Tf>e ^>\&\z Reservation Upon and (Jlong 

 tl)e 5t. Lawrence River. 



CHAPTER 802 of Laws of 1896 provided for the establishment of a State 

 reservation upon and along the St. Lawrence river in the State of New 

 York, to be under the control and management of the Fisheries, Game and 

 Forest Commission, the Board having power to make and enforce ordinances, by-laws, 

 rules and regulations for the management of the property of the State within the 

 borders of said reservation. 



At the time of the passage of the act the State had no property whatsoever in 

 lands in or on the St. Lawrence, but an appropriation of $30,000 was made that the 

 Commission might acquire for the State, islands in the river, or parcels of the main- 

 land along the river, to create such a park as was contemplated by the provisions of 

 the act. Contemporaneously with the passage of chapter 802, the government of the 

 Dominion of Canada set aside about twenty-five islands on the Canadian side of the 

 St. Lawrence for a public park of international character with the general under- 

 standing that the State of New York would co-operate in establishing a park or 

 reservation to be open for health or pleasure purposes to people living on both sides 

 of the river. The boundaries of the park reservation include all of the St. Lawrence 

 river and the islands that are in the State of New York, making over one hundred 

 miles of stream, extending frcm Lake Ontario to a point below Massena. The 

 Dominion of Canada has never parted with the title to the islands belonging to the 

 Crown, and an act of Parliament was all that was required to create the Canadian 

 portion of the park, and this was promptly passed, and some of the most beautiful 

 islands in the Canadian portion of the river are now devoted to park purposes. As 

 New York had to acquire title to any and all islands or lands that might be selected 

 for the park, the members of the Commission made a visit to the river soon after the 

 appropriation became available, and thoroughly inspected the islands and lands which 

 had been offered for sale. When it was known that the State desired to become a 

 purchaser of river property, owners or agents filed with the Commission descriptions 

 of about fifty pieces of property, island and mainland, which they desired to sell under 

 the provisions of the act. Each piece of property from Lake Ontario to Massena was 

 carefully examined. 



The object of creating a public park on the St. Lawrence was that it might be 

 used by the people for picnics, excursions, camping, health and recreation generally, 



