Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-12-29

Correspondence of the New York Evening POST
The work of stripping the Adirondack re-
gion of its forests is going on at a rate which
will soon leave this vast plateau nothing but
a barren waste. These old Laurentian ridges
have only a thin covering of soil, and most
of the surface in its natural wilderness condi-
ton is covered only with moss, Such sur
face naturally collects and holds the moisture
furnished by plentiful rains, protecting it
from too rapid evaporation or drainage, to
feed the sources of the streams which radiatc
from this area-the St. Regis, RacQuctte
aud Oswegatchic to the north and west, the
| Saranac and AusaGle to the east, and the
| Hudson to the south, with n normally equa.
| BILE supply of water during the whole year.
But strip from these high slopes and peaks
their covering Of timber, and the sun blazes
down npon The scanty soil and moss cover
ing, shrivclling and destroying them so as to
invite forest fires, and the inevitable result
| follows-there is nothing left to hold the riv-
ers back, and they go rushing down the
slopes in floods which carry destruction be-
fore them; and then follow long Seasons of
drought, to the ruin of manufactures de-
pendent upon water-p power, and to the far
ilOIc StTlOus anu lut-lcdCulllg utlTlllcnl OI
| Interstate commercial interests.
But how If the owners of these vast tim
Der tracts, in which are involved some of
the most important interests of the State
what If these owners actually have the as
surance TO ask the public to offer premium
for the spolaion +! Ridiculous us these ques-
| tons may appear, they are pertinent, in
view of such facts as State appropriations
| for building vast dams for the sole benefit of
| lumbermeu, by means Of which thousands
upon thousands of acres of otherwise healthy
| Adirondack lands are covered with malari-
Gus swamps, like those which now curse the
Upper Racquette Valley and other sections I;
or in view of such appropriations as that by
| the last Legislature for opening the north
branch of the Saranac for the sole benefit of
benefits themselves solely, ut the expense of
the interests of the public at large. 1t is by
such legislation as this that the taxpayers are
| forced to contribute to their own damage.
On the western slope of the northern sec
ton Of the Adirondack plateau, great prepa-
ra,ions in the same line are in progress. A
heavy eastern company has recently made a
purchase of some thirty thousand acres or
upward along the valley of the st. Regis
river and large stock of logs is being cut
this winter, which will be RATED down to
| lnelr mlllS ~ St. NtSls ruliS, from winch
point railroad is to be built northward, tap
ping the Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain
line probably at MORA. This will rive them
an outlet to eastern and other markets, and
the wilderness termination of the line will be
well up the slope of the plateau, and within
four miles of Paul Smiths famous summer
hostelry. Those wild lands were purchased
mainly from S. Il. Villas, of Plattsburgh who
owns besides, some sixty or seventy thousand
acres of forest land in adjoining townships.
The question whether there is no means of
preventing the destruction of these magnif-
cent forests is one in which every citizen of
the Commonwealth is interested. But why
should not the State step in and purchase
these lands? The State already owns large
tracts of unsal0ble Adirondack lands, and the
purchase of few areas like this would make
very respectable beginning toward State
Park