CHIEF FIRE WARDEN. 87 



reasons which the commission urged for the preservation 

 of the Adirondack forests was their influence in maintain- 

 ing water flow in rivers. This country has not produced 

 a more all-round learned man than the late George P. 

 Marsh, who, in his work, "Man and Nature," repeatedly 

 emphasizes the value of forests as natural reservoirs of 

 moisture. 



Fifth — The park will be a valuable fish and game pre- 

 serve. 



Sixth — It is national in its locality because it embraces 

 an important portion of the headwaters and sources of the' 

 Mississippi river. 



• Seventh — The greater part of the area being sandy is 

 not well adapted for agriculture. 



Eighth — There are some benefits which would accrue 

 to the state in which the park is located because it would 

 attract a great many visitors. The president of Dart- 

 mouth college, in an address before the legislature of New 

 Hampshire, estimates that from 40,000 to 50,000 people 

 visit that state through the attractions of its mountain and 

 forest scenery, and leave in the state a large amount of 

 money. The Adirondack park has a population of over 

 32,000. It has several prosperous villages. There are 

 over 1,000 guides in the Adirondacks. It is certain that 

 if the propiosed Minnesota park be established it will cause 

 the circulation of very much more money in its locality 

 and create a more lasting prosperity than would occur if 

 the forests should be denuded and the scenery destroyed, 

 as will inevitably be the case under the agreement with 

 the Indians as it now stands. 



It is certain that the Chippewa Indians have occupied 

 this region for two centuries, and that the Sioux Indians 

 had occupied it an indefinite period previously. Men of 

 science are confident, from discoveries which have been 

 made in Minnesota, in territory eastward as well as in 

 Idaho, that this romantic region of country was peopled 



