here Ue UB OeN. Bac Lice LN 11 
“Under Paul Mooring, we have compiled a report on the status of the 
pounty system in Illinois, something which has never been done before. 
We trust that we can obtain the help of other conservation groups in 
[llinois in eliminating the bounty system—long discredited. It must be 
Jone on a county-by-county basis. 
“Under Helen Wilson, we have once again held bird walks in Grant 
Park on a weekly basis in the spring. Given proper publicity, this walk 
san provide recreation and membership rewards for the society. We have 
arranged for new educational literature to be printed on various conserva- 
tion issues and subjects. These are distributed to chapters, clubs and 
affilliates, and public officials, including school teachers and school children. 
“We have printed several new educational cards, one of them on 
litter which is costing taxpayers several millions of dollars in clean-up 
campaigns. Our Roadside Committee has undertaken a survey of scenic 
roads systems in the various states, and we hope a scenic roads system 
san be supported by the Illinois legislature in 1971. Given proper public 
support, we can achieve what other states have already achieved. 
“Allerton Park has been one of our prime concerns in the field of 
conservation. The preservation of the environment, I trust, will always be 
the main concern of this society. 
“Finally, three new chapters have been organized, one at Randolph 
County, one at Carbondale, one at Centralia. We now have a membership 
of over 2,200 persons. I hope by 1980 some future president can say we 
have a membership of 10,000.” 
fl fl et tet 
Annual Meeting /. THE ALFRED LEWY AWARD 
On May 2, 1803, the United States bought from Napoleon, for about three 
cents per acre, all the land lying from the Mississippi River to the Rocky 
Mountains, and from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. Since this famous 
Louisiana Purchase came to $20,000,000 at three cents an acre, imagine 
the size of this great western wilderness. 
A few weeks later Jefferson had Congress appropriate $2,500 to send 
2 small party of men to explore the region, to study the Indian tribes, the 
sotany, the geology, and the animals. To lead this expedition, Jefferson 
chose his private secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and for his Lieutenant, 
William Clark, younger brother of George Rogers Clark. 
In November 1803, Lewis and Clark camped on Illinois soil at the edge 
% the Louisiana Purchase, across from the confluence of the Mississippi 
and Missouri Rivers. That winter they prepared for their exploration. The 
next spring on May 14, 1804, Lewis and Clark with a party of forty set 
forth by canoe and keelboat to cross the Mississippi and go on and up the 
turbulent Missouri, facing 2,000 miles of hardships and danger. Up north- 
west they) went where the Missouri meets the Yellowstone River ... then 
westward, finally crossing the “Great Divide” of the Rockies ... on foot 
and horseback. Then, descending the Columbia River in the summer of 
1805, they crossed the Oregon country to the Pacific Ocean. This trail 
aventually brought great wealth and beauty to the United States. 
And what did Illinois do to commemorate this history-shaking event 
starting on Illinois soil? A handful of years ago (September 1956) a modest 
