597 



Company exchange under all the circumstances is as clear and com- 

 plete a vindication of their motives as was ever vouchsafed to mortal 

 man in any transaction. 



Then the purchase of lands by the commission has been criticised, 

 or rather the fact that they failed to purchase, because in J.890 they 

 drafted a bill which / provided that they might, in their discretion, 

 buy lands in case they were available for the purpose of a State 

 park, and that is a matter which has been brought forward before 

 this committee during this investigation that one of the conditions pf 

 that statute was that these lands were to be available for a State park. 



Now, the same reason early in 1890 appeared with reference, to pre- 

 venting action with regard to that, and that is not material, for the 

 reason that up to the fifth of November last only 500 acres had been 

 offered. Immediately niter the fifth of November an effort w&s made 

 to have people bring in thei^offers of land, and on the twentieth of 

 November several thousand acres had been dffered "from that time 

 forward to the time of the commencement of this investigation,, the 

 twenty-first of January, a period of two months; and.during that period 

 the cold weather came on when it was difficult and almost impractica- 

 ble to examine those lands. - And when the effective forcev£>f the com- 

 mission was engaged in other work, to wit.'; In the examination of. lands 

 for park purposes under the concurrent resolution of the Senate 

 and Assembly and when they could not be expected to be taken from 

 that work which was directed by the Legislature for the purpose of 

 looking after the matW of the sale of lands. In that connection a 

 criticism has been made that- other than State lands were examined 

 by the foresters. I call the attention of the committee to the resolu- 

 tion, which was passed by the , Senate March 5, 1890, and by the 

 Assembly, April 4, 1890: •* 



" Resolved (if the Assembly concur), That the forest commission be, 

 and hereby is, directed to take into consideration the message of the 

 Governor, addressed to the Legislature, calling attention to the 

 subject of establishing a State park in and about the head-waters 

 of the rivers having their source in the Adirondack wilderness 

 and after thoroughly investigating the possibilities of such an 

 undertaking, to report to the Legislature its conclusions 

 thereon and its recommendations as to the most effective 

 methods to be employed to accomplish. that end, either by bill or 

 dtherwise, together with any pertinent facts within the knowledge of 

 the commission relating to the general subject of forest preserva- 

 tion or extension, and further, to report the number of acres or 

 square, miles of land essential to fulfilling the requirements of a suit- 



