FORESTRY. 



317 



are annually caught by sportsmen, but sta- 

 tistics of the quantity are not yet available. 



The total weight of these products, as 

 they leave the hands of the fishermen, is 

 about 1,696,000,000 pounds, representing, 

 as the value of the catch, $47,180,000. By 

 the processes of canning, salting, smoking 

 and otherwise preserving, the value of the 

 fish is greatly increased. 



Of the very large quantity of fish an- 

 nually placed on the American market, the 

 greater part is consumed at home, al- 

 though a portion is prepared in various 

 ways for export. 



The preference for fresh water or salt 

 water fish is a matter of individual taste. 

 Both are, as far as known, equally whole- 

 some. The value of fish is affected by 



various conditions. Among these are the 

 locality from which they come, the season 

 in which they are taken, and the food on 

 which they have grown. In general it may 

 be said that fish from clear, cold or deep 

 water are regarded as preferable to those 

 from shallow or warm water, while fish 

 taken in waters with a rocky or sandy bot- 

 tom are preferable to those from water 

 with a muddy bottom. Some fish, for in- 

 stance, shad, are at their best during the 

 spawning season, while others should not 

 be eaten during this period. Those fish 

 which feed on small Crustacea and other 

 forms of animal and vegetable life, i. e., 

 their natural food, are preferable to those 

 living upon sewage and other matter which 

 may contaminate the waters. 



FORESTRY 



EDITED BY DR. B. E. FERNOW, 



Director of the New York School of Forestry, Cornell University, assisted by Dr. John C. Gifford, of same 



institution. 



MINNESOTA NATIONAL PARK. 



CHARLES CHRISTADORO. 



I was very much pleased with the ar- 

 ticle of Mr. Rice in the February number 

 of Recreation. Had we a few men in 

 the Minnesota Congressional delegation 

 who think as Mr. Rice does, there would 

 be no question of the park project going 

 through to a successful issue. 



Those who have stopped to consider the 

 question of a National park in Northern 

 Minnesota, and who have taken the time 

 to look into the proposition and consider 

 it from all points of view, are all favorably 

 inclined toward the undertaking — with one 

 exception, the lumberman. 



When this Minnesota National Park 

 project was first made public, the idea of 

 expansion seized the press, and the park 

 advocates were credited with wanting to 

 close up for park purposes 20,000,000 to 

 40,000,000 acres. At this Duluth protested, 

 and vehemently. As a matter of fact, the 

 park promoters simply wanted the govern- 

 ment to withhold from sale and devote to 

 park purposes 600,000 acres of forest and 

 200,000 acres of water, a parcel of land to- 

 day used for Indian reservation purposes 

 and nothing else, in which no white man 

 now holds title. 



Duluth now realizes that this park idea, 

 lined out on such a basis, means future 

 benefit and not detriment to her interests. 

 Only the other day an important meeting 

 of the Development* Committee of Duluth 



gathered and passed resolutions strongly 

 favoring the park as now outlined. There 

 was but one dissenting vote, and, if I am 

 correctly informed, the party was closely 

 associated with the lumbermen's interests. 

 It is the old story. Duluth primarily op- 

 posed the park with all her might and 

 main because she did not understand the 

 proposition correctly. To-day she is begin- 

 ning to realize what it would mean for 

 Duluth, were steamer after steamer from 

 Buffalo and intermediate points to drop 

 upon her welcoming wharfs thousands of 

 tourists bound for the park, ready and 

 willing to lavish with free and open 

 hand comfortable sums of money on her 

 tradesmen. To-day there are many people 

 who make the lake trip. They reach Du- 

 luth, visit such points of interest as exist, 

 and take the night train East or the first 

 returning boat next day. With this park 

 in existence, things would be changed. 

 Duluth would have in her back yard, as it 

 were, a playground for all the world, and 

 one second to none in all America. 



The lumber interests in our State are 

 rich and powerful. With them it is, "after 

 us the deluge." Whether posterity will 

 bless them or damn them in connection 

 with this park idea makes to them no dif- 

 ference. The value of that Indian reserva- 

 tion pine in the market to-day is all they 

 see or care about. The pine is going rap- 

 idly. The pine barons of the Northwest 

 are already putting millions of dollars into 



