Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-09-23
NEW YORK REGAINS
VIRGIN TIMBER LAND
WORTH $25,OOO,OOO
$4,000 Acres in Adiron-
dacks Won After Long
Litigation-Rights of the
State Date Back to Revo-
lutionary War.

AtRANY, Sept. 23.-Tracts of virgin
forest, comprising altogether about 37,-
mn acres situated in various parts of the
Adirondacks Forest Preserve, have been
.ooovered for the State through the eff
torts of james A. Parsons, Attorney
General. with the determination of the
,itle of some 5000 acres, additional lltiga-
tion over property In the preserve VIII
have been settled.
F,stimates made Of the value of the
land in the State preserve, some of which
boa never been touched with an axe,
range from S25, 900, 900 to 350O0,000 A large
mart of this valuable territory has been
recovered in the past year by the con-
servation department of the Attorney
Cenerals office. Expert title searchers
under the direction of Mr.. Parsons and
BENJAMIN McClung, Deputy Attorney
General, have been pressing vigorously
Investigations of the titles of persons
who have taken over tracts within the
preserve and wherever the facts have
Justified the bringing of legal proceedings
they have been instituted, with the result
that before the end of the present year
some 10000 acres will have been turned
back to the State.
New York States right to a greater
mart of the lands in the forest preserve
dates back to the Revolutionary War,
after which a large tract was taken over
from Joseph Totten and Stephen Cross
field probably the earliest real estate
speculators in State history. The allegi-
ance of Totten and Crossield to England
prompted the confiscation of the lands by
the State. More than two-thirds of what
Is now known as the Adirondack Park,
within which the forest preserve Is To-
Gated, was purchased by Totten and
Crossfed from the Mohawk Indians for
the sum of s5OO0 The records of the At
torney Generals Office recite how the
tribal chiefs accompanied a surveyor to
a spot on the boundary of Herkimer and
Lewis counties and from mountain top
agreed to turn over to Totten and Cross
field lands to the eastward far beyond"
The Totten and Crossfleld tract was then
Chained or surveyed almost to Lake
Champlain.
EXTENT OF PRESERVE.
At the present time the State preserve
comprises over 100000 acres OF forest
In the primeval state. A constitutional
prohibition against numbering or cutting
down of trees within the preserve has
had the effect of keeping intact practical
ly all of this forest area. Mr.. Parsons
declared today that the Investigations
conducted by his office show that the
States interests in the past have been
shamefully neglected.
I'm the absence of common vigilance
on the part OF the State" said Mr.. Par
sons, men have squatted upon the most
valuable portions of the Adrondacks, |
have cut timber and have built camps,
and have appropriated the most beautiful |
and desirable portions of this park for |
private purposes. The proceedings insti- |
tuted by this office have been effective in
displacing the squatters and establish |
Ing beyond question the States right to |
possess these lands.
THE policy at present in force will be |
followed up with the end in view of put
ting stop for all time to this vandalism |
and to this high-handed confiscal appro-
priation of the States valuable property"
Valuable tracts in what is known as
Township No. 40 in the vicinity OF Ra-
quette Lake have been recently recov-
cred by the State. Here the land Ia VAL
ued at $1,000 nm acre-several private
owners who hold lands along the shores
of the lake to which their title has been
upheld by the courts recently offered the
lands at this price. The forest land in
Township No. 40 Is valued at $3,O0o,c0o.
MADE HARD FIGHT.
The lands now comprised in the for
est preserve cost New York State about
'85Oo,oo, The Totten and Crossfeld
tracts were taken over after the Revo-
luton, and held intact until 1871. when
The State began to purchase additional
lands. Through tax sales and purchases
1t times when the land was offered for
very reasonable prices, the State almost
doubled the area of its Adirondack hold
ngs. Some of this additional land was
purchased for as little as $40 an acre.
Some of the cases of confscal appro-
'riation which the Attorney General has
handled were bitterly contested In the
'ourts. In some instances the persons
Who appropriated the property for their
'Wn use had constructed valuable homes
the preserve, and maintained they had
IN inalienable right until the courts de-
ermined the title in the States favor
Il predict" said Mr.. Parsons, that
within the next few months the States
'laims over the 100000 odd acres, which
make up the forest preserve, will have
een determined In the States favor
.fter that careful vigilance on the part OF
he State will be necessary II 1t is to
'rotect its lands from appropriation by
rivate individuals"
The Adirondack preserve embraces for
st lands in the counties of Clinton, Es-
eS' Franklin. Fulton, Hamilton, Herki-
ner' Lewis. Oneida, st. Lawrence, Sara
oga, Warren and Washington.