20 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



which, down the face of the cliff to the waters of the lake, is quite 

 imperative for safety's sake. The condition of the place is such 

 that it has been necessary to post notices to the effect that visitors 

 are in the reservation at their own risk, and this has been done in 

 order to defend the State against any liability. It is foreign to the 

 purpose of these reservations to turn them into public parks. 

 They have been set aside in order that they may be preserved, but 

 it is obvious that we are failing of our duty in respect to the proper 

 treatment of the Clark Reservation. 



This is also true of the more recently acquired Stark's knob. 

 No boundary fences have been set up about this property and its 

 original condition as transferred to us has not been modified. 



For successive years requests have been made for modest appro- 

 priations to cover these justifiable expenses, but up to this time 

 nothing has been allowed. 



In view of the fact that the State has in many instances accepted 

 private properties of real estate for public park uses, as in the case 

 of the gifts by Mrs John Boyd Thacher of the Thacher Park in 

 the Helderberg mountains, of the late William Prior Letchworth 

 of Letchworth Park on the Genesee river, and Mrs E. H. Harri- 

 man of her large properties, and has in recognition thereof made 

 annual or regular contributions for their upkeep and maintenance, 

 it seems an untoward attitude to deny the modest provision neces- 

 sary to keep these Museum properties in proper condition on the 

 basis of the somewhat ungenerous argument that whoever is to 

 give such private properties to the State must also provide for 

 their care and maintenance. 



