180 Twenty-fourth Report on tbe State Museum, 



those dark, northern, evergreen forests. The term " hanging-lake " 

 will not be deemed inappropriate, in consideration of the fact that 

 in the wet season a large mass of this moss, when compressed by the 

 hands, becomes but a small handful, the rest of its bulk being alto- 

 gether water ; often many inches deep, it covers the rocks and boul- 

 ders on the mountain sides, and every foot-print made has soon a 

 shallow pool of icy water in it. 



With the destruction of the forests, these mosses dry, wither and 

 disappear ; with them vanishes the cold, condensing atmosphere 

 which forms the clouds. Now the winter snows that accumulate ©n 

 the mountains, unprotected from the sun, melt suddenly and rush 

 down laden with disaster. For lumber, once so plentiful, we must 

 at no distant day become tributary to other States or the Canadas. 

 The land, deprived of all that gave it value, reverts to the State for 

 unpaid taxes. 



The remedy for this is the creation of an Adirondack Paek or 

 timber preserve, under charge of a forest warden and deputies. The 

 "burning off" of mountains should be visited with suitable penal- 

 ties ; the cutting of pines under ten inches or one foot in diameter 

 should be prohibited. The officers of the law might be supported 

 by a per capita tax, upon sportsmen, artists and tourists visiting the 

 region ; a tax which they would willingly pay if the game should be 

 protected from unlawful slaughter, and the grand primeval forest be 

 saved from ruthless desolation. 



The interests of commerce and navigation demand that these 

 forests should be preserved ; and for posterity should be set aside, 

 this Adirondack region, as a park for New York, as is the Yosemite 

 for California and the Pacific States. 



YEKPLANCK COLYIK 



Albany, Dec, IQth, 1870. 



