rV6 THE SOCIETY FOR THE PRESERVATION OF 



DISCOVERY OF A BIG-GAME PARADISE. 



', By Dr. William T, Hornaday, 



Director of the New York Zoological Park. 



British Columbia is a land of illiniitabie mountains and much 

 big game of the species most attractive to American sportsmen. 

 But it is sharing the fate of the once-wild portions of the Rockies 

 in our own country. Railroads are pushing through the valleys, 

 mines are scarring the mountain sides, and the axe is laying low 

 the valuable timber. The big game is going very rapidly, and 

 already it is a common occurrence for a sportsman from * the East ' 

 to cover the long trail to the Canadian Rockies for a grizzly bear 

 and return unsuccessful. 



It was left to an American sportsman to discover, and also 

 protect from spoliation, the very finest hunting ground in all 

 British Columbia. I say it is the finest, because its equal has 

 not yet been pointed out. About six years ago Mr. John M. 

 Phillips, of Pittsburg, with his guides Smith and Norboe, literally 

 discovered the fact that in south-eastern British Columbia, between 

 the Elk and the Bull Rivers, there lies — and also rises aloft — a 

 wonderland of fine scenery that is richly stocked with big game. 

 Last September Mr. Phillips again traversed it from end to end, 

 and his estimate is that it contains to-Hay 1,000 mountain goats, 

 200 mountain sheep, at least 50 grizzly bears, 25 black bears, 

 many mule deer and some elk. Besides the above it is well stocked 

 with marten, lynx, wolverine, pikas, ground squirrels, red squirrels, 

 snow-shoe rabbits, marmots, ptarmigan, blue grouse, fool-hens, 

 harlequin ducks, and trout. 



Last autumn Mr. Phillips and the writer felt it their duty to 

 propose to the people of British Columbia that the area containing 

 the wild life enumerated above should be set aside as a game and 

 forest reserve, and protected accordingly. After long and careful 

 consideration the boundaries for an ideal reservation were laid down 

 on Mr. Phillips's map— the first map ever made of that region — 

 and submitted to Premier McBride and the Executive Council of 

 the Government of British Columbia. A memorial was also sub- 

 mitted setting forth in detail the reasons why the reserve proposed 

 should be created, and the writer drafted a bill to carry the plan 

 into effect. 



From the outset the proposal has been received in a very 

 friendly and even cordial spirit, and is now under serious considera- 

 tion. The Press of British Columbia and Canada has placed the 



