCloud's use as fire- 

 wood, or for the making of one or two boats. 



Gold prospectors, too, have been there, and yet not 

 one dollar's worth of gold has seen the outer world. It 

 is really virgin soil, clothed with virgin timber and, 

 leaving out a half acre patch of tilled ground beside 



