1908 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS, FORESTS' AND MINES 117 



should you so desire a large and lasting revenue could be obtained from 

 them. They are to be found in numbers upon every lake, river, pond and 

 creek, in fact so numerous and tame have they become that Mr. Robert 

 Graham, road master of the division of the Grand Trunk running through 

 the Park, informed me last fall that he had instructed his men to hang lan- 

 terns at night at the various culverts along the line to prevent the beaver 

 from building dams in them. 



Otter, martin, mink and fisher are also numerous and on the increase, 

 while deer are to be found in abundance everywhere. Mr. Brown, conduc- 

 tor on the G.T.R., assured me he counted last summer in a run of eight 

 miles, twenty-six deer feeding along the railway and not at all afraid of the 

 train. 



Moose are also more numerous than in past years, while partridge and 

 ducks were very much more abundant than I have ever seen them. 



Of course all these overflow into the surrounding country, and I have 

 it both from personal knowledge and the testimony of many reliable per- 

 sons that beaver are fast filling up townships adjoining the Park, where 

 they have been unknown for many years. The deer also keep the surround- 

 ing country well stocked, and splendid hunting in the season can now be 

 had on all sides of the park. 



During the month of March, I made a snowshoe trip of over two hund- 

 red miles through the centre of the Park, goirrg in from South River on 

 the North Bay branch of the Grand Trunk and coming out at headquarters. 

 I visited the various rangers and went over their sections with them, and 

 was certainly very much pleased with the work they were doing. I crossed 

 several townships on this trip and found game of all kinds most abundant, 

 especially beaver, otter and martin. In the section between the Amable du 

 Fond river and the Nipissing river I found moose in great numbers. T 

 also visited the other rangers and found most gratifying results every- 

 where. 



There is undoubtedly some poaching, but when you consider the vast 

 area and the number of means of entrance into the Park the amount of 

 poaching is very small and infinitely less than reports would lead one to 

 suppose. I might say regarding the reports one so often hears of large 

 quantities of fur being taken out of the Park, I have carefully followed 

 many of them up, in some cases travelling hundreds of miles to do so, and 

 generally find they originate with some person who has been discharged 

 by some of the firms operating in the Park. 



I am pleased to report increased co-operation on the part of the limit- 

 holders, and I feel that they have very materially helped our men by insist- 

 ing that their foreman should at once discharge any man known to violate 

 the law. We have built several new substantial shelter houses and cut out 

 several new routes, the principal being a short route connecting the north- 

 west corner with Burnt Lake via the Nipissing river. 



Fishing in the Park has been exceedingly good during the past year, 

 and visitors, of whom there were many hundreds, were delighted, but their 

 greatest delight was in being able to see so much wild life. 



I consider one of the most gratifying results of the past year has been 

 that notwithstanding the fact that much damage was done by fire to the 

 north of us, we have scarcely suffered at all. True, we had many fires 

 started, but by prompt action were enabled to control them. I should 

 especially like to mention in this report that upon one occasion where there 

 seemed to be great danger should a wind spring up, I wired Mr. Donald- 



