348 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 6, 1899. 
Now, it is not the "chronic kicker" who is the real 
enemy of game laws. Neither is it the farmer living 
near the city. _ The first would kick just as hard against 
doing away with all game laws as he does against exist- 
ing ones, for it is his nature to kick. From motives of 
self-preservation the second would be compelled to post 
his lands, game laws or no game laws. The only real 
enemy of all game laws therefore is the natural lawless 
character who is too lazy to work and who chokes 
birds for money. He is the grown-up snarer. 
It goes without saying that any law which allows 
snaring under any conditions is a lame one, and the 
sooner, it is stricken from the statute books the better. 
Then another should be inserted in its place so strict 
against snaring that the very wording might scare 
a partridge strangler out of his wits. Such is the only 
kind of an argument that these people understand. 
A couple of sportsmen, with whom I am acquainted, 
went out of town for a day's shooting early in the season. 
They went on the Derby R. R. Upon their return 
they' told me how they had seen over 100 partridges 
delivered to the baggagemaster; not in one batch, but 
in small instalments at different places. They examined 
some of the birds and foxmd they had been snared. 
William H. Avis. 
HiGHWOOD, Conn. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Minnesota Forest Reserve. 
Chicago, 111., April 29.— What is perhaps one of the 
largest bits of out-door news turned up in years ap- 
pears herewith in the Forest and Stream. _ It is news 
which will be larger a year from now than it is to-day. 
Although it is always a" long step from the inception of 
any enterprise to its completion, I think we may briefly 
cover this matter by stating that it is among the possi- 
bilities if not the certainties that the State of Minnesota, 
one of the most remarkable in the West, in the extent of 
its forests and in the wealth of its fish and game, will 
have set apart as a forest reserve, under the protection of 
the United States Government, a tract which will cover 
four counties, which will be 140 by 125 miles in ex- 
tent, which will embrace the sources of the Mississippi 
River, and which will inchtde one of the most remark- 
able sporting regions to be found anywhere in the West. 
It is a long way to the fulfillment of this possibility or this 
certainty. We may call the result reasonably sure, because 
it is to be backed by some of the broadest minded thinkers 
and some of the longest headed men of affairs to be found 
anywhere in the West. 
Although an amiouncement like the above is practically 
news to the sporting press, and is news absolutely in 
regard to the sober features of an actual beginning in the 
working part of the enterprise, the matter of a forest 
reserve or "State park," in Minnesota, is not a new 
thing. At the last session of the Legislature of that State 
there was passed, '"An act to encourage the growing and 
preservation of forests and to create forest boards and 
forest resen'ations." It invites the gift of land for 
forestry purposes and provides that any one who will 
turn over to the board a tract of land of not less than 
1,000 acres may have the forest named after him." 
On the above lines. Congress was memoralized by the 
Minnesota Legislature to set apart for the use of the 
public some 2,500 square miles of land in the Leech 
Lake and Winnibigashish district, and this action of the 
Minnesota Legislature may be perhaps called the first 
real step taken in a general way in the matter of the forest 
reserve. Following hard upon this legislative action, Mr. 
Chas. Christadoro, prominent in the lumber trade of that 
State, and a resident of St. Paul, wrote the first com- 
munication which I can discover upon the matter, being 
a letter to the American Lumberman, earnestly advocat- 
ing the establishment of the reserve, and making use of 
the following words : 
"Beyond the question of forest preservation is the in- 
teresting one of the conserving of the game. Deer, moose, 
elk and bear would thrive and multiply in this region of 
lakes and woods if controlled by the Government, and 
were it protected as is the Yellow.stone. As a pleasure 
and outing ground for the people of the Northwe.-^t, it 
cannot be excelled. With its sixty to seventy lakes, in 
some of which the first line is yet to be cast by a white 
jnan, all of them teeming with niuscalonge, pike, bass and 
pickerel, it affords an ideal spot for the lover of the rod 
and reel. The sportsman can count upon good lligliL 
duck shooting as long as the mallards and scores of other 
Northern ducks are allowed peacefully to rear their young 
\\'ithin the confines of the score or more of rice lakes 
within its borders. 
"We Minnesotians want this land and water as a na- 
tional park. We want Congress to act favorably iu the 
matter. We realize that the railroads, the timber hog. 
the town sites are all against the idea of making such a 
profitable piece of territory into a national park, and it is 
against such that we wish to prevail in our efforts to pre- 
serve for all time a pleasure ground for the people, where 
the canoeist, camper, tourist and fisherman can enjoy 
nature" at her best and where, twenty years from now, 
after every stick of white pine is gone the way of the 
black walnut, one can walk under the massive cork pine 
giants and think of what a wooded paradise Michigan. 
Wisconsin and Minnesota were before the advent of the 
axe and saw." _ 
Commenting upon the above, the editor of the paper 
mentioned endorsed the idea from the standpoint of the 
lumberman — this laeing endorsement from a source un- 
expected, for the rapacity of the lumber cutter is a proverb 
nowhere better exemplified than in this very tract of 
Minnesota, where twenty miUion feet of Government 
timber have been stolen outright. Taking the high stand- 
point of the thinking man, the editor above mentioned 
approved the view of the thinking lumber merchant and 
of the State Legislature, and went on further to say: 
"The fame of Minnesota as an agricultural region has 
gene to the uttermost parts of the earth, but her greatest 
glory has properly been ascribed to the magnificent wealth 
of forest, lake and stream with which nature endowed' 
her. The disfiguring of these beautiful areas, due largely 
to man's necessities, in part to fearful conflagrations and 
mostly to the consummation of commercial desire, has 
left a dreary waste of hundreds of miles of what was once 
as fair a prospect as ever sun shone upon. The time is 
near at hand when utilitarian purposes can logically be 
directed to other sources, and is with us now when some 
reminder of the most glorious natural characteristic of 
the Northwest should be preserved not only for the bene- 
fit of those of this generation, but for the enlightenment, 
the instruction, the good health of and a refining in- 
fluence upon the generations to come, to whom this gen- 
eration owes a debt, emphasized by its richer resources 
and its loose stewardship of them and in which resources 
the coming generations should be conceded their unde- 
niable rights. 
"Miles of bare Northwestern land, unpromising as to 
future usefulness, thousands of acres of black and blasted 
stumps that offend the eye and insult the artistic sense, 
appeal for the preservation of some of the best of what 
is left in primeval growth." 
In tlie same issue of the snme paper, yet another think- 
ing lumber merchant, Mr. W. B. Mershon, of Saginaw, 
Mich., came out with, a letter reiterating practically 
the above, and showing yet further that the matter of a 
Minnesota reserve is not one which is going to be fought 
bv all of the great timber companies operating in that 
State. 
The above, so far as I can discover, covers about all 
of the reserve matter up to date. J confess I was not 
aware until to-day that so much had been done, and was 
writing to the Forest and Stream upon a different line 
when I received a call from Mr. Christadoro himself, 
stating that he had been to New York and had talked with 
the Editor of Forest and Stream in regard to this very 
matter, which I had written up, and had in my desk ready 
to mail ! I had arrived at the same station by an en- 
tirely different road, and through news sources quite in- 
dependent of the above. 
I have still left to state that, while the matter of the 
forest reserve belongs to Minnesota, and has been first 
considered in Minnesota, it is sure that the first step to- 
ward active work for the attainment of this great purpose 
was taken by a Chicago man, and taken within the last few 
days. Justice requires this statement, though the enter- 
prise itself is too large to be held even within the bounds 
of all Minnesota. Chicago will not rest content with 
this credit, and indeed would disclaim any intent to call 
this a Chicago undertaking, for it belongs to the whole 
United States. The best and greatest nevys about the 
whole thing is that it seems far more than likely that the 
matter is now past mere beginning and will not be allowed 
to rest until it has attained success or absolute rejection 
by the Congress of the United States. 
The Man With an Idea. 
Years ago when (he muscallonge country of Wisconsin 
was just opening up, one of the most ardent pilgrims to 
that favored land was a well-known Chicago attorney, 
Col. John S. Cooper. Col. Cooper is not a politician, but 
attorney. He won his title honestly in the Civil War, and 
he has earned the title of sportsman over and over since 
that time. He was fond of exploring, and there are few 
lakes of the Wisconsm chains \yhich have not known his 
boat or canoe. ? After the glory of Wisconsin began to 
depart, in some measure, with the advent of the new 
roads. Col. Cooper turned his face to the less known 
■wilderness of Minnesota. Years ago I predicted that 
Minnesota would be the next State to he reached by the 
throng of angling travelers, and this prediction has been 
fully verified. It was only two years ago that _ Col. 
Cooper made his first muscallonge trip in that State. 
Before he had ended his first outing in the great wilder- 
ness of upper Minnesota, he was a devotee to that re- 
gion, and a convert to one idea. He resolved then and 
there to spend the remaining years of his life, if need be, 
in the effort to secure the preservation, intact, so far as 
that might be, of that great stretch of wild country about 
the head of the Mississippi River. He saw that the rapid 
denudation of the forests by the lumbermen must surely 
be followed at no late date by the most serious conse- 
quences in the flow of the head waters of the greatest 
American stream, probably al.so by a distinct change in 
the climate of the region. He saw that the fish and 
game, even now rapidly passing away, must soon become 
practically extinct there, as they have in other regions 
left open to the tender mercies of State laws and the 
unchecked impulses of eager human nature. It was not 
enough to Col. Cooper to go on and take what he could 
of the fish and game of this country, though without 
doubt its resources would outlast his time. It seemed to 
him better, indeed ic seemed to him imperative that some- 
thing should be done to keep this wilderness so that the 
American people might have one more chance to see how 
noble a thing its original heritage had been. 
Col. Cooper was the man with the idea. He was the 
man with the enthusiasm. He was the man with ihe 
purpose and the energy. At the beginning of every 
considerable enterprise you will find some such man. 
Sometimes he is overridden, and often he is forgotten, 
and often he fails. At this point, at what I take to be 
the first written word in the sporting press regarding this 
enterprise, I wish to make it clear in the record, that 
should the State of Minnesota and the people of America 
win this great forest reserve, the credit for the first 
working steps toward that fact belongs, and should be 
given, to Col. John S. Cooper, lawyer and sportsman, of 
Chicago, who began the work not for glory nor for ad- 
vertising, but because he loved the woods and streams. 
Plan of Campaign. 
A great many persons have ideas, but it is very gratify- 
ing to state that in this case the idea was not allowed to 
rest in embryo. Col. Cooper saw some men in Minne- 
sota to whom he mentioned his proposition in part. He 
met at St. Paul a gentleman who offered suggestions of 
greatest value. He took counsel among certain Chicago 
friends, who promised him support, and he found outside 
this city and outside both these States, other broad- 
minded men who saw at once that this enterprise was not 
a personal one. but one of national importance. I need 
not describe all the steps that have quietly been' taken 
here for the past few weeks, and which have been fully 
known to myself. Let it be enough to give below a 
brief sketch of the plans which have been outlined for the 
furtherance of the main proposition. 
In the first place, this work of moving for a Minnesota 
forest reserve is not a Chicago enterprise, and it is not a 
personal enterprise. It is already far beyond both these 
phases. The matter belongs to the United States, and 
will need to be brought before the Congress of the 
United States. Should it come before that body as a 
mere proposition, should it appear as a political measure, 
or as a scheme for the benefit of some persons or cor- 
porations, the fate of the measure might be written now. 
Yet more, should it approach Congress in a loose and 
indefinite form, something perhaps good but vague, some- 
thing perhaps desirable but not definable, the result of 
failure might again be prophesied. Still more than this, 
were this proposition never so clearly and convincingly 
put, it none the less might fail, if it came before mem- 
bers of Congress who, while they might be willing and 
anxious to approve the measure if it seemed of great 
popular benefit, might themselves be too personally 
ignorant of the region and the data regarding it to act 
with perfect understanding in the matter. 
All these contingencies have been foreseen. It may be 
said with a certain pride that they have been guarded 
against with a certain Western largeness and thorough- 
ness. Chicago claims no more than the first step, but the 
first step, being the one which counts, would appear to 
have in this case to have been well considered. In a 
short time there will be a meeting of a few prominent 
men of Chicago, let us hope of such men as George E. 
Cole, president of the Municipal League ; Edwin F. 
Daniels, president of the Tolleston Club; Judge Gross- , • 
cup, of the Circuit Bench ; Ruthven Deane, foremost 
ornithologist of the West, and a few other such men, 
men of social rating and conservative thought, who will 
be asked to meet as a body for preliminary organiza- 
tion. After such organization there will be invitations 
sent out to similar men in other States, men of the kind 
who are not content with passing resolutions. Thus there 
will be formed, and I think formed at no very late date, 
a body of American thinkers. I shall not call this a 
body of American sportsmen. This is by no means a 
sportsmen's measure, for all classes are interested m it, 
though sportsmen are primarily so. This body of Amer- 
ican thinkers will be one whose invitation will carry 
weight and be entitled to respect. 
An Invitation to Congress, 
Soon after the formation of this representative body, 
which will be sometime this summer, and at the earliest 
possible date, there will be issued to some sixty mem- 
bers of Congress an invitation to go out and see this 
wilderness of Minnesota, to see it personally, and to 
examine it thoroughly, in such way that they may be 
able to vote understandingly on any measure regarding 
it and may be able to give their colleagues any facts 
that they may need. 
To take sixty members of Congress, from all parts of 
the Union, out into the State of Minnesota, to pay their 
expenses for the entire trip, whether by rail or by canoe,- 
is something which runs very rapidly into the thousands 
of dollars. Perhaps we may stamp as something less 
than visionary this interesting proposal when I say tliat 
it is already well within the bounds of likelihood that the 
fmids for this large enterprise may be already reckoned 
as secured. Just how this will be done is something, 
which I am at this writing not at liberty to disclose, but 
I may perhaps within the bounds of discretion say that if 
ultimate success shall crown the undertaking it will be 
due to the liberality of one of the biggest minded men 
the West has ever produced. So much for the news up 
to date of a matter which, if left alone would not be 
Avorth writing about, but which, if handled as it seems 
likely it will be handled, may run into something ver\' 
large and interesting indeed. 
The State of Minnesota. 
To many persons living in the East the State of Min- 
nesota is simply a place out West. To many near-by 
dwellers, and even to most of the residents of the State 
itself, much of the original history of the State, and many 
interesting details regarding this northern part of the 
State, will come in the way of added knowledge. Really, 
there are few States more interesting, and few whose his- 
tory holds more of wild romance. Here it was that stout 
and devout Lieut. Pike, honest Zebulon Pike, in the 
year 1805, came to spy out the new possessions of the 
United States, and to order the tradei s of the Northwest 
h'ur Company to take down their British flags. Honest 
Zebulon accomplished his purposes, and told contem- 
porary man much about tlie resources of that region, al- 
though he made the mistake of believing that Leech Lake 
was the headwaters of the Mississippi. 
Prosaic, plodding Zebulon, what a good time he had 
without knowing it. Because, after he had come down 
the Mississippi River to St. Louis again, he was sent out 
into the West to the headwaters of the Arkansas River, 
with the purpose of crossing over to the headwaters^ of 
the Red River, thence descending that river and coming 
back home again to this great Mississippi River, which 
then marked the boundary of the known America. He 
got lost, did sober Zebulon, and by mistake struck the 
headwaters of the Rio del Norte, in Spanish territory. 
He was taken prisoner by the Spaniards, taken over to 
Santa Fe, and then was forced to ride with his captors 
horseback all the way to Chihuahua, in Old Mexico. 
Finally released, he rode again northward, through San 
Antonio, and across Texas far to the east, until finally, 
in the most matter-of-fact manner in the world, he came 
again to the Mississippi River, and to soil admittedly 
American. Meantime Lewis and Clarke were makitig 
their lucky trip to the Pacific Ocean, that wonderful trip 
which brought them so much glory, and which so far 
overshadowed honest, plodding Zebulon M. Pike, al- 
though the latter had seen much- of new America him- 
self. 
The Historical Society of Minnesota has recently been 
digging in ihe early history of the State,_ and had discov- 
ered that Minnesota is the only State with- a dual origin. 
As a matter of fact the territory of the State came partly 
trom the Nortliwest Territory and partly from the Lou- 
isiana Purchase, Minnesota is the only State in the Union 
which combines territory of those two sources. Just to 
make my story more complete, and perhaps to please 
some citizens of Minnesota, I may quote from a paper 
