66 FOREST AND STREAM. IJwaa, 
, I., ■- I ,Li Lil.-i. .L J I :. • II I --. . - . . ■ '- - i .. T i |f '|i|-»-^nitv<fa<TrW7yfpym...-^-.^.-^ . 
But I have about concluded that game laws do not pro- 
tect game so much as they favor a certain class of sports- 
men at the expense of a class more conscientious and less 
favorably situated. . G. W. CtTNNiNGHAM. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST 
The Minnesota Forest Reserve. 
Chicago, 111., July 14. — As indicated briefly last week, 
we can report distinct progress in regard to the proposed 
Minnesota forest reserve, the first mention of which in 
the sporting press was made in the Forest and Stream 
May 6. The progress has been made along the lines in- 
dicated at that time, and meantime several important 
steps have been made which practically remove all doubt 
of the success of at least the preliminary work. That is 
to say, there will be an organization of prominent and 
responsible Western business men chosen from several 
States in the Middle West. The name of this organiza- 
tion will be short, simple and significant. It will be called 
^'The Itasca Association." 
This organization is not yet perfected, but a list of 
names is now in preparation by Col. J. S. Cooper and 
certain of his friends, and the preliminarj)- meeting will 
be called in all likelihood for some day next Aveek. The 
matters which have been transacted thus far unofficially 
will then be put in official form. The Association will 
then issue a formal invitation to every member of the 
Congress of the United States to join in an expedition of 
investigation which shall cover the territory in question. 
It is thought that the best time for this expedition will be 
in the first week of October, and that is the date which 
will probably be chosen. It is believed that at least fifty 
members of both houses of Congress will meet at the 
rendezvous in this city. The party will go west from 
Chicago in special trains provided by the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Quincy Railroad, that road having offered to 
take the party without charge. A similar magnificent 
courtesy is extended by President Jas. J. Hill, of the Great 
Northern Railroad, which will take charge of the party 
from St. Paul north. There will be probably two dozen 
different camps laid out in different portions of the Min- 
nesota wilderness. It is the intention to distribute the 
distinguished visitors in such way that each may gain a 
thorough idea of the whole region, and may yet have a 
satisfactory taste of the sport which that region offers. 
Guides, boats and entertainment will of course be free to 
the members of Congress who shall be present, and pro- 
vision has already been made for this magnificent piece 
of hospitality, which is undertaken by President Hill, of 
the Great Northern Railroad. 
It will appear to everyone connected with this expedi- 
tion that this is not a junket, not a scheme, not a land, 
boom, and not a railroad enterprise. It is a straightfor- 
ward, impersonal and useful attempt to secure a great 
popular benefit. There is not the first touch of personal 
interest, of personal advertising, of axe-grinding or log- 
rolling in this enterprise from its start to its finish, and 
when this is distinctly understood it is believed that a 
good share of the members of Congress will be glad to 
lend the dignity and encouragement of their presence. 
They will be able to see the region for themselves, and 
it will be left to them to decide what, if any, shall be the 
size of the proposed forest reserve. 
To take so large a party into so remote a country and 
to do it properly is considerable of an undertaking. _ It is 
to be said that Col. Cooper and his generous railroad 
friends seem to have arranged for this in a most satis- 
factory and practical manner. The whole enterprise_ is 
one of Western enterprise and magnitude, and in view 
of its unimpeachable motive it is sincerely to be trusted 
that it may meet success. The Minnesota wilderness is 
at our doors. It can be visited by ten people where the 
Yellowstocie Park can be reached by one. The State 
Health Officer of Minnesota could find no finer sanita- 
rium ground. The president of the Forestry Commission 
could devise no better means than that proposed for the 
preservation of the remaining Minnesota forests — ^that 
last tract which is in such imminent danger of being 
ruined by the lumbermen, as were the forests further East. 
The United States army could have no better training 
ground or resting ground than this national reserve. For 
it should be remembered that this would be and should 
be a national reservation, under the guard of the national 
troops and under the control of the national laws. 
The Opposition. 
■ It is rarely that one sees any enterprise which has re- 
received more favorable mention from the leading jour- 
nals of the territory concerned. The Chicago Times- 
Herald and the Chicago Tribune both indorse the project 
and give it extended mention. The Associated Press is 
doing as much. The Pioneer Press, of St. Paul, one of 
the leading journals in the State most interested, is in 
favor of the enterprise, but points out that there will be 
serious opposition from several sources, so that it ques- 
tions whether the matter can be accomplished. 
Perhaps the two greatest factors of the opposition hinge 
on the Indians and the lumbering interests. Many ask of 
Col. Cooper: "What are you going to do with all the 
Indians on those reservations which you intend to include 
in the forest reserve?" Col. Cooper's reply to this ques- 
tion is noteworthy: "Do with them what has never been 
done before— let them alone." That is it precisely. There 
Is no robbery of the Indian proposed in the measure. If 
the Indian reservations were included under the- broad 
protection of the national reserve, and if the lumbermen 
and the squatter, the worst enemies of the reservation 
Indians, Avere excluded from the confines of that reserve, 
the Minnesota Indians would be in a better position than 
tiiey have been since the white men first came among 
them. At Cass Lake there is a little straggling pine 
woods town already built on the land of the Indians. It 
is a straight case of steal, and the Indians know it_; but 
what can they do? If this forest reserve were established 
the territory of the Indians would be kept clear from 
white settlement. The Commissioner of Indian affairs 
will in all probability soon remove these adventurers from 
the soil which they have stolen; but under the old order 
of things w e could only expect that they would move their 
towns to some other reservation, and that the lumber- 
men would continue their regular theft of the pine timber 
from the reservations, as they have been doing to the 
anger and chagrin of the Indians for years. The estab- 
lishment of this reserve would settle at once one of the 
gravest questions which has arisen under the Minnesota 
and United States judiciary — that of the clashing of the 
whites and the reds over the timber lands. 
This calls up the main opposition — that of the great tim- 
ber barons. These men want those pine lands, and they 
will fight for them. They are in a political position to 
make some trouble. It is thought that this trouble is 
perhaps magnified in advance, and that these interests can 
be reached by argument, or at worst by compromise. It 
is too soon to cover ground of that sort at this Ayriting. 
On these several heads I may offer the comment of a 
Minnesota gentleman ",vho has the widest personal ac- 
quaintance of every portion of the great tract of land 
which is sought to be included within the lines of the pro- 
posed reserve, and who is an authoritj' in forestry matters. 
This gentleman writes from Itasca, Minn., to Col. 
Cooper as below: 
Details from the Spot. 
"Ten years ago the forest reserve proposition was at- 
tempted in Minnesota by joint resolution of Congress as 
an expression to the Minnesota Legislature. The Duluth 
iron interests, the Minneapolis lumber interests, railroad 
immigration interests and the Lake of the Woods and 
Rainy Lake settlements inaugurated an opposition which 
was proportionate to the whole State, and the measure 
was promptly dropped. Since that time there has been 
the greatest difficulty in the attempt to save to posterity 
even the immediate surroundings of the source of the 
Mississippi. The lumber interests and the city of Duluth 
seem to be the greatest opponents of forest reservation in 
Minnesota. Both have been energetic in defeating any 
measures which remotely or otherwise might curtail their 
economic interests. Active members of Congress repre- 
sent them. The whole Mississippi River, from Itasca to 
Minneapolis, is a private highway for logs. North of 
Brainerd every tributary is in possession of the lumber- 
men, intent on the utter denudation of forest holdings as 
soon as possible. The Ojibway timber, at Leech and 
Cass lakes, is a ripe plum for which the lumbermen are 
watching. 
"My first idea is to preserve the Ojibway timber as the 
nucleus of a great future park. When that timber is cut 
and shipped out, forest fires will complete an untimely 
destruction." 
This same gentleman gives from his great acquaintance 
with that region the following advice as to the posting of 
the camps in case of the Congressional visit: 
"Distribute parties from Grand Rapids, or possibly 
Leech Lake. Push up the river, and not down. The ele- 
vation is greater, water purer and timber less cut off. 
The best camping grounds are: Winnebigoshish Dam 
(dam now out and rebuilding) ; mouth of Turtle River; 
north shore of Cass Lake; west end of Cass Lake — a beau- 
tiful spot; Bemidji Lake and the Mississippi below it; 
Itasca Lake (wagons from Park Rapids); Bottle-Neek 
and Greater Mantrap lakes: north shore of Leech Lake — 
islands and points; north end of Bemidji Lake, near 
Turtle lakes; Cut Foot Sioux to Bow String (a wilder- 
ness); mouth of Leech Lake and Ball-Club Lake; Potato, 
Eagle and Island lakes, near Park Rapids and Big Sand; 
Little Mantrap Lake — out of season, though deer are 
plenty." 
The same gentleman again writes to Col. Cooper, after 
seeing something further regarding this proposed move- 
ment described in the Minnesota papers, and in this re- 
cent letter there is much worth preservation, chief of all 
those golden words where he, perhaps unwittingly, gives 
utterance to a sentence which ought to be placed high in 
the teachings of every American school — that one quoted 
later regarding the time it takes to grow a tree and the 
ease with which that tree may be destroyed. The writer 
of this letter is an old man. and thinker, and he has 
spent many years in an unselfish labor at preserving the 
native forests of his State. He goes on to say: 
Keep the Rescfvatton Timber. 
"Since writing you last I have spent an entire week 
among the Ojibways. There is an intense feeling among 
them because of the dastardly attempts to rob them of 
their pine timber at Cass, Leech and Winnebigoshish 
lakes. I had a long talk with Leading Feathers (Flat- 
mouth) and Ne-sho-tah (Rev. Dr. Wright), the two head 
chiefs, and met in a friendly way 500 other people of the 
tribe. Noav, the Ojibways are in my opinion an absolute 
necessity to the success of a park in this region. No per- 
son has any right, title or claim to ownership of the res- 
ervation forests except the Indians. Therefore no in- 
fringement of rights can exist if the United States reserves 
the region for gradual denudation and reforestration, say 
after the lapse of twentj^-five years, at which time the 
timber will have become more valuable and the economic 
uses more scientific than the present wholesale lumbering 
and utter annihilation now in vogue, followed by tre- 
mendous forest fires, which leave only a black, burned 
waste of stumps and tree tops. 
"Of the Ojibway timber in the proposed reservation 
there is about 900,000,000ft. The Nelson bill of 1889 fixes 
the minimum price at $3 per thousand, in the aggregate 
$2,700,000 — a small item for the National Government to 
assume, when so vast benefits to the people are to ensue. 
"I elaborate on the reservation question because the 
Indian lands are a prime necessity to a successful park. 
If the 900,000,000ft. of timber is allotted for immediate 
cutting, then the exact center of the proposed reserve 
goes to irrevocable and untimely destruction. A tree — 
SUCH GRAND ONES AS WE HAVE HERE— CAN BE FELLED IN 
TEN MINUTES. To REPRODUCE ITS COUNTERPART REQUIRES 
300 YEARS. 
"Let the Indians remain right where they are; pay 
them for the timber, restrict them to lawful and regulated 
occupancy, and they will consent. You will find that by 
the treaty of 1855 the solemn pledge was made to 
them, as ratified by the United States Senate, that they 
were forever to remain where they now are. * * * 
Now the Ojibway is armed and ready for a rebellious 
outbreak if the fraud is concluded. 
"The people of Minnesota are entitled to a peaceful solu- 
tion of this vixed pine-land reservation question now 
pending with the Indians here, and the considerate pro- 
cedure presents itself, of vast benefit to all, of the John 
S. Cooper proposition to preserve the headwaters of- th* 
Mississippi as a national park. Pay the Indian for hi? 
land, then preserve it for the whole people, instead ol 
turnmg it over to a lumbering syndicate' for immediate 
destruction, the latter a class proposition, which converts 
a vast domain to the interests of a few. individuals, the 
rights of the Indians to the contrary notwithstanding. 
"I cannot urge upon your attention too strongly the 
absolute necessity of centering your reserve at Cass, 
Leech and Winnebigoshish lakes. Pay the Indians there 
and preserve the timber. Then you will have a magnificent 
resort, with available surroundings east, west, north and 
smith." 
The OfganizatioD. 
I have earlier mentioned Mr. Chas. Cristadoro, of St. 
Paul, as one of the very earliest enthusiasts in this move- 
ment toward the Minnesota reserve. Mr. Cristadoro was 
in. Chicago this week, and while here met Col. Cooper and 
the writer and had a long talk over the matter. Mr. Cris- 
tadoro is an enthusiast whose ardor does not cool, and 
has done a great deal and is in a position to do a great 
deal more toward furthering the ends of this movement. 
It seems that our mutual friend, Mr. W. B. Mershon, of 
Saginaw, Mich., has also thus early set his hand to the 
plow. Both these men are in the lumber business, but 
they are also in the business of being thoughtful citizens. 
They are of the type which seems to be rallying in most 
unexpectedly great numbers already about this standard 
for forest x^reservation and for national playgrounds 
where nature may be seen unhurt. Such men are not eas- 
ily turned aside. It would be a folly unworthy of them, 
and one to which they Avill not be susceptible, to under- 
estimate the difficulties which lie between this stage and 
ultimate success, but it may be submitted that what these 
men have already accomplished puts this grand work far 
beyond the realm of chimerical or self-seeking effort. It 
must be repeated, not one of these individuals has an axe 
to grind or a log to roll. There will be nothing hidden. 
There is not one selfish purpose in all this. The inten- 
tion is to do a worthy and unselfish deed, of great extent 
and of great popular benefit; to secure to the people of 
America a portion of their heritage before it is too late. 
Now let us see if the people of the United States and the 
Congress of the United States will back an enterprise thus 
conceived. The principle is this: It takes ten minutes to 
destroy the tree, and it takes 300 years to replace it. That 
wonderful region of Minnesota, the greatest sporting 
ground left anywhere in the entire Middle West, is too 
beautiful, too valuable to desferve the ruin and desolation 
which threaten it. It is no unworthy idea, no unworthy 
call which says: "Let us save this wilderness in its wild- 
ness, and do this thing before it becomes forever too late." 
E. Hough, 
4S0 Caxton Building, Chicago, 111. 
Jackson's Hole Elk. 
Jackson, Wyo., July 7. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
My attention has been called to a scandalous communi- 
cation from this place, dated May 31, and signed R. M. W. 
As I have before had some correspondence with Forest 
AND Stre.\m, and believe it to be generally fair and im- 
partial, I ask the privilege of commenting briefly upon 
this cowardly stab at the people of this valley. 
Ordinarily, anonymous slanders condemn themselves, 
but since you have seen fit to publish and editorially 
mention this spiteful fabrication, it may be well to dis- 
abuse the minds of your readers who are ignorant of 
the local conditions and unacquainted with the people. 
R. M. W. assails his own neighbors viciously and in- 
discriminately because of the presumptive guilt of two 
residents whom he charges with having sold elk tusks. 
All that I know of the elk tusk matter is hearsay. My 
information is, I believe, more reliable than the turgid 
vituperation of R. M. W. I have heard — and believe — that 
fifty pairs of elk tusks were sold by S. L. Adams to James 
S. Simpson, deputy postmaster at Jackson. Strange, is it 
not, that R. M. W. failed to mention the name of the 
buyer, who — if there has been an oft'ense committed- — is 
fully as culpable as the seller? 
Mr. Simpson has been buying elk tusks for 'some 
time — ^as many other persons, resident and non-resident, 
have done; and whoever had tusks to sell has sold 
them, as Mr. Adams did. There is nothing new, startling 
or clandestine about these transactions. Several persons 
here have openly and without concealment taken pains to 
collect elk tusks ; some for sale, others merely to possess 
a unique collection. Many elk are lawfully killed here, 
many die naturally, and it has been, and is ^et, reasonably 
easy to collect a good many elk tusks legitimately. There 
have been many violations of the game law — some gross, 
some .slight, some by residents, some by non-residents— but 
I have never yet known or even heard of any one killing 
elk solely for tusks.-. 
I am no apologist for Mr. Adams. If there is proof of 
his having killed elk for tusks, no punishment provided by 
law is severe enough. 
The facts are these : This case has baen investigated by 
the officers, and those persons relied upon to cotiie for- 
ward and substantiate rumors have utterly failed to 
furnish the proof. Adams claims that he purchased forty 
pairs of tusks; that he lawfully collected ten pairs, and 
has ncA^er attempted any concealment of the transaction. 
As to H. F. Davis, connecting his name with this hypo- 
thetical case is malice, pure and simple. 
The only section of our game law under which the 
officers could act in this case, is Section 5, which provides 
that officers may seize "any part" of a game carcass when 
found in actual possession of a person during the close 
season. 
If I am not mistaken as to the identity of R. M. W., the 
animus of his villainous and cowardly attack upon his 
neighbors is easily understood. When a peanut politician 
is thwarted in his ambitious schemes, and then inconti- 
nently kicked out of his home club, it is but natural that 
his dwarfed and distempered mind should conjure up 
every conceivable slur and slander, in the futile effort to 
"get even" with his betters. 
This is the onl}' answer or explanation' Avhich the whole- 
sale and maliciously false denunciation of the gun club and 
the people of this community deserves or requires. 
Allow me to call your attention to just one little "anx- 
