582 An Adirondack National Park. [June, 
tempering the climate. Formerly when these winds beat against the 
Adirondack highlands there were vast.areas of brush-topped ever- 
greens and myriad-leaved trees to act as electrical conductors and 
precipitate moisture in the form of rain. The forests have been 
ruthlessly cut and now the moist winds beat against the rocks and 
burst in floods of water or in form of hail, or sweep past with their 
possibilities of evenly distributed rain. Nature takes her swift 
vengeance. The river bottoms show at the surface and the hur- 
ricane and hailstorm beat down the structures made of the forests. 
As Mr. Colvin states in one of his reports, the forests hold snow 
in compact depths which melts slowly, contributing a regular 
quota of water during three-fourths of the year. The cones fall 
from the evergreens, become pulverized and overgrown with 
moss. These cone beds hold water to such an extent that they 
were named “ hanging lakes.” Wherever the forests have been 
denuded the snow banks and cone beds have disappeared and 
thus, concludes Mr. Colvin, nature has been robbed of her 
reservoirs. 
It seems incomprehensible that so great a commonwealth as 
New York has appropriated so little to maintain a survey of its 
own valuable possessions. No foreign government expends such 
a pittance for surveys of bergs, as the Empire State has for its 
entire area. The necessities of war, for which we must prepare 
in times of peace, demand the most minute and exhaustive surveys. 
The exchange of real estate, the prevention of needless lawsuits 
among citizens, and the taxation system, demand accurate sur- 
veys. The lack of good topographical maps may yet cost a 
thousand times the amount required for engineering. Instead 
of five thousand dollars occasionally, the State should have appro- 
priated seventy-five thousand annually for this purpose. 
ihe growing demand that the Adirondack region shall be set 
aside as a public park with liberal appropriations for its protec- 
tion, superintendence and surveys has been met with little legis- 
__ lative encouragement, which so far only amounted to successive 
_ and expensive commissions since 1873. There is not a prairie 
State to-day that would not give millions for one Mt. Marcy. 
New Yorkers have migrated to every portion of the Union in 
great numbers. Had they a voice in the matter, the Adirondack 
region no doubt would be surrendered to the United States and 
__ cared for as jealously as is the Yellowstone park, with full appro- 
~ Ppriations for surveys and maintenance. If the proper steps were 
taken, there is little doubt that the consensus of opinion of the 
- York has shown itself incapable of caring for its possessions. 
