THE FOREST WHERE THE MISSISSIPPI BEGINS 



741 



be the source of any river, be- 

 cause it has neither inlet nor 

 outlet. In this respect it re- 

 sembles many other small lakes 

 in the park, which lie isolated 

 on the height of land between 

 Hudson Bay and the Gulf of 

 Mexico. In 1912 I cut out an 

 overgrown blaze on a Norway 

 pine near the De Soto Lake 

 forester's cabin, and uncovered 

 the following inscription: "A 

 C. HALL'S LOST EXPLOR- 

 ERS." 



I have not been able to dis- 

 cover who these men were. 

 Presumably they were looking 

 for the source of the Mississippi 

 and found that the lake on 

 which they were camping was 

 not the source. 



These isolated lakes present 

 some interesting problems in biology and change of been stocked with large mouthed black bass, which 

 climate, which have not yet been studied. In the thrive and multiply very rapidly. Can it be that in 

 water of one of them I found dead standing trees, years past these lakes have at times been so low that 

 which I estimated to be at least sixty years old. De the larger fish were frozen out? Both lakes contain 

 Soto Lake and Morrison Lake, both from twenty to several kinds of minnows and sunfish. De Soto Lake, 

 thirty-five feet deep, contained no bass and pickerel which has excellent sunfish spawning ground, was 

 within the memory of white men. They have recently filled to capacity with sunfish. 



DOUGLAS LODGE IN ITASCA STATE PARK. ERECTED FOR THE COMFORT AND 



CONVENIENCE OP TOURISTS, IT IS BEAUTIFULLY LOCATED, COMMANDING A SUPERB 



VIEW OF LAKE ITASCA, THE SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



NORWAY PINES IN ITASCA FOREST, SHOWING INJURY 

 BY A SEVERE FOREST FIRE OP FORTY YEABS AGO. 



More Wild Life to the Square Mile 



Itasca Park, as the region is generally called, em- 

 braces now a square of seven miles. It is, of course, 

 no park at all, but an area of wild primitive forest. 

 It is a refuge for many kinds of game and wild birds, 

 and one can see more wild life in Itasca on a smaller 

 area and with less exertion than in any other region 

 as easily accessible. 



White-tail deer are very abundant, others are fairly 

 common. Porcupines are almost too numerous for 

 the good of the forest, and all the smaller northern 

 animals may be found there. Of late years raccoons 

 have come into the park. In 1901 General Douglas 

 liberated three beavers in the park, and the whole park 

 is now so well stocked with them mat the Forest 

 Service has been obliged to trap about fifty of them 

 annually, because their number has reached the limit 

 of the food supply. 



A herd of about thirty elk is kept in a large en- 

 closure between the two arms of the lake, and it is 

 the plan to liberate some of them in the near future. 

 In fact, two or three of them have escaped. There 

 are no moose in the park, and they would probably not 

 stay if they were introduced. There are a few black 

 bears, although the region is not a very good bear 

 country. Gray wolves occasionally stray into the park 

 from the north, but coyotes have become quite plen- 

 tiful and will have to be checked. 



