480 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



October 



Michigan and were swarming like bees 

 into the pine of Wisconsin and then 

 Minnesota's turn came. And now the 

 end of Minnesota's timber is in sight, 

 so much so, that those who have made 

 millions through and by means of her 

 pine forests are to-day investing them 

 in the great fir, spruce and redwood 

 lands on the Pacific Coast. The days 

 of the white pine trees are numbered 

 in Minnesota. And during these years 

 one spot in the State of Minnesota has 

 been kept sacred from the ax. It was 

 the Chippewa Reservation covering 

 800,000 acres, 200,000 of which is 

 water. From this spot the strong arm 

 of the Government held back the lum- 

 berman. The pines were sacred and 

 under their branches the Indians lived 

 undisturbed. 



Many were the covetous eyes cast 

 upon this reservation as the pines be- 

 yond its borders became fewer and 

 fewer. Many were the efforts to se- 

 cure this land from the control of the 

 Indians. Treaties were made and, as 

 has been the case with all Indian 

 treaties from the days of Columbus to 

 date, broken. 



Then an argument was put forth 

 that the timber in many cases was dead 

 and that windfalls were frequent and 

 that such could be saved and the 

 money given to the Indians, could the 

 trees be cut and removed from the 

 reservation. It was called "dead and 

 down timber," the very name of which 

 is so tainted with fraud, perjury and 

 downright theft that it stinks in the 

 nostrils of every man acquainted with 

 its significance. But a law permitting 

 the removal of the "dead and down 

 timber" went through Congress, and 

 it is stated for every actually "dead 

 and down" tree a thousand thrifty, 

 growing white pine giants were laid 

 low and removed. It grew into such 

 a nauseating, scandalous steal that the 

 very man who fathered the "dead and 

 down" bill, although I will say his 

 intentions were good, was ashamed of 

 its workings. 



An effort was successfully made 

 through the Secretary of the Interior 



to stop this outrage. Then an attempt 

 was made to have the Government 

 protect and shield for the people, this 

 beautiful sylvan paradise, for all 

 time, like the Yellowstone Park, 

 for never did a person visit this region, 

 but that he returned with but one wish 

 and one sentiment, can it not be pre- 

 served for all time for the people? 



Here is practically the head waters 

 of the Mississippi, although the river 

 actually springs from Lake Itasca. 

 But these are its headwaters for here 

 are the three great lakes of Leech, 

 Cass and Winnebigosh, with seventy 

 smaller lakes, the infant Mississippi 

 connecting them all and meandering 

 among them, making one great check- 

 er board of stream and lake. 



The picture of the giant pines grow- 

 ing even to the water's edge, the wild 

 rice mantling the crystal stream and 

 the phantom-like passing of an Indian- 

 laden birch bark canoe made a pic- 

 ture that took one back to the days of 

 Fenimore Cooper and made one glad 

 that such a primitive "spot yet rested 

 upon God's footstool. With the growth 

 of pine properly cared for under for- 

 estry rules this great watershed gave 

 promise of feeding the Father of Wa- 

 ters for all time. 



But two billion feet of standing tim- 

 ber was a great temptation to the lum- 

 berman and townsite operators, anx- 

 ious to "skim the cream," and there- 

 fore the Morris Bill was passed and 

 this great woodland paradise was 

 thrown open to settlement and the will 

 and wishes of the lumberman and the 

 land speculator. 



And now what has happened ? The 

 Panama Canal is to be. The whole 

 Mississippi Valley wakes up and looks 

 at the map and cries "We must now 

 see that our river is deepened. We 

 must profit by the Panama Canal and 

 we must have a navigable highway 

 and Congress must help us." Sup- 

 pose it does take $50,000,000 to deep- 

 en the channels of this great river, 

 they say it's worth it and they want 

 it done. And while the knocking for 





