The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-09-24

wilderness are thousands of beautiful
| lakes and streams, Astounding in fish and
wild fowl. The associations aim is to
save to the public present and future
some portion of a magnificent region
which unless some action Is taken by the
state or national governments, will be-
come only barren desert, devoid of tim
Der, with dried UP lakes, destroying the
very source Of the greatest river in the
United States.
HAS NO PARALLEL.
The history Of the movement to create
a national park in Minnesota Is interest
Ing, and has no parallel in any similar
undertaking ever Initiated In the United
States. For many years there has been
a growing opinion among those who have
been familiar with the work Of the Hum
bering interests of the state that unless
some action were taken, Minnesota would
soon follow in the footsteps of the state
or Michigan, and that the extensive for
ests, at once the treasure house of the
timber wealth Of the state, and the
greatest protection against drouth and
sudden changes of climate, would be cut
down, the timber tracts laid bare and the
entire Northern district turned into a
comparative desert. From time to time
action has been taken by the state legisla-
| ture to protect the standing pine, and a
| system established under Gen. C. C. An
drews, as fire warden, has been very
| effective but has not entirely satisfied
| its object Gen. Andrews investigated the
| matter thoroughly. and came to the con-
| clusion that the state would suffer a
tremendous loss unless the forests could
be preserved. Through his influence the
Federation Of Woman's Clubs Of the state
! petitioned the state legislature that con-
gress be memorialized, asking that the
! Cass Lake reservation be set aside
About this time Col. John S. Cooper,
\ Of Chicago, became interested In the fu-
/ ture Of the Northern Minnesota lake re-
| gion, and after Investigating and learning
/ OF the conditions existing, interested sew
erai or his friends, and evolved a plan
/ by which it was hoped to secure sufficient
/ influence to pass legislation setting aside
| tract to be made a permanent national
/ park and forest reserve Charles R.
| Cristadoro, of st. Paul, a we'll known at
! torney and business man, worked with
/ Col. Cooper, and began to agitate the half
matured plans at once. 1t was at this
/ time that the first plan, to include a tract
of more than 120e0, 600 acres was propes-
ed. Mr.. Cristafloro tells of the work
! which followed
4 Gen. Andrews and the woman's fedora
/ ton made the first public move" said he
in recent Interview, "and then those Of
us who had flshed and hunted In this
/ region began to realize that something
/ must be done. I wrote East to Col
/ Cooper, and we took up the work at the
| same time. We did what we could. prfn-
| cipally to hustle as we never had before,
and ultimately succeeded In interesting
many prominent men. We enlisted the
| sympathies Of the press I'm Chicago and
/ ST Paul, and did what we could to have
| the matter taken UP In the East As soon
as 1t began to be understood that a park
| project was really on foot the strength
! OF those working for this purpose was
| ma terially Increased. An organization
/ was effected, and at present the work
/ has advanced so far that 1t seems rea-
| sonable to believe that the park will be-
! come reality within a very short time
BARREN PINE sTUMPs.
"Under the Nelson bill the opening of
the reservation to settlement is called for
| This means that the Indians will receive
| the money accruing from the sale of pine.
| and will eventually have nothing left to
| them but desolate tract of barren pine
! stumps This cannot result in any per-
| manent good, as the 1umbermen will cut
| the pine clean, leaving nothing from
| which to grow another forest The state
| cannot act, and the matter is llp to con-
| gress.
| Under these conditions the vital aues-
| ton was to get the consent Of congress
| We went to Cooper
| How can this be brought about?' we
| ASKED
| Hustle, said he, and get the con-
| gressmen into the region to look the
| field over for themselves If we can get
1 the men who have the power to act into
1 that country for a week they will come
; out more than determined that the for