FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. 77 



slowly and carefully — carrying the Department along through good and ill 

 repute for years when there was little or no public sentiment to support the 

 work. He established nurseries, planted trees, experimented, studied, and 

 finally proved by his work that we can raise and plant trees for commercial 

 purposes as well as the German people do. He encouraged the buying of 

 forest land many times when the purchasing board refused. He saw that 

 lands the board refused would ultimately be of great value and hard to 

 get. The work needed all through the formative period just such a man. 

 No other man would have done as well. His heart was in his work. His 

 best efforts were made as he planned and worked and watched the growing 

 tree. He saw in the future the inevitable rise in land and timber values 

 brought about by rapidly decreasing timber supply and encouraged at all 

 times the acquisition of forested land by the State. His wisdom and far- 

 sightedness is shown by one illustration. About eighteen years ago the 

 Department was offered a township of land in the Adirondacks for $18,000 

 which, contrary to the advice of Colonel Fox, it refused. A few years 

 later the owner sold one lake and a small parcel of land for $44,000. Yet 

 a little later the soft timber on the township down to eight inches was sold 

 for $84,000, and three years ago the State bought the township less the first 

 part sold and less all the soft timber down to eight inches on the balance, 

 paying therefor $156,000 and by the purchase then made at least .$100,000. 

 Had Colonel Fox's advice been heeded eighteen years ago the whole town- 

 ship might have been purchased for $18,000, with all the timber then on it, 

 and a profit at this time realized of from three to four hundred thousand 

 dollars. This is a fair example of his wisdom and foresight. 



He died leaving a work, begun under difficulties, finally well established, 

 and thereby built for himself a monument more lasting than those carved 

 from marble. In years to come, when future generations are reaping the 

 rewards of his work, his writings will be read and his name will be renowned 

 as that of a public benefactor. 



