408 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. 



and to " care for, herd and yard the same temporarily, and liberate them 

 in such region at such times and places as it deems most conducive to their 

 probable subsistence and increase." The sum of $5,000 was appropriated 

 by the Legislature with which to make a start in carrying out this enterprise. 

 In 1904 similar authority was given the Commission with respect to wapiti 

 (elk) and beaver. The same year $500 was appropriated for the purchase and 

 liberation of beaver, and in 1906 an additional $1,000 was appropriated for 

 the same purpose. 



liberations Commenced 



About the same time a few gentlemen owning large preserves in the 

 Adirondacks commenced co-operating with the State by releasing beaver 

 upon their lands. The first of these was Mr. Edward H. Litchfield, who, 

 since 1901, has liberated about a dozen beavers in Litchfield Park, a very 

 extensive private forest reservation in the southwestern corner of Franklin 

 county. Most of Mr. Litchfield's beavers have escaped from his park to 

 adjoining lands, and have roamed in many directions, but up to the present 

 have confined their operations chiefly to southern St. Lawrence and Franklin 

 and northern Hamilton counties. There are indications that these beavers 

 have been steadily increasing, and some of them, in their wanderings, 

 may have found the families of native stock in Township 20 and thus 

 infused a strengthening strain of new blood. Fresh cuttings, attributed 

 to the Litchfield beaver, have been seen at several points along the Raquette 

 River system in recent years. 



' About the year 1902, Mr. Timothy L. Woodruff brought two Canadian 

 beavers to his private preserve at Lake Kora, south of Raquette Lake, 

 in central Herkimer county, one of which soon afterward died. The other 

 escaped, and, wandering southward, took up a residence on a small stream 

 entering the South Branch of Moose River, where it built a dam, about 

 ten miles from the point of escape. Here it remained for several years, 

 until, in April, 1905, it was joined by two other beavers which were placed 

 by the State in the same stream, at the dam. 



In the fall of 1904 the State of New York, through the Forest, Fish 

 and Game Commission, made the first purchase of beavers for restocking 

 the Adirondacks. These were seven which had formed part of the Cana- 



