Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Cop-fRiGHT, 1899, BY Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. ) 
Six Months, $2. ) 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 1899. 
f VOL. LIII,— No. 8 
(.No. 346 Broadway, New York 
Even now, at my advanced years, I feel the 
pride of life as an old horse feels ginger. 
Charles Hallock, 
THE MINNESOTA NATIONAL PARK. 
The Minnesota National Park and Forestry Associa- 
tion was formed in Chicago last week for the purpose of 
putting into effect the scheme of establishing a great 
national forest and wilderness reserve in Minnesota. The 
immediate effort of the Association will be to present 
the plan at Washington in an effective way by taking 
the members of Congress to the^ territory under considera- 
tion, that they may themselves view the country and gain 
an intelligent conception of just what is proposed. 
Whether the scheme in its final form shall be carried out 
on the present magnificent scale, or whether it shall be 
restricted, of one thing at least we may be confident, and 
that is that the park idea has taken a firm hold upon the 
country, and the reservation in one forni or another will 
be achieved. The substantial character of the new Asso- 
ciation is a sufficient guarantee that the enterprise will 
not be abandoned. 
While the plan of establishing this great national park 
reserve and pleasure park appeals to the people at large in 
direct ratio as it is comprehended, there is found in Duluth 
an opposition to it based upon the fact that to convert the 
proposed territory into a reserve would interfere with that 
city's prospective lumbering industry and unfavorably 
affect its commercial interests. This view was given ex- 
pression in the Chicago meeting by Judge Morris, who 
represented that there were still undeveloped resources in 
the region of the proposd park and tributary to Duluth. 
The fact is that the true interest of Duluth in this park 
project is the interest of the country, and the larger and 
more lasting benefit will come from the establishment of 
the park. The. history of the forestry resources of the North- 
west demonstrates this. While the coal, ore, grain and 
flour tonnage of the Great Lakes has been increasing from 
year to year and lake shipping has grown to keep pace 
with it, the lumber traffic has steadily declined, and after 
every allowance has been made for the diversion of the 
traffic to the railroads, and for new systems of milling and 
marketing, the significant fact remains that the diminution 
of the lake lumber traffic is due to the exhaustion of the 
! supply. In his report to the Bureau of Statistics of the 
I Treasury Department, Mr. Geo. C. "Tunell, of Chicago, 
j says : "The decline in the movement of forest products on 
the Great Lakes is largely due to the destruction of forests 
of white and Norway pine on the shores of the lakes and 
on the banks of the logging streams flowing into the 
lakes. The enormous drafts that have been made during 
half a century upon the once seemingly unlimited supplies 
of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota have in recent 
years well nigh exhausted the forests near the lakes and 
on the banks of the streams capable of floating logs. 
Stream after stream has sent down its last logs." 
And what of the future for these Northwestern forests 
I wliich are so rapidly yielding before the axe of the wood- 
' cutter ? In a prediction made by the Northwestern Lum- 
berman in January of 1898, respecting the records that 
would be Tnade in the lumber supplies during the suc- 
' ceeding five years of active demand^ it was said : 
The pine of lower Michigan and the upper peninsula of that 
' State will be well nigh gone [in five years]. A few of the old 
mill concerns at Menominee-Marinette will still be sawing pine, 
but the majority will either have dismantled their mills or will be 
■ keeping them alive by cutting hemlock and the hard woods and 
working up cedar for shingles. The mills at the lesser points 
will not be cutting pine five years from now. Pine production 
will have been driven back to the west end of Lake Superior and 
into northern Minnesota. The red oak of Wisconsin will have been 
about cleared out. Scattering mills throughout the northern 
country from the Mississippi to the Soo will be pounding away 
on maple, elm, bass wood, hemlock, etc., with such overlooked 
groups of pine as may be encountered iij scraping the land of 
timber. » ♦ ♦ Five years of prosperity, with the enormous 
, demand which will result, will cause such a melting away of 
I the northern forest resources as can scarcely be realized. 
In view of the past, the present and the future of the 
forest areas of the North American continent, is it too 
much to ask that now at the close of the nineteenth 
century we shall save from the wreck this comparatively 
srnall bit of woodland in the Northwest, that we may still 
have something of the primeval grandeur of the forests 
for our own enjoyment and for that of those who are to 
follow, so that when men shall yield to a longing for 
the woods — ^the real woods — there may be this nature's 
domain in which they may pitch their tents? 
TUB STRAYS AND REMNANTS. 
It is human to desire to obtain that which is unusual 
and difficult of attainment, and the rarer any object and 
tlie harder to prpcure it, the more desirable it seems to be. 
This well nigh universal trait of human nature becomes 
deplorable when it is applied to some bird or beast, which 
instead of being destroyed should be cherished and pro- 
tected, yet it is true that the rarer any beast or bird be- 
comes the more eager the average man is to secure it. 
If a passenger pigeon appears in a tieighborhood where 
perhaps none have been seen for j'^ears, the whole shooting 
corai)iunity is likely to turn out to see if they cannot kill it. 
If a deer makes its appearance in a New York town, where 
no deer ought to be, , men armed witli guns and assisted 
by dogs do all in their power to destroy the harmless 
creature, no matter what the season of the year may be. 
Not very long ago a public spirited individual living in 
Connecticut near the shores of Long Island Sound turned 
out for the benefit of the public a number of ring-necked 
pheasants, and when these made their appearance in the 
cultivated fields the farmers were eager to neglect their 
work and to kill these birds in order to discover what the 
strange fowl might be. It is surely a poor ambition this 
to kill the last one of birds and animals which have be- 
cimc practically extinct, or the first of those which are 
just being introduced, and which can gain a foothold on 
alien shores only in case their environment 'is especially 
favorable. Such struggling colonies have enough diffi- 
culties to face in endtiring a climate to which they are 
unaccustomed and in contendnig with enemies unfamiliar 
to fhem, and against which they have* not the defense of 
inherited wisdom. 
Is it not wiser therefore for the man or boy who loves 
to shoot or fish to forego the pleasure of securing un- 
familiar specimens rather than to put himself in the posi- 
tion of destroying some creature which may be' well worth 
saving ? 
THE HARRIMAN ALASKA EXPEDITION. 
After a long and most successful journey the Harriman 
Expedition to Alaska, which left New York in May 
last, has returned. It brought with it large collections 
in various branches of science, and when these shall have 
heen studied it will be found that not a little has been 
added to our knowledge of the geography and natural 
history of our Northwestern possessions. 
The expedition was at sea for sixty days, during which 
time it covered nine thousand miles of steaming and 
visited many points of interest. It proceeded as far north 
as the borders of the Arctic Ocean and as far west as the 
Siberian coast, touching at Plover Bay, and then crossing 
to Port Clarence in Alaska. 
It is only when we remember that the tourist who visits 
Alaska in the ordinary way reaches merely tlie southern 
extremity of that territory, touching at the towns of 
Wrangell, Juneau, Sitka and Skagway, and visiting the 
Muir Glacier, that we realize how extensive were the 
journeyings of the Harriman Expedition, and how much 
ground it covered that is wholly unknown to Alaska 
travelers. Some of the wonders visited were the marvel- 
ous Fairweather and St. Elias Alps, ranges whose like is 
not to be found on this continent; Yakutat Bay with its 
glaciers, its fields of floating ice and its hidden wonder of 
wonders, Enchantment Bay; Cook Inlet and the snow- 
covered mountains which overlook it; Kadiak Island, 
beautiful in its evergreen hills to the east, and to the west 
its' tundra rich with verdure and brilliant with flowers; 
the Alaska Peninsula with its jagged mountains, its 
smoking volcanoes and its bright green intervales, the 
myriad islands of the Shumagin, Sannahk and Aleutian 
groups. Then came the far Bering Sea, with all its wealth 
of animal life, its whales, sea fowl and sea lions and seals ; 
its gray skies and placid waters, its bays and inlets where 
the merry skin-clad Eskimo in their strange boats 
swarmed about the ship to barter their furs and their 
curious trinkets for tobacco, knives and food. 
On this trip each liour had its own attraction, each 
coming day promised some fresh and novel interest. The 
company was of the best, the vessel staunch and com- 
fortable, the weather was what the leader of the expedition 
would have called for if he had been consulted. So it 
is no wonder that the trip was in the highest degree suc- 
cessful — from the point of view of the comfort of its 
members. 
The expedition was originated by Mr. E. H. Harriman, 
of New York, who with rare generosity and public spirit 
invited about forty scientific men to accompany him as 
his guests. The excursion was a pleasure trip in one 
sense, for what could give the members of such a party 
more pleasure than the opportunity thus afforded of in- 
vestigation and research, each in his chosen line, in a new 
and little known region? But it was very difficult from a 
pleasure trip in the ordinary meaning of the term, for 
the satisfaction of the student of nature consists in adding 
something to the sum of human knowledge. Thus pleas- 
ure to the members of the narty and profit to the world at 
large were to he combined by those whose training and 
experience enabled them to make the most of the oppor- 
tunities so generously set before them. The excursion was 
unmarred by any disagreeable incident, and was thorough- 
ly enjoyed by alh but perhaps no one of all of them took 
so keen a pleasure in the trip as the kindly host, who. be- 
sides the delights of the journey which he shared with 
his guests, had the added pleasure of witnessing con- 
stantly the enthusiastic enjoyment that he was giving to 
so many others. 
The Forest and Stream will shortly begin a publication 
of a series of letters written by a member of the party, 
giving some account of what was seen on the expedition. 
PROTECTOR SHRINER. 
We print in its main portions the final report made by 
Game Protector Chas. A. Shrlner, of New Jersey, whose 
resignation from office took effect on Aug. i. Mr. Shriner 
It will be remembered felt called upon to resign his 
office because of the personal animosity of Governor 
Voorhees toward him. which was so determined that It 
controlled the Governor In his dealings with the Com- 
missioners, hampered their work and seriously interfered 
with the public Interests. This valedictory report Is worth 
reading. It is a well timed, dignified and complete answer 
to the malicious charges made by Mr. Voorhees and other 
enemies of fish and game protection in New Jersey. 
In accepting Protector Shrlner's resignation, the Com- 
missioners expressed their high opinion of hi? official 
record in the following resolution, introduced by Com- 
missioner Halsey. 
Whereas, Mr. Charles A. Shriner has this day tendered his res- 
ignation as Fish and Game Protector of the State of New Jersey; 
Resolved, That in accepting his resignation we sever our con- 
nection with him with sincere regret and hereby tender to him 
a vote of thanks for the able and faithful manner in which he has 
discharged the duties of his office during the past four years; 
Resolved further. That we hereby express not only our individ- 
ual appreciation of pleasant official association and regret at los- 
ing the services of a faithful employee, but the conviction that in 
his retirement from office the State of New Jersey has lost a val- 
uable servant, one who has served it with conspicuous fidelity and 
untiring enerby; and we feel confident that we hereby also reflect 
the sentiment of all citizens interested in the thorough propaga- 
tion of fish and game in New Jersey who have watched his course 
as Fish and Game Protector. 
The new protector is George Riley, of Newark. Al! that 
can reasonably be asked of him is that he shall prove as 
capable and efficient as his predecessor, even though by 
doing so he may expect to invite in corresponding degree 
the antagonism of the Governor. 
The value and efficiency of Minnesota's forest fire 
warden system are demonstrated by the fact that of the 
fifty-one fires occurring in the last fiscal year forty (or 78 
per cent. ) were extinguished or controlled by the wardens 
and their helpers. It was largely owingf to this systematic 
work that the total damage reported amounted to only 
$9,063, an inconsiderable sum when compared with pre- 
vious years. Of the fif^-one fires, nine are credited to 
campers and hunters, and this number too must be *c- 
counted small, when we consider the multitude of those 
who camp out and hunt, and the innocent ignorance of 
hosts of outers about all that relates to fire nia|dn« and 
fir@ ^tinguishing. 
