204 



THE FORESTER. 



September, 



Minnesota's Proposed New National Park. 



An Organization Formed in Chicago to Secure the Perpetuation of Natural 

 Grandeur at the Headwaters of the Mississippi River. 



The most important forest reserve pro- 

 ject ever inaugurated by public senti- 

 ment in the United States was success- 

 fully launched at Chicago on August n. 

 The meeting was held at the Chicago 

 Athletic Club, where there were assem- 

 bled deputations of prominent citizens 

 from Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth and 

 Chicago to consider the feasibility of 

 creating a grand national park and forest 

 reserve about the headwaters of the Mis- 

 sissippi River in Northern Minnesota. 



This section is one of marvelous 

 natural beauty, where there are eleven 

 hundred lakes replete with fish, untram- 

 meled forest wilds abounding in game 

 and an ozone unsurpassed. By -those 

 who have lived and hunted in that region 

 its value as a health-resort is 'highly re- 

 garded. Its location is one easily ac- 

 cessible to great numbers of people. 



Prominent among those who have 

 recognized the advisability of pre-empt- 

 ing these lands for the public, before 

 timber pillagers and forest fires have 

 marred the beauty of nature, has been 

 Col. John S. Cooper, of Chicago. 

 Two motives impelled him to arouse 

 public sentiment to action: First, the 

 duty of the National Government to take 

 such action as should make the head- 

 waters of the Mississippi common prop- 

 erty forever; second, the preservation for 

 historical, educational, sport and pleasure 

 purposes of a region which otherwise, 

 if left alone, is doomed in a short time to 

 become a barren waste, denuded of tim- 

 ber, crossed by dry water ways, unfit for 

 agriculture and the scene of disastrous 

 timber fires. 



The enthusiasm evinced at the pre- 

 liminary meeting, to which reference was 

 made editorially in the August Forester, 

 left no doubt as to the immediate success 

 of the plan to form a national organiza- 

 tion. This having been done the future 

 seems propitious for favorable action by 



Congress in consummation of the pro- 

 ject. 



"The Minnesota National Park and 

 Forestry Association" was the title 

 adopted for the organization, and offi- 

 cers were chosen as follows: 



President J Cyrus M. Northrop, Presi- 

 dent of the University of Minnesota. 



First Vice President. Theodore 

 Roosevelt, Governor of New York. 



Second Vice President Judge Horace 

 L. Burton, of Tennessee. 



Third Vice President. Judge Hub- 

 bard, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 



Treasurer. John H. Whitbeck, of 

 Chicago. 



Corresponding Secretary.- Col. John 

 S. Cooper, of Chicago. 



Recording Secretary. H.M. Bracken, 

 of St. Paul. 



Executive Committee. Mayor Carter 

 H. Harrison, of Chicago; C. S. Dennis, 

 E. W. Blatchford, C. L. Hutchinson, 

 George M. Nelson, Messrs. Beard, 

 Clark, Gray and Work, G. G. Hartley, 

 A. G. Comstock, S. H. Stewart, F. M. 

 Stevenson, F. W. Leavitt, W. B. Mir- 

 schon. 



The object of forming the association 

 is thus described in the constitution 

 adopted: 



"The object of this association is to 

 preserve as a great national park, so far 

 as practicable, the native forests, waters 

 and topography of an extensive tract of 

 land in the northern part of Minnesota, 

 together with the wild game in the woods, 

 that an intelligent system of forestry may 

 be established therein, and that our citi- 

 zens may have, for generations to come, 

 a great region abounding in native and 

 cultivated forests and waters, to which 

 they can resort in search of health and 

 enjoyment, and that preservation and re- 

 newal of the forests may be inaugurated 

 in the central Western States of the 

 Union. 



