Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-04-21
GREAT FOREST PARKS
Estates Owned by Clubs and Indi-
 viduals in the Adirondacks.
Thousands of Acres of Wooded Lam ds s WhereOn Printed Notices Warn Pleasure-Seekers and Hunt
 Away. s.5

Attention is called to the immense
 private estates in the Adirondacks by
 bill introduced in the New York legisla-
 ture prohibiting any individual from
 parking" more than 5,000acr for his
 own exclusive hunting and fishing. It
 occurred to Assemblyman Stevens that
 such bill would be a most desirab ble
 one when MT. Rockefeller went up into Franklin county, bought two whole townships and ''fencedi' the great tract against trespass by native or visiting hunters.
 Our fellows used to hunt and fish in those woods at pleasure,'' said Mr. Stevens to the New York Mail and Ex~ press correspondent, land when they 1 suddenly ran up against signs warnin them away they had a right to b
 angry MT. Rockefeller's title to the
 two townships may be clear enough, but he has no exclusive title to the game and the fish with which the state has stocked the woods and streams. The deer and the trout belong to the
 state and no man should be allowed to fence off great areas of. woods and claim the game as his own. However,
 I am willing that an individual should park 5000 acres for his exclusive use. If he owns more than that it should be open for public hunting and fishing" It would seem that 5000 acres of woodsNwas all that man would desire for his own exclusive hunting, but
 when it is remembered that MT. Rocke-
 feller owns 52,335 acres the effect of
 the Stevens bill is seen at once. Other immense private preserves in the Adirondacks, are those of the Adi-
 rondack club, 59, 300 acres, including
 the largest portion of Mounts Marcy,
 Golden and Mcintyre and all of Mounts Santanoni, Henderson, Redfeld, Allen
 and Adams, with Lakes Sanford, Hen- derson, Golden, Avalanche and Hark-
 ness; the Adirondack League club, 79,- 172 acres, including 20 lakes and ponds; | the Adirondack Mountain reserve, 25,-
 912 acres, including such high noun tains as Noon Mark, The Gothics and Haystack; the Ampersand Preserve, 32,4o7 acres, including Mount Seward
 and several lakes and ponds; the An thony Ponds, 7,221 acres; Brandreth
 park, 27,2es acres; Childwold park, 13,-
 090 acres; De Bar Mountain park, Ill.,
 675 acres; Everton park, 10000 acres;
 Granshue club, 8,752 acres; Hamilton
 park, 71,2S1 acres; Horseshoe Forestry
 company, 27,431 acres; Litchfeld park,
 12,427 acres; Nehasane park, 42,s4S acres; Santanoni park, 11,205 acres;
 Saltwater Club reserve, 10000 acres; Villas preserve, 1s,075 acres; Wilderness
 park, 29, ,567 acres.
 Many of these preserves are owned by single families, some by individuals.
 But they are not all the great Adiron-
 dack estates. There are 60 private pre-
 serves in all, with an aggregate acreage
 of 791,20S acres. The boundaries of each preserve are posted at intervals
 of 40 rods with printed notices warning
 people that the land is private and that
 no trespassing, fishing or hunting will
 be permitted. The posting of such nos tices is required by the law authoriz-
 ing the esta blishment of private parks orpreserves.
 Assemblyman Stevens at first drew his bill so as to require the owners of these parks established in future actually to fence their immense es-
 tates so that a stranger in the forest would not run the danger of trespass- ing unknowingly. But he has changed the bill so as to provide that no person
 or persons in the future shall park
 more than 5000 acres upon which there
 shall be no trespassing. This will not prevent man from buying all the
 acreage he desires, but under the bill
 he cannot have the exclusive use of more than 5000 acres for hunting and fishing.
 Most of the private preserves in the Adirondacks have been established
 within the last II years. The compara- lively sudden exclusion of the public from it's old camping grounds has pro- volled bitter hostility on the part of 1 hunters, fishermen and guides who for
 merly ranged over this territory, ac. l cording to the forest, fish and game | commission.
 "The sportsman n who returns to some favorite haunt only to find himself confronted with the words No Thor oughfare' turns back with a resentful feeling" says the present report of the
 commission to the legislature, "while 1 the guides who were wont to conduct their patrons wherever game was plentiful view with threatening looks 1 the hired gamekeepers that guard the | forbidden lands"
 However, the commission points out
 that the owners of private preserves l give the greatest possible protection to 1 the forests and furnish constant and 1 lucrative employment to large num- | Der of guides and woodmen.