i89i 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
259 
THAT ADIRONDACK PARK. 
IT SHOULD BK PRESERVED ! 
A Reply to Mr. Dibble. 
I was much surprised to And that Mr. 
Edward F. Dibble was the author of the 
article on this subject on page 159. I had 
supposed that he was a far-sighted, pro¬ 
gressive, public-spirited young man, and 
one who would most readily champion any 
cause which had for its object the future 
good of his fellow men. His protest and 
argument against the proposed preserve 
are altogether too much upon the general 
line pursued in the farming operations 
of the past, and which he to day is so 
earnestly protesting against: viz, skim¬ 
ming the face of nature of its forests, there¬ 
by changing the climatic influences, and 
skimming the soil of its fertility for imme¬ 
diate uses regardless of the wants, health or 
needs of the generations to come. That 
has been the working plan of the past gen¬ 
erations, and we to day are facing difficul¬ 
ties which could have been avoided had the 
generations that are gone shown any inter¬ 
est in the welfare of those that were to come. 
Mr. Dibble’s statement that the waters 
of the Hudson River from Hudson to Al¬ 
bany are deep enough to float the largest 
steamers, is misleading and does not con¬ 
form to the facts as they are known to 
thousands who have been passengers upon 
those floating, but shallow palaces, the 
great river steamers. During the dry sea 
sons the large steamers experience very 
much trouble in getting from Albany to 
even lower down the river than Hudson on 
account of the narrowness of the channel 
and the many sand and mud bars which 
obstruct navigation. It is no unusual oc¬ 
currence for travelers who have taken the 
night boat from Albany to New York to 
awaken iu the morning only to And that 
the boat is fast on some bar and that fur¬ 
ther progress depends upon the height of 
the incoming tide. Each year the waters 
of the Mohawk and Upper Hudson are 
carrying in hundreds of thousands of tons 
of silt to further impede that navigation 
which Mr. Dibble would have us believe is 
so free from obstructions. Were it not for 
the mountain streams now partially pro¬ 
tected by the forests, the river above Hud¬ 
son would be closed in summer to the navi¬ 
gation of all but the smaller craft. The 
Hudson River may be a “ firth” an “arm 
of the sea” but I doubt if the residents of 
the city of Hudson were ever regaled by 
a sight of the “ blue waters of Mother 
Ocean” at that point. 
Mr. Dibble says: “The friends of the park 
scheme would have us believe that lumber¬ 
men are cutting all the trees on the moun¬ 
tains as fast as possible, big and little, and 
that soon the entire range will be denuded 
of its timber.” The friends of the park do 
make that statement and they know where¬ 
of they speak. The entire Adirondack 
wilderness is surrounded by lumbermen 
(and was in the past by lumber thieves), 
each intent on getting his share and his 
kind. The soft wood lumbermen take out 
the pine, hemlock, spruce and balsam. The 
hard-wood lumbermen take the birch and 
maple ; then follow the wood-pulp men, 
who must have their share, and in many 
quarters, last, but not least, come the char¬ 
coal men, and when they have passed over 
what was once a glorious wilderness doing 
the duty of a guardian angel to all the val- 
lies whose streams flow from its bosom, 
our once grand forest looks as though it 
had been swept by the besom of destruction. 
And yet this is not the worst feature, as 
any one can see who will look at the last 
map issued by the Forest Commissioners. 
Fires are sure to follow where the lumber¬ 
men have been; and when once started they 
are sure to clean up what has been left by 
the denuders who have gone before. It is 
not only the brush and remnants which the 
despoilers have left that are consumed by 
the fire, but the soil is so thin and shallow 
that the life is burned out of it and nothing 
but a blackened, barren waste will greet the 
eye for hundreds of years. 
Mr.Dibblefurtheradds “The park men say 
the result will ultimately be that at certain 
seasons of the year there will be great 
freshets in the mountains causing the Hud¬ 
son to overflow its banks, thus doing untold 
damage.” Has not this state of things 
proved true in hundreds of instances In this 
State where the land has been denuded of 
its timber? Is It not the history of all the 
other States? The water shed of the Hud¬ 
son comprises an immense territory; it has 
a high elevation and if there were no 
friendly forests to hold the water back its 
destruetiveness would be incalculable. 
The idea that the small trees which 
escape the woodman’s ax will grow to 
take the place of those which have been 
cut down is a myth. The soil of the 
northern wilderness is so thin and poor 
that ages will have passed before the small 
trees will have attained the size, and can 
be counted as members of the first families 
of the forest. The second growth or under¬ 
brush mentioned by Mr. Dibble is of a differ¬ 
ent quality and nature from the first growth. 
In regard to the supply of water of the 
Erie Canal, I believe it is a matter of his¬ 
tory, even with the great reservoirs which 
the State already has and is engaged in 
building, that during a dry season there 
is hardly sufficient water to meet the 
demands. 
The entire population of the Hudson 
River Valley commencing with Troy and 
going south to New York Bay, will some 
time need to look to some part of the 
Adirondack wilderness for their water 
supply. Many of the cities along the 
Hudson which to-day are using its waters, 
find that the increased sewage from the 
cities above is perceptible during the dry 
season. New York, notwithstanding its 
new acqueduct and abundant supply of 
fine water for present purposes, will, in 
the future, need a still larger amount. 
An acqueduct from some part of the 
Adirondacks to New York and accessible 
to the inhabitants of the Hudson River 
Valley is no more the vision of a disordered 
mind than was the vision which made the 
first railroad possible that now unites the 
Atlantic with the Pacific. Other countries 
have seen the evil results that come from 
the wanton wastage and destruction of 
their forests and to-day their governments 
are paying bounties for the renewal of the 
squandered timber. The Adirondack wil¬ 
derness is one of the grandest and finest of 
Nature’s homes that the good Lord ever 
gave to his children, and I believe that we 
should preserve it as an inheritance for 
future generations. To do this success¬ 
fully the whole people of the State, should 
own the entire tract and possession should 
be taken immediately. Railroads are schem¬ 
ing for right of way; lumbermen are 
planning for further inroads, and in a few 
years that grandest and most magnificent 
of all Nature’s homes will be in ruins and 
the coming generations will stand upon its 
blackened borders with saddened hearts 
and mournful faces wondering at the 
short-sightedness of their ancestors. 
Mr. Dibble asks: “ Who are these gen¬ 
tlemen anyway, who are advocating the 
founding of the park,” and then proceeds to 
tell us: “They are the wealthy inhabitants of 
the great cities like New York, and others 
are the owners of these valuable lands, 
some of which are worth, perhaps, 10 cents 
an acre, while they hope to sell them to 
the State at $5 per acre.” It is quite evi¬ 
dent that Mr. Dibble has jumped at his 
conclusions as to who are the advocates of 
the proposed park. It has been my good 
fortune to meet hundreds of people who live 
and have their being in the ordinary walks 
of life, some of whom have visited some 
part of the wilderness for health, recrea¬ 
tion or sport, or who had some knowledge 
of it through those who had been there, 
and I have yet to see one who is not a 
strong advocate of the State park as a san¬ 
itary measure and also as an inheritance to 
the coming generations, who, if this object 
is accomplished, will joyfully sing the 
praises of all who had in any way contrib¬ 
uted towards their pleasure or health. 
Mr. Dibble asks: “ Do we farmers want 
a State park and do we have time to hunt 
and rusticate ?” Then he instantly settles 
the question by voting no, without giving 
the rest of us a chance of debating the ques¬ 
tion or voting. I am a farmer and have 
been a frequent visitor to the wilderness 
for a number of years, and trust that 1 
may be able to repeat my visits. I know 
that I am a better farmer, and have a 
higher appreciation of forests and what 
they do for the good of mankind than I had 
before I began my visits there. If every 
brother farmer in the State of New York 
could see the forests for himself and then 
see the wreck that is rapidly being made, 1 
am confident that 95 per cent would say : 
“ We will cheerfully pay the necessary tax 
to save the remnant.” If brother Dibble 
will take one trip through the woods he 
will join with me in a strong prayer that 
the legislature will take immediate action 
towards saving that grand forest with its 
hundreds of beautiful lakes and streams, 
its mountains and hills upon whose crests 
and sides stand to day some of the finest 
families of forest trees. Let them remain 
unmolested, a glorious inheritance for the 
generations which are to come. 
A. R. EASTMAN. 
Yice-President N. Y. Agricultural Society. 
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