The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1916-01-08

The State viii Establish One In the
Wilds OF Luce County

The Michigan public domain COM
mission is planning the establishment
Of natural game refuge OF 10000
acres
The refuge when established viii be
the cap-leaf for the work OF propagat-
ing and preserving protected game in
this state. work now being under
taken at the Hansen military reserva-
tion at Crawling and at the Hough-
ton Lake forest reservation. The Luce
county refuge would give game a
chance 10 thrive on much larger
scale than is possible at either of the
artificial preserves in the southern
peninsula. No attempt will be made
TO propagate in Luce county. but the
game will be protected from hunters.
One-deer laws and buck laws serve
their purposes, but eventually the deer
would be routed not only from the few
counties in the southern peninsula
but also from the entire upper pen
insula.
So Game Warden Oates reported TO
the public domain commission that
something should be done to prepare
a natural refuge where the young
could be reared as nearly back to
nature" as possible.
The result was the inspection OF
nearly all pieces OF wild state lands
in the state by Deputy Warden David
II. Jones, OF Petosky. and Chief Fire
warden William ]. Pearson, of Boyne
Falls. They have reported that the
Luce county forest reserve is the ideal
place OF refuge and that with but a
small outlay for posting notices, IL
could readily be transformed into a
refuge such as is needed Fire lines
already made will serve as forest
fire preventative.
The state has in It's Luce county
reserve $4,000 acres. II Is not all in
one block, but mostly in small pieces,
separated by property Of either pri-
vate individuals here and there a 40
or an so or the holdings of the Cleye-
land-Cliffs Iron company The plan IS
10 consolidate the whole block of CO.
90 acres and abolish all hunting.
The property Is as near the forest
primeyal" as one can find in the entire
state Of Michigan Thirty years ago,
when numbering was at its height, the
land was populated by hundreds. To-
day il Is forgotten and forsaken; never
visited except by a few trout fisher
men in the summer and by fewer deer
hunters in the fall Nearly 30 miles
to the south runs the Duluth, South
Shore & Atlantic railroad
Almost every wild animal known 10
the biologist as living in Michigan,
and almost every breed OF fly, beetle,
bug or mosquito known TO the ento-
seem to have their habitat
on the reserve Even moose have of
ten been seen there; while In winter
the tracks OF timber wolves crossing
the plains between hardwood swamps
are numerous Deer are plentiful, al
though the openness OF the country
makes the hunting of them extremely
difficult For this reason. If for no
other. the bucks. does, and fawns on
the state reserve have SO far escaped
the slaughter which usually extends
throughout the northern peninsula
each November.
Fur-bearing animals, too, seem TO
thrive in the widest of the state re-
serve. from the lowly and marsh
lcspised skunk To the fashionable
beaver. Two lakes seem TO be de-
voted almost entirely TO beaver.
while beaver houses and beaver dams
some old and some new. are the rule
and not the exception Fox are in
abundance and trappers from New
berry and other nearby points do all
that they can 10 catch the denizens
of the forest reserve of state lands
All trapping on state lands has TO be
done with the consent OF the state Of
ncials and as result there Is no trap
ping at all on the reserve
In the waters OF the reserve are
plenty OF game fish and game fowl
II is not the intention OF the state
officials to do anything more in Luce
than post the refuge and leave
the game 10 their own devices. AT
the Houghton Lake reserve elk are to
be propagated. while over at Gray
ling the deer will have the same en-
The propagation OF the
elk IS considered much more I'M
certain game than that OF deer and
no time for distribution Is even guess