454 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



October 



late visit there, May I3th and I4th, 

 when the roads were nearly impassable 

 on the clay soils of Northern Minne- 

 sota, that although there had been 

 recent heavy rains in this section the 

 roads were perfectly dry and even 

 dusty. In the vicinity of Cass Lake 

 very little is done in the way of 

 gardening, although high prices pre- 

 vail for vegetables in the town and 

 most of them are imported. Corn, 

 melons and other vegetables can be 

 raised here if the land is heavily 

 manured, but not otherwise. 



The lands of this section, including 

 those in and about Cass and Leech 

 Lakes, are best adapted and will prove 

 most profitable when developed as a 

 great summer resort. It has many 

 advantages for a place of this kind, 

 among which may be mentioned fine 

 bathing beaches and the unexcelled 

 lakes and streams for canoeing and 

 steamboating. It is possible to start 

 at Cass Lake and take in a water trip 

 of over a hundred miles without enter- 

 ing the same water twice, and come 

 back to within a few miles of. the start- 

 ing place. The dry soil and high 

 bluffy lands about the large lakes are 

 particularly adapted as sites for hotels 

 and cottages, which sites may be leased 

 from the Government under the Mor- 

 ris law. The Morris law reserved the 

 timber on the principal points and 

 islands in Cass and Leech Lakes so 

 that it will be retained in its primeval 

 beauty. It also reserved ten sections 

 of land, which were to be selected as 

 might seem best. This selection has 

 been made and consists of the lots 

 about the larger lakes, which are thus 

 surrounded by a wealth of primeval 

 pine forest, the finest of its kind in 

 America, from a few to forty rods in 

 width. There is nothing more grand 

 and beautiful on the earth than these 

 clear lakes with their beautiful setting, 

 and if the people of Minnesota permit 

 their despoilment it will be to their 

 everlasting shame. 



The sportsmen of Minnesota have 

 an interest in the retention of this 

 area as a forest reserve, for it can be 



made a breeding place for game and 

 fish, and the United States Forest 

 Service will gladly co-operate with 

 them in carrying out such a plan. 



It may be safely said that the only 

 opposition to the Minnesota National 

 Forest Reserve comes from the prop- 

 rietors interested in the Cass Lake 

 town site, who located here soon after 

 it was proposed to develop a forest re- 

 serve in this section. This town has a 

 population of 600 to 700 people. It is 

 a division headquarters of the Great 

 Northern Railway, and has also one 

 large saw-mill. The town was plainly 

 started for the purpose of furnishing 

 supplies to loggers and to others who 

 were outfitting for the woods, and to 

 take advantage of the opportunities 

 for doing business that would be af- 

 forded when the reservation was 

 thrown open to settlement. But lum- 

 bermen have not taken kindly to out- 

 fitting here. In fact, under present 

 conditions there is comparatively little 

 outfitting done by lumbermen in the 

 small towns, but most of their supplies 

 are purchased in the larger cities. 

 Hence, the complaint of the people of 

 Cass Lake that logging on the Reserve 

 has done them no good. This, how- 

 ever, might just as well have been the 

 case under private ownership, as log- 

 gers can buy where they please. Some 

 of them have apparently planned their 

 enterprises so as to avoid paying their 

 men off at Cass Lake, which is another 

 ground of complaint. This, added to 

 the fact that the whole reservation has 

 not been thrown open to settlement as 

 was expected, has led to considerable 

 disappointment. The Indians are in 

 favor of the forest reserve, for they 

 are allowed to use it as heretofore, and 

 yet they have also been paid for it and 

 have received more for their timber 

 which has been sold on this reservation 

 than they have previously obtained for 

 their timber and land together. 



I have been told by what I believe 

 reliable authority, that certain promo- 

 ters of the Cass Lake town site see 

 that this section is destined to become 

 a popular summer resort and want a 



