Norlhwfsl IVrrilorios Jiui then south aRain to Montana. Our route from there tix)k us south 

 as far as Nebraska and north to Winnipeg, from where we proceeded across Canada, north 

 of the Great Lakes, to Quebec, with one fhght north to Hudson Bay. (I had in previous years 

 flown over Labrador, some of the islands, and the periphery of Greenland.) 



Finally we made a great sweep, starting from Niagara, south through what I call the 

 Heartland to the Ouachita Mountains and then east across the Mississippi bottomlands, and 

 back north along the western piedmont of the Appalachians, to New England, and finally 

 south to my home in New Jersey. 



In this itinerary 1 covered this continent as nearly as is possible on a limited budget and 

 within a year. 1 need hardly add that it was an eye-opening and unforgettable experience. 

 but I am constrained to make certain other observations. It was our opinion by the end of the 

 trip that the United States was indeed now essentially an urban and suburban nation. From 

 Maine to the cays off Florida and thence around the Gulf coast to Port Arthur, with but one 

 noticeable break on the Atlantic coast and one on the Gulf, there is virtually a continuous 

 built-up strip. The coast of California from San Diego to San Francisco is much the same, and 

 the Portland-Astoria and Tacoma-Seattle complexes in Oregon and Washington are almost as 

 bad. Even Vancouver now sprawls like a giant octopus. As for inland sites, the Illinois-Ohio 

 industrial area and the Allentown-Easton area in Pennsylvania are the worst, but the enor- 

 mous spread of the cities of Texas is almost beyond belief. 



However few actual farmers there may be. agriculture has engulfed much of the country, 

 and a great part of it. classed as range, is today a sort of monstrous wire entanglement. 

 Deserts there are and of vast extent; and mountain ranges that look untouched; but both, as 

 often as not, prove to be dotted with oil wells, mines, and hamlets, while enormous stretches 

 are cropped for timber. Roads also have now usurped an appreciable area of the land surface. 

 But the worst feature of all— and it is an appalling blight in the United States compared to 

 Europe, or even to Canada and Mexico — is the litter. Not only are there throughout the length 

 and breadth of the country endless rubbish dumps, junk yards, abandoned industrial plants, 

 and acres of littered lots and waste land, but there is also a veritable blanket of empty cans, 

 bottles, cartons, and that almost indestructible material, paper tissue. We stumbled upon heaps 

 of beer cans on the tops of mountains that look unexplored; tripped over old car bodies in the 

 depths of swamps; and drove between almost continuous lines of empty bottles all across deserts; 

 while the beaches of the entire coast are strewn with these same items and a lot else besides. 



There is. in fact, but one haven of hope in this counti^. and that is the magnificent system 

 of national parks and sanctuaries. By the grace of a few far-sighted persons, among whom 

 Theodore Roosevelt was outstanding, many of the finest, most significant, and most typical 

 areas of this country have been saved (though only just in time) by the creation of these 

 parks. There are still many more areas that should be enclosed before it is too late. The man- 

 agement of national parks both in the United States and Canada cannot possibly be praised 

 too highly; it is intelligent, practical, and scientific, and at the same time it provides the 

 public with the finest opportunities to see the countiy as it really is. But, unless something 

 drastic is done, and soon, the rest of this country will eventually become one great junk pile. 



There are also noticeable absurdities. For instance, the best bottomlands in the drier areas 

 have almost invariably been built over, so that agriculture and stock-raising have been forced 

 outward onto marginal land; breeds of cattle have often been selected without regard to the 

 environment to which they are best suited. As many writers have pointed out in recent years, 

 water is being wasted by the oceanful everywhere, gushing down drains and polluted rivers 

 to the sea. Forests are hacked and slashed until even the soil beneath is washed away. Incip- 

 ient dust bowls are being created everywhere by indiscriminate stripping of the topsoil, yet 

 deep plowing and contour planting are still the exception. What the white man has accom- 

 plished on this continent in three hundred years is staggering. But the result is appalling. 



There are, nonetheless, still some utterly wild and even unexplored areas in the United 

 States (17,000 square miles in northern California alone), and the major part of Canada is as 

 yet untouched. In Mexico, too, man has not treated nature so harshly, and a great part of it 

 also remains untouched. In the United States you have to seardi diligently for the true wilds 

 and the original face of the land; in Mexico you live in the midst of it; in Canada you have to 

 search for people in most areas. 



What is needed is a complete and as far as possible detailed survey of the natural vegeta- 

 tion, so that other features may be integrated and planning undertaken on sound ecological 

 principles. At the same time, all three countries might well adopt several laws passed by 

 Arizona whereby traffic offenders, instead of paying fines or going to jail, scour the roads 

 and countryside, picking up trash under supervision of the proper authorities. 



