FOREST AND STREAM. 
495 
Adirondack Land Flooding. 
I A hearing was held Tuesday, March 20, at 
llbany by the Senate and Assembly Judiciary 
Committees on the Merrit resolution proposing 
I n amendment to the State constitution by 
F/hich water-storing dams may be constructed 
•or public purposes within the boundaries of 
arest preserves. There were a number of ad- 
ocates and opponents of the resolution present. 
In the course of the hearing it was stated and 
ot denied that the dam on Black River has been 
nd is used for the profits of State officials. Mr. 
P. Lewis, of Watertown, President of the 
Back River Water Power Commission, a body 
ppointed by the Governor, acknowledged the 
ise of the dam for his private purposes. I he 
natter came up on a question asked by Mr. V. 
C. Kellog, of Watertown, and the colloquy 
vhich followed is reported in the daily papers 
hus: . . 
“Mr. Goodell turned toward Commissioner 
^ewis, and said: 
“ ‘Mr. Lewis, I did not intend to be personal, 
nit inasmuch as the gentleman from Watertown 
isks me, I will answer. When the dam was 
instructed a gentleman had bought all the soft 
imber below the dam. He controlled the 
ifting and closing of the water gate. At the 
iresent time my friend, the chairman of the 
Black River Water Power Commission, has 
aought all the soft timber above the dam, and 
ie has and is now floating to the head of the 
3am his logs with the purpose of floating them 
iown as soon as navigation opens. He controls 
die man who tends the gate. Is that correct? 
“‘No, sir,’ declared Commissioner Lewis. 
“ ‘Will you stand up?’ said Mr. Goodell point¬ 
ing at Mr. Lewis. 
“The commissioner arose and faced Mr. 
Goodell. Punctuating his remarks with his 
raised index finger, the lawyer began to ques¬ 
tion the commissioner. Here are the questions 
and answers: 
“Q. Do you own all the logs that have 
been floated down the river to the dam? A. \es. 
“Q. Are you not floating your logs down on 
the dam? A. Yes. 
“Q. Did you not intend to float them down 
when navigation opens? A. Yes.” 
Mr. John G. Apgar, representing the Asso¬ 
ciation for the Preservation of the Adirondacks, 
made a strong plea against the bill, making the 
following points: 
“(1) The resolution is an attempt to tinker 
with the constitution in a manner which the 
people have already condemned. 
“(2) The amendment is ambiguous and fails 
to accomplish the object which its suppoiteis 
1 seek to attain. It will therefore, place in the 
fundamental law of the State an amendment 
which would be the source of endless litigation 
1 and would prevent the development by the 
State, for the benefit of all the people of the 
State, of the water power in the forest preserve 
if the people should wish to do so at any future 
time. . 
■ “(3) The adoption of the resolution would pei- 
mit the destruction of the forests on State lands 
to the injury of the future timber, supply of the 
State, to the injury of the scenic beauty and 
healthfulness of the North Woods, to the injury 
of the future water supply of the cities of the 
State which, hereafter, will depend upon the 
Adirondack water for their municipal and do¬ 
mestic purposes, to the injury of the develop¬ 
ment of the water power in the Adirondacks by 
the State for the benefit of all the people. 
j “(4) The adoption of the resolution is not 
necessary (a) for the development of the in¬ 
dustrial resources of the State, because there is 
ample hydraulic power outside of the limits of 
the forest preserve available for the industrial 
development of the State; (b) it is not necessary 
to prevent damage by floods hecause most of 
the flood damage is due to causes which may be 
controlled by reservoirs outside of the forest 
preserve, and even if they could not, they are 
so limited in amount that their existence should 
not open the whole preserve to the use of 
private interests or cause a change in the funda¬ 
mental law and policy of the State, relating to 
, the forest preserve; (c) it is not necessary for 
CEDAR RIVER FLOW IN WINTER. 
Showing the effect of flooding for the benefit of the timber cutters The stumps 
are the remains of goodly forest trees that at one time stood on the banks of Cedar 
River which is here a pond. The dam is located at the extreme right hand side of the 
oicture and the dead trees line both sides of the Flow for more than three miles. 
the purposes of the enlarged Erie Canal, as the 
reports of the State engineers show." 
Mr. Wm. G. Peckham, of New York, de¬ 
scribed the conditions at his camp, caused by 
raising the Indian Lake dam to store water. 
Vegetation is killed and rots, other vegetation 
grows up, is killed, and in turn rots. W hat was 
once a beautiful and wholesome locality for 
camper and health seeker has become an un¬ 
healthy place. 
The Association for the Preservation of the 
Adirondacks has issued Mr. Agar s address in 
full, and also the opinions of a number of other 
men on the subject, among them that eminent 
physician Dr. Walter B. James. 
License Laws. 
Philadelphia, March 20. — Editor barest and 
Stream: I have read with considerable inteiest 
the different communications published in Forest 
and Stream giving opinions on the subject of 
licenses, resident and nonresident. In some 
States the laws exact a tax of $1 from the resi¬ 
dent and $15 from the nonresident, per annum, 
also restricting the number of game that may 
be killed per diem or per season, and prohibit 
the taking of game out of the State. I might 
say most of the State laws have provided for a 
similar ratio of tax for the resident and non¬ 
resident. 
It is assumed, from the trend of the corre¬ 
spondence referred to, that this license fee is to 
be used, as far as it goes, to provide protection 
to the game during the closed season and other¬ 
wise carrying out the provisions of the laws dur¬ 
ing the open season. If this tax on sportsmen 
is for these purposes he should, for such pay¬ 
ment, have the privilege of disposing of his game 
as he may desire, taking it home or sending it 
to his friends, and not, in the case of nonresi¬ 
dents, be compelled to give it to unknown patties, 
or throw it to the dogs—killed for pleasure, then 
waste, which is distasteful to the sportsman. It 
is rather hard on the nonresident to have to say 
on his return the stereotyped phrase, “We bagged 
the game all right, but under the laws were not 
permitted to bring it out of the State." Not¬ 
withstanding the statement of our fellow sports¬ 
man, the Hon. Grover Cleveland, the friends and 
family smile and doubt our prowess. 
Where is the equity in taxing the nonresident 
fifteen times as much as the resident when he 
is limited to open lands and is not likely, with 
few exceptions to plan a hunting trip to a given 
State for more than one or two weeks a sea¬ 
son, and possibly the weather will prevent his 
hunting several days of that time, while the 
resident may hunt the entire season, barring 
the weather, for one-fifteenth the tax, and can 
dispose of his bag to family and friends. The 
protection is for all alike and should be so 
treated. The wide difference in the tax tends to 
prevent many sportsmen, who cannot afford to 
pay such a heavy tax in addition to railroad 
fare, hotel bills, guide, etc., from hunting in 
other States; whereas, if the tax was equalized 
he could and would, thus with the resident pay¬ 
ing his fair share for the protection of the game, 
increase the income for the purposes of this pro¬ 
tection. 
Defining the open season and limiting the bag 
that can be taken per day or per season is all 
right as one provision for the protection and in¬ 
crease of game. 
There does not seem to be any conditions re- 
cpiired to be conformed to, to obtain a license. 
Anyone not a sportsman, after obtaining infor¬ 
mation as to the locality of game in plenty, can 
with little expense (as he is a nomad) locate 
in the State, get his license, and by devious ways 
send his game to any desired destination. 
It would minimize the violations of the game 
laws to have them so framed, with reasonable 
requirements, designating who can receive a 
license, whether resident or nonresident. With 
full exchange of licenses issued, refused, and 
other information between the wardens of the 
several States there would be but few undesirable 
hunters that could receive the necessary license 
to hunt in any State. D- J- 
All the game laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Lazos in Brief. See adv. 
\ BOYS’ CAMPING TRIP IN BRITISH 
CO* UMBIA. 
During, woodcraft and nature over the same route, 
scribed in Mr. Hornadav’s and Mr. Phillip s Camp- 
res in the Canadian Rockies.” References given and 
juired. J. Alden Loring, Owego, N. Y .—Adv. 
