i 
April 20, 1907 .1 
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The Protection of the Adirondacks. 
New York City, April 13. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: Will you kindly give place in your 
columns to the inclosed appeal to your readers 
in behalf of the Adirondacks? 
In this connection you may be interested to 
know that a short time ago we asked the editors 
of the principal papers of the State to let us 
know how their papers stood on the Merritt- 
O’Neil water storage grab, and that of the 
seventy-nine replies received, seventy-two were 
opposed to the proposed constitutional amend¬ 
ment. We have also made a canvass of the 
Legislature and believe that the members will 
respond to the sentiments of their constituencies 
and defeat the measure if the constituencies will 
only make their sentiments felt. Hence this 
letter to your readers which we ask you to pub¬ 
lish. 
To the Readers of Forest and Stream: 
Will you devote a few minutes of your time 
to the defense of your own and your fellow 
citizens’ interest in the Adirondack Forest Pre¬ 
serve ? 
There is pending in the Legislature a con¬ 
current resolution proposing to amend Section 
7 of Article VII. of the Constitution so as to 
permit the flooding of State forest lands for the 
generation of power for private corporations. It 
was introduced by Assemblyman E. A. Merritt, 
Jr., of Potsdam, and Senator Wm. T. O’Neil, 
of St. Regis Falls, both of whom admitted at 
a public hearing in Albany, March 20, that they 
are financially interested in its passage; and it 
is being backed by a powerful, well-organized 
and persistent combination of a few power, 
paper, pulp and lumber corporations, which, with 
the introducers, will be its chief beneficiaries. 
This measure was first put forward upon the 
pretense that it was necessary for the public 
health and safety. The State Water Supply 
Commission, in its report to the present Legis¬ 
lature, declares that the requirements of public 
health and safety can be met without trenching 
upon the lands of the forest preserve. 
The advocates also pretend that the industrial 
development of the State depends upon it, where¬ 
as there is a greater volume of undeveloped 
power outside the forest preserve than can be 
used for generations, which can be developed on 
private land and at private expense if it is 
needed for industrial purposes. 
There is no valid reason why the people of 
this State should place their lands, forests, 
waters and money at the disposal of the private 
interests which are seeking this constitutional 
. amendment. 
The experience of the past in building reser- 
j voirs in the Adirondacks before the present con- 
j stitutional prohibition was adopted teaches that 
these reservoirs kill the trees, pollute springs, 
create malarial swamps and mud-flats, destroy 
i the haunts of game, wipe out camp sites and in¬ 
flict other far-reaching damage. And the devas¬ 
tation is done along the waterfronts, which are 
j the most valuable and attractive portions of the 
forest for camper, hunter and health seeker. 
Furthermore, the principle of amending the 
constitution for the benefit of a special interest 
and of surrendering to a few what all the people 
own in common is vicious, undemocratic and 
1 fraught with danger to the Commonwealth. 
We cannot doubt, however, that the members 
) of the Legislature generally are not only willing 
but anxious to reflect in their votes the senti¬ 
ments of their constituents if their constituents 
will make their sentiments known. Furthermore, 
with some of the beneficiaries of the measure in 
the Legislature using all the influence of their 
positions to persuade fellow members to vote for 
this resolution, it is but justice to members who 
are willing to vote against it to make them con- 
i scious of vour moral support in taking the right 
course. 
!• We therefore ask you to write at once to the 
senator and assemblyman from your district or 
from anv district, and request them to vote 
against the Merritt-O’Neil concurrent resolution 
, proposing to amend Section 7 of Article VII. of 
the constitution, on the ground that it is unneces¬ 
sary, it is positively injurious, it is improvident, 
i it is unjust and undemocratic, and it establishes 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
615 
the trail of the thirteenth pond elk. 
a bad precedent which may lead beyond the dan¬ 
gers already seen to greater dangers which may 
be unforeseen. 
The Association for the Protection 
of the Adirondacks. 
E. H. Hall, Secy. 
The sixth annual meeting of this association 
was held in New York city last week. President 
Henry E. Howland said the association member¬ 
ship numbered 1,000, and that the $5 membership 
dues and the few $100 life memberships pro¬ 
vided sufficient funds to carry on its work. In 
his report he said in part: 
“One of its most useful objects has been the 
encouragement of legislation for the enlarge¬ 
ment of^ the State’s holdings within the Adiron¬ 
dack Park. The necessity for this course, to 
prevent the complete obliteration of our forests 
and its inevitable train of direful effects, appears 
from the bare statement of the amount of timber 
now standing and the rate at which it is being 
removed. The total stand of timber in the State 
of New York is 46,060,000,000 board feet. Of 
this, it is estimated 12,750,000,000 board feet is 
on State land, leaving 33,310,000,000 board feet 
on private land. In 1895 the cut of timber on 
private land in this State amounted to 1,212,- 
070.168 board feet. At that rate, if there is no 
replanting there will not be a stick of timber 
standing in the State of New York twenty-eight 
years hence except what is protected by the Con¬ 
stitution in the forest preserve. 
“The present season, however, finds us con¬ 
tending with those who are desirous of secur¬ 
ing a constitutional amendment which will per¬ 
mit the flooding of State lands in the forest pre¬ 
serve. Assemblyman Merritt and Senator Malby 
took the interests which they represented into 
the Legislature, and in the closing hours of the 
session of 1906, and without giving the public 
hearing for which we asked, rushed through a 
concurrent resolution proposing to amend Sec¬ 
tion 7 of Article VII. of the Constitution [quot¬ 
ing the well-known amendment, which we have 
already published]. 
“This resolution, fathered by Assemblvman 
Merritt and Senator O’Neil, was reintroduced 
in the present Legislature, and at the only public 
hearing accorded on the measure on March 20. 
1907, our representatives successfully stripped 
the veil from the sponsors of the measure by 
eliciting from both Assemblyman Merritt and 
Senator O’Neil the admission that they were 
financially interested in its passage. 
“We are now earnestly combating the amend¬ 
ment, and believe that our arguments must ad¬ 
dress themselves to the common sense of the 
Legislature. Our canvass of the members leads 
us to believe that the resolution will be defeated.'’ 
Directors were elected as follows: Dr. Samuel 
B. Ward, Albany; William P. Goodell, Syracuse, 
and J. H. Considine, Elmira; William H. Board- 
man, William G. Verplank, Thomas S. Waller, 
Alfred L. White, Prof. Charles S. Smith, A. G. 
Vanderbilt, and H. P. Whitney, of this city. 
Adirondack Elk. 
Early in February last a small number of elk 
from the preserve of the Corbins, at Blue Moun¬ 
tain Park, in New Hampshire, were shipped to 
North Creek, N. Y., and thence transported by 
teams to Thirteenth Pond, on the west shore of 
which they were liberated. All of the band 
immediately made for the hardwood hills save 
one, and it was seen about the lake a day or 
two later, but was believed to have joined the 
others eventually. 
On the 21 st of February we found this little 
band of elk still within two miles of the place 
where they were liberated, and succeeded in 
jumping one of them, but did not see it, as there 
were three persons in the party, the snow deep 
and dry and the snowshoeing a noisy method of 
trailing at best. But their trail showed that the 
animals had been feeding on the hardwood small 
growth and had tried unsuccessfully to find 
water in the brooks nearby their feeding grounds. 
A photograph of one of the trails is reproduced 
herewith. 
Early in April one of the forest protectors in¬ 
vestigated and found the elk in the same place 
where our party had jumped them. He was more 
fortunate, however, for he saw several of the 
animals at close quarters as they stood gazing 
at him for a moment before taking to their heels. 
In March another band of elk were liberated 
in another part of the Adirondacks, but we have 
not heard how they fared. 
To Protect Wildfowl. 
An important change in the Delaware laws 
prohibits the shooting of ducks and geese on 
Indian River and Rehoboth Bays from any boat 
not propelled by oars, the intention being to stop 
shooting from sail and power boats. 
WHERE QUALITY IS FIRST 
Campers and sportsmen who demand the best 
should note that the equipment of every scientific 
and exploring expedition for the past fifty years 
has included a supply of Borden’s Eagle Brand 
Condensed Milk. Keeps in any climate and 
under all conditions. The original and leading 
brand since 1857. — Adv. 
