Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal. Copyright, 1907, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
fi . - 
Te,m! '1; Co ‘”'’f NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 1907. 
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< VOL. LXVIII.—No. 3. 
I No. 346 Broadway, New York 
The object of this journal will be to studiously 
promote a healthful interest in outdoor recre¬ 
ation, and to cultivate a refined taste for natural 
Objects. Announcement in first number of 
Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
TO FLOOD ADIRONDACK LANDS. 
Within the past few years the Adirondack 
region has become one of the most popular and 
populous resorts for pleasure seekers in the 
whole country. Its visitors are by no means 
limited to residents of New York State, but 
come as well from the East, the South and the 
Middle West. In the Adirondacks may be found 
accommodations for the most wealthy and 
luxury-loving, as well as for those who delight 
in the strenuous life of the roughest camping 
out. There are found.beautiful mountains, fair 
lakes, winding streams and agreeable climate, 
together with game and fish in abundance 
sufficient to satisfy most sportsmen. With all 
these attractions it is not surprising that multi¬ 
tudes of people flock to the Adirondacks in 
spring, summer and autumn. 
The beauties of this region are now gravely 
threatened by a measure to be considered by 
the State Legislature, and we shall be surprised 
if all persons interested in the Adirondacks do 
not frankly express to the New York Legislature 
- their views on the measure. 
The constitution of the State of New York 
provides that the lands that the State now owns, 
' or hereafter acquires, constituting the forest 
reserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever 
kept as wild forest lands and shall not be leased, 
sold or exchanged, or taken by any corporation, 
nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed 
or destroyed. At the last session of the Legis¬ 
lature, however—in the spring of 1906—two 
members, Senator Geo. R. Malby and Assembly- 
man E. A. Merritt, Jr., introduced a concurrent 
, resolution so amending Section 7 of the consti- 
f tution as to permit the Legislature to except 
such lands as may be used for the storage 6f 
water for public purposes and the construction 
of dams therefor. 
Such a law would change the whole face of 
the Adirondacks, would permit the building of 
dams, the flooding of State lands, the killing of 
the timber on these State lands, the drawing 
off of the water again and the formation along 
lakes and ponds, which are now beautiful and 
natural, of great mud flats which would be un¬ 
sightly and unwholesome, and would make 
travel on, and camping near, these waters irri- 
| possible or very disagreeable. A number of 
corporations are anxious to obtain for their own 
profit and without expense the use of waters be¬ 
longing to the State. To make the greatest 
profit from the free use of these waters they 
are prepared to ruin a great part of the Adi¬ 
rondack region and to make it useless to health 
seekers and vacation people. It is estimated 
that not far from one-sixth of'the Adirondack 
region would be overflowed, and this just where 
slimmer visitors now resort, and will always 
wish to camp. Many permanent homes would 
likewise be destroyed by such flooding. 
To amend the constitution as proposed, the 
resolution referred to must again be passed by 
the Legislature and then must be voted on by 
the people of the State. It is not likely that the’ 
people will consent to such abandonment of 
their rights. 
THE BEAVER’S WORK. 
The part taken by the beaver in the develop¬ 
ment of North America, as suggested in another 
column, is well worth considering. The earnest¬ 
ness and persistence of the animal has caused its 
name to. become a synonym for industry in the 
American speech, so that of an energetic, hard 
working person we say that he “works like a 
beaver.” 
Because its operations are chiefly nocturnal, 
so that it is seldom or never seen, and because 
of its skill in controlling water and in house¬ 
building, something of mystery has grown up 
about the beaver. It is said that, it fells trees for 
the purpose of building its dams and can lay 
a tree where it wishes to with the accuracy of 
the most skilled axman. It is said also that it 
uses • its tail as a trowel, plastering the mud on 
its houses and dams with this appendage as a 
mason spreads his mortar. Myths like these will 
probably have‘a long life. The latter belief is 
no doubt encouraged by the beaver’s frequent 
habit of slapping the water or earth with its tail 
as an alarm signal, whenever it is startled. There 
are many unexplained things about the beaver’s 
life. 
Long before the white man came to America 
the beaver was hard at work building his dams 
all over the country; and in narrow,-and some¬ 
times in wide, stream valleys arresting the water 
and so collecting in its ponds the detritus swept 
down from the hills and from the upper reaches 
of the stream. As this sediment gradually filled 
up the shallow ponds, the beaver moved to other 
places, and when in time the dam broke down 
and the waters drained off, a wide level meadow 
was left—the bottom of the old pond. All over 
the continent in suitable localities, from Mexico 
north to the tree limit, and from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific this was going on century after 
century, and in this way no doubt were made 
vast areas of level meadow, whose origin is how 
unsuspected by the people who occupy them. 
In the seventeenth and the eighteenth and the 
nineteenth centuries, the rich harvest of beaver 
fur which lay ready to be gathered in America, 
fired the Imagination of English ajid of French, 
and a struggle began for the acquisition of that 
fur that cost many a life. Without the beaver 
and the pelt which it produced the earliest French 
and English explorers would have had for 
motive to lead them into the western wilds only 
the vague hope of the discovery of a northwest 
passage. 
After the independence of the United States 
was declared it was the beaver that beckoned 
men westward, each hardy trapper striving to 
push his way beyond his fellow, feeling that just 
over the next mountain, or in the next valley, 
he might chance upon a beaver colony far larger 
than any yet discovered. It was largely the pros¬ 
pecting spirit of modern times, the possibility of 
“striking it rich,” though the prize sought was 
fur and not precious metal. So, step by step, the 
trappers explored the hidden valleys of the moun¬ 
tains and the plains, and when at last the price 
of beaver fell, there was left all through the 
western country a sparse population which fur¬ 
nished the guides, hunters, scouts and Indian 
fighters of ’a later day. 
Over much of the west, the beaver has been 
exterminated, but in a few localities where pro¬ 
tected it is as abundant as ever. If its value 
as an assistant in water storage and irrigation 
shall come to be generally appreciated the beaver 
will receive general protection, and when this 
protection is afforded it, it is altogether possible 
that it may become a semi-domesticated animal, 
which, besides performing good service in stor¬ 
ing water, may also furnish to the farmer whose 
land it occupies an annual income from its valu¬ 
able products, That a time is coming when 
many of our wild animals will be domesticated 
and bred for profit can hardly be doubted. Why 
should not the beaver be one of these? 
SMALL CALIBERS NOT POPULAR. 
When the United States Army Ordnance De¬ 
partment adopted .38 as the caliber for army 
officers’ revolvers there were grave doubts in 
the minds of expert^ marksmen as to the wisdom 
of the change. They admitted that .38 caliber 
revolvers and cartridges were much lighter in 
weight than the old .45’s, but they also knew 
the shortcomings of smaller bullets and were not 
at all sure that the higher velocity to be gained 
in using smokeless powder would ever place the 
small bores on an equal footing with the .45 cali¬ 
bers. 
As a weapon of defense, the .38 caliber has 
failed, just as small caliber revolvers have proved 
to be failures in the British'campaigns. From 
the Philippines complaints have come in increas¬ 
ing numbers that the service cartridge is too 
small for effective use in the rough-and-tumble 
fights officers and men have taken part in with 
the natives of those islands, and the President 
has recently given the question his personal at¬ 
tention in conferences with the officials of the 
War and Ordnance Departments, with the result 
that a board of which Col. Philip Reade is chair¬ 
man, is now testing new weapons at the Spring- 
field Arsenal. 
