A MINNESOTA NATIONAL PARK. 



CHAS. cHkls-|.»i)(iK<i. 



The legislature of Minnesota has me- 

 morialized Congress to set apart for a na- 

 tional park certain lands in Cass county, in 

 the Northern part of the State. A glance 

 at a map of this State will give an idea of 

 what this proposition means in the matter 

 of game preservation. Here is one great 

 checker-board containing 2,500 square miles 

 of lake and primitive forest of white pine, 

 maple, oak. basswood, and birch. True, these 

 grand forests have been sadly desecrated. 

 Under the dead and down timber act spoil- 

 iation has already commenced and will 

 grow until the tract is finally cleared if not 

 preserved. 



In this tract are Leech and Winnebe- 

 goshish lakes, veritable inland seas, teem- 

 ing with muscalonge. Northern pike, bass, 

 perch and pickerel. Cass lake, 10 miles 

 in length, is dotted with wooded islands 

 from Yz mile to 3 miles in length. In the 

 center of the largest of these islands is a 

 lake a mile in length, spring-fed and with- 

 out inlet or outlet, and strange to say, it is 

 several feet higher than the main lake. 

 Within its depths the small-mouthed bass, 

 Micropterus dolomicu, reigns supreme and 

 alone. This island is thickly overgrown 

 with hardwood timber, and right in the 

 center of this woodland paradise is this 

 charming bass-laden lake. 



To the canoeist and camper, every foot 

 of this region is as accessible as an open 

 book. Carries from lake to lake are the 

 exception, there being water connection 

 throughout almost the entire region. 



Wild rice and aquatic plants thrive in the 

 smaller lakes and in the quiet reaches of the 

 river, affording unlimited food and cover 

 for water-fowl. A few miles away is Lake 

 Itasca, the source of the Mississippi river, 

 whence it flows through Lake Bermidji, 

 thence to Cass and Winnebegoshish lakes, 

 and so on through Minnesota and South- 

 ward to the sea. The river affords connect- 

 ing links between the larger lakes, a clear 

 crystalline stream alternately contracting 

 and expanding into lake and river. 



Within this region one can roughly count 

 60 bodies of water, large and small, all fish- 

 laden, and into many of which a line has 

 never yet been cast, save by the Indians. 



The sheltered lakes, waving with wild 

 rice, make an ideal breeding ground for 

 myriads of water-fowl. It would prove a 

 vast natural preserve where ducks, on their 

 flight North in spring, would find absolute 

 quiet and rest from the incessant fusilade of 

 spring shooters, to which they are exposed 

 throughout their entire journey from the 

 South. Here they can and will make 

 their homes and rear their broods of duck- 



lings. If preserved, this tract would prove 

 a welcome and natural home for the mal- 

 lard, and a score of other Northern ducks. 

 In short, it would prove a never-ending 

 source of supply for all species of water- 

 fowl. 



Here, too, in the hardwood timber, would 

 the ruffed grouse multiply without moles- 

 tation, the overflow affording in the adja- 

 cent territory splendid shooting for years 

 •o come. 



Moose, deer, and bear, are numerous in 

 this region, and under absolute protection 

 would no doubt multiply rapidly, and, mov- 

 ing out beyond the park confines, would 

 afford excellent hunting. 



The temptation to invade the park and 

 slaughter the game would certainly be 

 great but as Uncle Sam has a way of treat- 

 ing poachers, peculiar to himself, one sel- 

 dom dares to run afoul of a Government 

 patrol a second time. 



While we Minnesotans especially want 

 this preserve, we cannot understand how 

 sportsmen everywhere can but feel as deep 

 an interest in the subject as we do. 

 Whether you live in the South or in the 

 far East, you should have a personal in- 

 terest in so vital a step for the perpetual 

 preservation of game in the Northwest. 



The question will come before the next 

 Congress. Minnesota has offered to make 

 the Nation a present of 2.500 square miles of 

 land and the people should certainly be 

 glad to accept this magnificent bounty and 

 take care of it. 



Smokeless powder, the 30-caliber rifle, 

 and the pump gun are doing only too sure- 

 ly and too rapidly their deadly work of 

 extermination, and unless numerous places 

 of refuge are speedily provided where game 

 can be absolutely protected, it will be but a 

 few years until the moose, the deer, the 

 bear, the mallard, and the ruffed grouse 

 will be as rare as are the buffalo and the 

 wild pigeon to-day. 



Already this region is reached by a rail- 

 way, making it readily accessible to the 

 tourist and the camper. By cutting one >r 

 2 short canals the great lakes can be navi 

 gated by steamboats, from one end to the 

 other, making a journey which for beautiful 

 scenery cannot be equalled anywhere in 

 this country. 



The primitive wildness, and the com- 

 bination of timber, lake, and river, will 

 prove a source of unlimited pleasure to the 

 student of nature, the camper, the canoeist, 

 and the angler. The invalid will here find 

 health, strength, and new life amid the pine 

 and hardwood forests of this woodland par- 

 adise. 



453 



