PROPOSED ADIRONDACK PARK. 437 



the maintenance of its waters for tbe canals, and for hydraulic power, 

 led to the passage of a State act, May 23, 1872, for the appointment of 

 Commissioners of Parks for the State of New York. The act named 

 seven j)ersons,^ citizens of the State, who were directed to " inquire into 

 the expediency of providing for vesting in the State the title to the tim- 

 bered regions lying within the counties of Lewis, Essex, Clinton, Frank- 

 lin, Saint Lawrence, Herkimer, and Hamilton, and converting the same 

 into a public park; such commissioners to report the results of their 

 labors, together with such suggestions as they may have to present, to 

 the legislature at its next session." 



The commission was to continue two ye^rs, and one report was made 

 (New York Senate Doc. 102, 1873), in which the subject was reviewed 

 generally, and statements were presented showing the conditions that 

 existed and the various rights that were concerned. 



It was found that this vast region, formerly owned by the State, had 

 been mostly conveyed to purchasers who had bought it for timber and 

 bark, excepting a tract of over a quarter of a million of acres, which had 

 been conveyed at the nominal price of five cents an acre to the " Sack- 

 et's Harbor and Saratoga Railroad Company," under a scheme of spec- 

 ulation little less than fraudulent, and that in fact the State owned but 

 a small fraction of the territory, in detached parcels, and amounting in 

 all to less than forty thousand acres. 



It further appeared that the lands in this region which had been 

 bought for the timber only were in many cases abandoned by their 

 owners, when this was removed, as being no longer worth to them the 

 taxes due on wild lands, and that in this way large tracts had been re- 

 l)eat€)dly sold for arrears of taxes or left in possession of the State as 

 not worth these claims, until in the course of years another growth of 

 timber had again made them desirable, and they were again bought 

 irom the State, to be again abandoned when stripped of everything 

 valuable upon them. It was, moreover, quite probable that, should ji 

 project for repurchase be brought forward, the owners would take meas- 

 ures for an agreement to enhance the price to an unreasonable amount. 



In the mean time the whole region must remain as it had been froLu 

 time immemorial, covered with a forest growth, more or less dense, yet 

 for all practical purposes sufficient to answer the wants of the State, as 

 a shelter for the sources of rivers, and as a retreat for game. The most 

 economical means for securing the desired park as State property, would 

 doubtless be to withhold these wild lands trom sale for arrears of taxes 

 until these arrears amounted to their value, and then to declare them 

 vested permanently in the State. By this means a large part would be 

 gradually returned to the public, when by judicious supervision some 

 revenue might be derived from the sale of timber. 



No steps have, however, been taken toward securing this result, 

 although the course above suggested has been brought to the notice of 

 the legislature by the State engineer and surveyor, in whose charge the 

 wild lands of the State are more immediately placed. 



Glens Falls and the lumber interests of the Upper Hiidson, Northern Xeic 



YorJc.^ 



The lumbering business on the Hudson River dates back to an early 

 period in the history of the country. Mrs. Grant, in her " Memoirs of an 



'These comiuissioners were Horatio Seymour, Patrick H. Agan, William B. Taylor, 

 Georj^e H. Rayuor, William A. Wheeler, Verplauck Colviu, aLtl Franklin B. Hough. 



-We are indebted to Dr. A. W. Holden, of Glens Falls, author ot the History of 

 Queensbury, New York, for the principal statements in this article. 



