Sintamaskin 



The first act of the devastating lumberman, 

 about to ply his trade on any lake and its 

 tributaries, is to build across the outlet of that 

 lake a big dam, which, through the indiffer- 

 ence of improvident legislatures, he is allowed 

 to leave, and which remains, for years after 

 his operations are concluded, a hideous monu- 

 ment to the brutality of man. By means of 

 the dam the water of the lake is raised far 

 above its natural level ; the shores are 

 drowned, and their original beauty is forever 

 destroyed. The waters recede, but they leave 

 behind them a ghastly fringe of bare stones 

 and dead gray trees, to take the place of the 

 banks carpeted to the water's edge with vel- 

 vety many-hued mosses ; the lovely grass- 

 grown beaches of pebbles and white sand ; 

 the graceful boughs of the innumerable forest 

 trees which hung over all and mirrored their 

 shimmering foliage in the tranquil waters. 

 Sometimes, indeed, it happens, as in the case 

 of one exquisite jewel of the wilderness I 

 have in mind the Little Wayagamac that a 

 lake has an outlet which for some reason can- 

 not be dammed, but which furnishes enough 

 water without a dam to float away the logs on 

 the spring freshets. In these cases the heavy 



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