Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-11-03


and half from the center of
the city Of Chicago is natural
wonderland, which has attract
ed the keen interest of scientists the
world over. Yet it is not likely that
one out of thousand Chicago people
ever visits it-much less is acquainted
with the marvels which it presents.
When the International Association
Of Plant Geographers held their meet
Ing in Chicago years ago it's members
scientists from several continents.
who were familiar with most parts of
the wOrld-were asked what features
they specially wished to see in the
United States Every one of them in
cluded in his list of four or five locali-
ties the sand dunes about the southern
end of Lake Michigan. They shared
honors with the Grand Canyon Of the
Colorado and Niagara Falls as the lead
ing attractions of the country in the
minds of the visiting scientists.
Lately earnest efforts have been
made to induce Indiana to purchase the
dunes tract and make of it state
park. 1t has also been suggested that
the federal government acquire it and
set it aside as a, national park.
Wonderful Wild Flowers.
The first thing which makes the sand
dunes country unique in America is the
great number of rare wild flowers
which grow there and nowhere else
within hundreds of miles of Chicago
Perhaps in no other single place are to
| be found all the thousand varieties OF
plant life which are native to the
| dunes.
| Here, for instance, one is startled tC
see the cactus-typical of the western
deserts-growing in profusion. Here
also the trailing arbutus, usually foun(
only much farther north, blooms in al
its glory. In the dune woods are to bt
found ten or a dozen varieties of or
chids, the flowers of which are strange
ly beautiful. One must go hundreds O.
miles from Chicago to find in any othel
locality such display of orchids.
In the spring the more wooded dune
are carpeted with ten or more differen
kinds of violets and in the early fal
the fringed gentian-almost extinc
elsewhere about Chicago-blooms il
great abundance on the sloping side
of the dunes. This is but to mention
the first half dozen of the more thai
thousand varieties of plant life whicl
make the dunes with their intervenin
marshes and sloughs the greatest al
traction within many miles of Chicag
to lovers of wild flowers.
But the dunes have another and
most remarkable feature which make
them almost unique in the affection @
the scientist and nature lover.
Plants and trees, it is known, chang
their shapes and their habits of growt
to accommodate themselves to chan.
Ing natural conditions. Usually thes
changes extend over centuries, so slo
Is the normal change in the surface {
the land on which they grow and in tl
other factors which affect them.
The Shifting Panorama.
But in the dune country such ehang'
In surface are rapid. From year I
year the dunes creep and crawl und,
the influence of the winds. New dun,
are created, old dunes swept ava!
where. dune has been conquered /
plants and trees and has stood Il
; same for years the shifting sands m;
start an invasion and pile new dun
, On top of the old. To all these CO
stantly shifting conditions the tre
and plants as constantly fight to accol
modate themselves.
One may see a promising forest
jack pines, naples or cottonwoods hs
buried in the rising sand or drowned
: the food, with nothing but their de:
J.. tops projecting. One may find whe
, the willows, for instance, quick
changing to meet the changing cont
lions, have grown trunks twice as t;
as usual. with roots running out sc