The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-10-24
CANADA'S GREAT PARK.

It In Located in Ontario and Covers Near.
iy Fifteen Huadre ed Square Miles.
The great forests of Canada have for
years been suffering as much from fires
and from reckless cutting as have the
wooded regions of our own country
and this fact the thoughtful people Of
the dominion have, fortunately, begun
to realize.
The public desire to interpose soma
check to the pitiless attack upon the
woods and to save portion of what
: remains in its primeval condition took
form few years ago in a project for
establishing in the province OF Ontario
! a forest reservation and nation al park,
! and commissioners to make inquiry
concerning the matter were appointed
in the spring of 1892. This commission,
of which Alexander Kirkwood was
| the chairman, made a report last March,
and the bill prepared at their sugges-
ton has since been enacted as law
under the title of IAN act to esta blish
the Algonquin National Park of On
tario.'
Under this act tract of land in the
northern part of the province. some
forty miles long and thirty-six miles
wide, has been set apart ''as public
park, forest reservation, fish and game
preserve, health resort and pleasure
ground for the benefit. advantage and
enjoyment of the province of Ontario, -"
and the acknowledgements in council
is empowered to add to the park any
| adjoining townships or parts of town.
ships in which no lands have been
! heretofore granted. Our experience in
the case of the Adirondack forest and
elsewhere shows the difficulty in set
ting apart any considerable part of the
public domain when it includes scat
tered areas which have become the
property of private individuals
The site itself is an elevated area,
containing but little soil fit for cultiva-
ton, with few high hills, but many
successive ridges of Laurentian rock
alternating with valleys and marshes.
1t lies on the summit which divides the
waters flowing toward the Georgian
bay from those which flow into the OF
tawa river, and rising to a height OF
one thousand four hundred feet above
the sea level.
There is probably not elsewhere in
the province tract, which, within the
same small space, gives rise to SO many
important streams, and the commits
sioners do well, therefore, to note tina
one of the most important functions of
1,,f hot IF
tanning and regulating the water sup
ply of these streams.
The park itself contains large vol
umes of water in lakes, rivers, brooks
and ponds. the entire water surface
covering about 166 square miles. while
the area of land is 1900 square miles.
Fortunately the forest cover of this
region is practically unimpaired. Sc
that it will not be difficult to preserve
in their original condition these ele-
waited lakes and the streams which run
under overhanging woods.
The great game has been pursued
with the same ferocity which has prac-
tically exterminated the buffalo on our
plains. In the spring of 1887 there
were found in the district now set apart
as park for the province the carcasses
of no less than sixty moose, which had
been killed for their skins alone. Sure
ly it is wise to fence in one spot in On.
tario where these innocent tenants of
forest and stream can be saved from
the cruelty and greed which pursues
them to the point of determination,
and where they can rear their young
in safety.-St. Louis Globe-Democrat