1910-11 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS, FORESTS AND MINES. 101 



As a summer resort this place is becoming more popular every season. The 

 picnic season opened much earlier than usual, and continued longer than ever be- 

 fore. There were very few days throughout the season without a picnic on the 

 Park grounds. The country roads and the Park road being dry and in excellent 

 condition most of the season, encouraged the automobile traffic. Some days they 

 numbered up to 20 and 25 machines. Up the south road through the Park forest 

 seems to be a favorite run for them; the people enjoy seeing the deer (which num- 

 ber up into the hundreds) in their natural haunts, as well as the great variety of 

 timber and shrubbery, the black squirrels in the trees and the cotton-tails jumping 

 through the bushes. 



The new bath house built for men on the lake shore of the Park this season 

 has been used a great deal, and is very much appreciated by the people summer- 

 ing in their cottages and also by the picnickers ; the bath house built for the ladies 

 two years ago was also kept busier than ever. The Chatham and Blenheim Baden- 

 Powell Boy Scouts, numbering about 50, were in camp on the Park for the greater 

 part of two weeks, and made the place lively. They had drill practice each day 

 and entertained visitors in the pavilion several times ; had an afternoon of sports on 

 the water, also foot racing on the green in front of the pavilion. Their stay was 

 enjoyed by those who visited the Park while they were here. This has proven 

 to be one of the best seasons for wild ducks in years on the bay contiguous to the 

 Park. 



Old shooters say that the blue bill were never known to be so numerous here 

 before, and that more ducks were killed and taken away than for many years past. 



The wild partridge and quail in this forest are not very plentiful ; their natural 

 enemies are too numerous for them to thrive well; the hawk, skunk, weasel, etc., 

 are hunting for a living, and make it hard for these little game birds to survive 

 at all. 



The wild turkeys that the Government had placed on the Park last spring 

 have not done well. At one time, early in the season, there were three old 

 birds and eighteen young, and through destruction from hawks, eagles, owls, etc., 

 and sickness during the summer, their number has been reduced to one cock and 

 two hens. Wlhen the young were able to fly up to a perch a few feet off the 

 ground they were liberated into the forest and picnic grounds, but they seemed to 

 pick up something that causes them to get sick and die. We had the same ex- 

 perience with wild turkeys several years ago on the Park. 



The wild geese have increased in number in the enclosure this season. 



The red deer in the open Park are becoming so numerous that they are 

 straying off the premises, and are accused of damaging crops. They are also 

 injuring the young pine and cedar on the Park, and I have recommended that 

 some steps be taken to reduce their number. 



The deep well of water that was secured a little over a year ago has proven 

 quite satisfactory so far; by pumping (with gasoline engine) two or three hours 

 each day it will supply the picnic grounds as well as the Park headquarters with 

 plenty of pure drinking water, which will add to the attractiveness of the Park. 

 The latest improvement is the building of a new road through the Park forest, 

 beginning on the picnic grounds where the gravel road into the Park ends, and 

 continuing through the forest a distance of over three miles, intersecting the old 

 Lake Shore road (the road to the fisheries) at a point opposite Cull and Ship- 

 pey's fishery, thus forming a belt-line driveway through the best wooded part of 

 the forest. The new road is underbrushed to a width of two rods, and when com- 



8 L.M. 



