The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-31
PARK NOT POSSIBLE
CONGRESSMAN STEVENS ASSERTS
THERE is NO CHANCE FOR
MINNESOTA
ARE DESIRED EVERYWHERE
Would Take Fifty Million Dollars
Out of the Treasury to
supply the Present
Demand.

! Inere is no possibility OIL d Heieioiis1,
park being established in this state no
matter what influenced is brought to bear
to accomplish this end
This statements WAS made yesterday
! afternoon by Congressman Stevens, OF
this district, in the Chamber OF Com
merce rooms, before the members OF the
! chamber and a delegation from Cass
county who are in the city in opposi-
ton to the national park plan
| A meeting of the consolidated commit
tees was called by the Chamber of Com
merce yesterday afternoon for the pur-
| pose Of listening to e. P. Baker. of the
| interstate commerce law convention.
Mr. Baker was not able to be present,
| however, and the meeting was turned
| over to a delegation from Cass Lake,
| which appeared before the Commercial
| club for the purpose of securing re-
| consideration of the stand taken by that
| organization in regard to the proposed
| national park. The following is the DEL
! egation: A. L. Cole. Walker; A. &. Ber-
| nard, editor of the sCass Lake Voice;
| John Gardner, e. T.. Warren, C. N. Jonn-
| son and j. IL. Trowbridge, all OF Cass
Lake, and Roland 3. Hartley, of Min
neapolis. Thomas Cochrane presided
| over the meeting.
/ Mr., Cole was the first speaker, ana
! gave the following reasons why the tract
! Of land in question should not be made
| national park:
First-The land comprises 6,000,0 600 acres
| of land, of which five-sixths is agricult-
| ural and one-sixth timber. Should it be
! thrown open for settlement it would
1 make over 5000 homesteads, and result
| in mat many more purchases of farms
| in the contiguous territory.
| Second-Every person that has invested
| his money in Cass Lake did SO in good
| faith, believing, as they had a right to
do, that the land in question would be
thrown open for settlement. II, on the
| contrary, park is formed, they will all
| be financially ruined.
Third-The people behind the park plan
! are lumbermen, who, have plenty of TIM
| Der for a time on their present holding,
| and desire to realize off of it that they
| may invest in the reservation timber.
| Their policy is merely to delay the open,
| ing of the tract until they are ready
| to use the timber on it.
Fourth-The land is not fit for PARK,
| with the possible exception of an island
| in the lake which contains a lake. The
mosquitoes alone will prevent that dis
| trict from becoming popular as summer
| resort
Fifth-The government owes to the In
| dams to do all it can for them. and such
|
| time to sell the timber when it will net
| enough to support them and their de-
| scendants for generations.
| Sixth-All around the reservation are
| agricultural lands which are fast set
| Ting up and the common experience has
| been that when such settlement is made
! the timber is bound to be burnt off. and
| all the fire wardens in creation cannoe
| stop it, as was proven at Hnckley.
4 IL hoo do ? Ia
Indians on the reservation some 1900 al
| lotments, and it is going to take years
| to get these Indians to move off, if they
| are treated legally, and no one favorlng
| the park would advocate unfair treat
ment to them. It will therefore be a
! long time before the reservation can be
| completely turned into a park, and all
| this time the pine will be burning and
| the value Of the reservation otherwise
| deterioriating.
Settlers Would He Ruined.
| Mr. Bernard was the next speaker. He
reviewed the history of the tract in ques-
| ton showing how the settlers went to
| Cass Lake and invested their money there
| believing that the tract would be opened.
| He showed how settlers who would take UP
| homesteads there would have to be sup
piled with all articles from the Twin
| Cities and Duluth. That there was
| enough timber there to keep large force
| of men working for twenty years and
I that this would help the merchants of the
! three cities mentioned.
! He then asked the members of the
chamber if they thought for a moment
| that it would be possible to secure an APP
| preparation of S., goo or 100000 from
congress to make national park of the
reservation He said the idea was too
4 preposterous to consider for a moment.
| E. A. Young was next called upon for
| an expression of opinion. He said that
as far as he could see there was only
/ one man in the United States who was
anxious for the park and his name was
| Cooper and as far as Mr.. Young was
concerned he did not care to have so
much land seduestrated that someone
| might have fine hunting box. AS for a
| park, Mr.. Young said he would great
| deal rather see the land growing potatoes
| and other marketable articles
/ Col. Hartley based his argument on the
Indian and the governments duty toward
| him. He contended that the high price
| of pine at the present time made an ex
cellent opportunity for the land to be
! thrown open as it would realize fully
s20,0OO,OoO for the Indian, which would
| do away with the system of paying him
/ S. Al year to live on. Turning to Sena-
! tor Clapp and Congressman Stevens, who
| were present, he asked them if they had
| any idea that congress would set aside
| siu0Go. coo for the park. Receiving no an
| swer he assured those present that it was
| just as likely that congress would make
| an appropriation for park in the moon.
Senator CIapp Speaks.
The floor was then given to Senator
/ Clapp who spoke in part as follows:
.sThere is no question in the minds of
! any person who has given the matter q
| thought but what something will have to
| be done to preserve the timber, but this
| thought inevitably leads up to a second
| one, and that Is that human nature never
| learns this lesson until confronted with
! a dire extremity.
| '.From what thought [ have given the
matter I have come to the conclusion that
| three things are due to disappear. First,
I che Indian, for he cannot stand contact
| with civilization. Second, the wild beasts
| for all the game laws ever passed will not
| same them, and third, the pine tree.
| am almost certain that the pine tree will
| pass out Of existence; within fifteen years.
/ If the lumbernen do not get 1t the fires
| will. s-sef
1 Nov. as tosthes lumbermen, 90 not
| think they areSin league to prevent the
| formation of the park. have never been
| spoken to in regard to the matter by
| Them. I think, however, that 1t would
| be more reasonable TO suppose they fav-
ored the plan for the time being One
| thing am certain of is that the men who
have gone into that country and invested
| their money are entitled to consideration,
| and they will always get it before 1 cast
my vote one way or the other.
ST think possibly a happy medium
could be obtained by those who favor
the park plan and those who are opposed