Mower County transcript., 1907-08-28
ITASCA
STATE PARK

AS tno eulLOT is taxing DTleI OuI-
ing at Park Rapids and Itasca State
Park this week we reprint the follow
ing description, believing that it will
be of general interest to our readers:
Itasca Park was established by act of
legislature in 1891. It consists of 49,
GOO acres near and surrounding Lake
Itasca, being partly in Hubbard county,
partly in Becker county. but mostly in
Clearwater county. The center of the
park is about twenty-five miles north
Park Rapids and about the same dis
tance little west of south of Bemiji.
The enclosed area is hilly and fairly
we'll covered with a growth of pine and
hardwoods.
The purpose of the park is to preserve
the source of the Mississippi River in
violate from commercial desecratiOn
and keep it forever accessible to the
general public. In addition it is to pre-
serve to future generations remnant
of the great primeval forest which has
played such large part in the develop
ment of the state. 1t is right that our
children and children's children should
have these two features of historic in
terest handed down to them intact.
Itasca Park is we'll suited to subserve
both of purposes. Within it's boundar-
les stand 100000 feet of virgin pine,
a good sample of the forests which once
covered the Lake States region and
played star part in the development
OF the whole country.
The lakes and springs forming the
source of the Mississippi are included
in the park, and the first trace of dis
tinct stream which can really be called
the Father Of Waters flows from the
north end of it. It is only sentiment
that makes these features worth pre-
serving, but it is sentiment we'll worth
the trouble.
Ample provision has been made by
the Legislature to foster this sentiment
and make the points of interest acces-
sible to the public.
In the center of the park, commo:
dious log lodge has been built and we'll
furnished as headquarters for the
superintendent and for the accomoda-
tion of visitors. A good road from
Park Rapids to Bemidji passes by the
door of the lodge, and stage line from
Park Rapids to the postoffice of Lake
Itasca furnishes a daily mail service
and daily means of entrance and egress.
Three miles farther north on the
same road, also on the shore of the
lake and one mile from the north
boundary of the reserve, is the old lodge,
an eleven room house, now uninhabited,
the first building put up for the super
intendent and for the accommodation
of guests.
Hunting of every kind has been pro.
hibited in the park ever since it's estab-
lishment, and all kinds of game have
prospered and multiplied under the pro-
lection. It is the one accessible place
in the state where it is possible to see
many grouse and quail, deer, beaver and
an occasional moose in their natural
habitat as they were found throughout
the country in days gone by.
The conditions on the reserve, even
with Its shortcomings in the necessity
for planting and fire protection, make
it an ideal place for a Demonstration
School of forestry. In such studies
more can be learned in week from
actual work and illustrations than
from month of lectures. The work
in the demonstration forests at Yale
and Michigan is there looked upon as
the most important in the whole curri-
culum. The Minnesota Forest School,
in one of the greatest timber states in
the union, is without foot of forest
Oh which she can practice her preach.
ings, The use of Itasca State Park fo1
this purpose would make the Forest
School for the University of Minnesota
better equipped than any other forest
school in the country. 1t would in
effect form forest experiment station