EDITORIAL 



PROTECTING THE OUTDOORS 



THE SUMMER 

 TOURIST 



A million and a half peo- 

 ple, in round numbers, every 

 year invade the States of 

 Michigan, Wisconsin and 

 Minnesota, seeking out-door recreation. There are two 

 seasons for them. In July and August the north country 

 is swarming with summer tourists. They are every- 

 where in the woods, on the highways, in, on and around 

 the lakes. They are seeking the best the land has to 

 offer, fishing, boating, swimming, camping, hiking or 

 just serenely resting in the cool forest. The car from 

 New York is parked under kindly pines beside the car 

 from Oregon along with half a dozen from Illinois and 

 as many more from Iowa. But by the time the Septem- 

 ber rains are well begun, this army of summer tourists is 

 largely gone. 



When the Indian summer 



creeps down from the north 

 and the ducks begin to fly 

 overhead and the game sea- 

 sons for fowl, deer and small fur-bearing animals open, 

 another army of travelers the gun sportsmen, sweep 

 up from the south and in from the east and west. The 

 woods resound with the bang of the shotgun and the bing 

 of the rifle. The game becomes restless, wary and on 

 the move. By Christmas, the season's bag is well filled 

 and the second army of invasion has retreated. 



These recreational visitors 



leave annually upwards of 

 seventy-five million dollars in 

 the three States. The amount 



ENTER THE GUN 

 SPORTSMAN 



A FORTUNE FROM 

 TOURIST TRADE 



CAPITALIZING 



NATURE 



is on the increase. The tourist trade has become a lead- 

 ing industry in the north country. It is upbuilding the 

 railroads and the highways of the back country. It is 

 dotting the lake shores with hotels and summer lodges. 

 It is pulling many a farmer through lean years pending 

 the development of new land. It is saving many a mer- 

 chant and many a county from bankruptcy. It is remak- 

 ing the north country. 



No need to ask why this 

 army of a million and a half 

 Americans from distant 

 States, with money in their 

 pockets and buoyant anticipation in their hearts, seeks 

 the north woods country. The traveler in search of 

 recreation is attracted by what nature has to offer by its 

 woods, its lakes, its fishing, its game, its roads, its camp- 

 ing spots. Rich in the historic glory of vast forests and 

 innumerable lakes, this north country has long been 

 famous as a tourist land. The States are now capitaliz- 

 ing as they have never done before what is left of their 

 natural resources. They are advertising them throughout 

 the nation, forming tourist and summer resort organiza- 

 tions, building wonderful roads, seeking to conserve the 



game and fish by man-made laws. Between States a 



lively competition has developed. 



In view of what is taking 

 place and of the possibilities 

 of making this north country 

 many times larger and more 



TIME FOR SERI- 

 OUS THINKING 



attractive as a pleasure land, we think it is time to give a 

 little serious consideration to a few fundamental elements 

 in the undertaking. Seventy-five million dollars annually 

 from tourist trade ! Figured as a six per cent return, the 

 valuation of the capital investment amounts to $1,250,- 

 000,000. Add the value of the game and fish taken each 

 year, the internal recreational trade created, the returns 

 from lumber, pulpwood, poles, posts and firewood, the 

 capital investment assumes a value of over five billion 

 dollars. An investment surely worth thinking about ! 



. Land, forest and water 



constitute this investment 

 principal. \\''hat is the guar- 

 anty of its stability and per- 



LAND, FOREST 

 AND WATER 



FORESTS THE 

 PILLAR OF 

 PERMANENCE 



manence? Ordinarily we think of land as something 

 permanent and without land there can be no forests and 

 no lakes. But land alone, barren and unwatered, is a 

 desert. Spot the barren land with twenty thousand lakes 

 with barren shores and it still remains a barren, shade- 

 less, monotonous country, lean in game, fish and natural 

 scenery. It has no voice to call the tourist or the sports- 

 man from distant lands. 



But to the land with its 



twenty thousand lakes, add a 

 fair proportion of forests and 

 the country at once becomes 

 transformed as completely as 

 dull rock is transformed by the glitter of traces of gold. 

 The heart leaps at the sight of it, even at the telling of 

 it. In the mind of the recreationist, the forest mirrors 

 game, birds, flowers, trails, cool shade, restful places, 

 beautiful roads, wooded lake shores, and shadowed waters 

 where the fish gather on hot days. Of the three land, 

 forest and water the forest is the pillar of permanence 

 and stability, upon which recreational development in the 

 lake States rests today and in the future. There is no 

 theory or argument about it. 



Years ago, nature loaned 

 the lake States a magnificent 

 forest one of the finest in 

 the world. That the States 



A LOAN FROM 

 NATURE 



felt no obligation to use the borrowed capital with wise 

 foresight is common knowledge, written large across the 

 face of the north country. With it, they built a large 

 lumber industry and hastened the development of their 

 commonwealths and of those to the south, west and east. 

 That was right and inevitable, but the manner of doing 

 it left the debt but half paid. There remains outstanding 



