Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1920-12-02

what happened? The tons Of fshhead
and refuse thrown into the water was
washed up along the beaches, causing
stencil and sickness and making the
place uninhabitable. 1t ended with
the Southwest Harbor people leaving
the region almost in a body and found
ing Bar Harbor, Me.
One of the few communities, on
the other hand, to appreciate and
remember benefits they have received
from birds are the Salt Lake City
Mormons.
"When they first settled the vicinity
of Salt Lake, grasshoppers came on
them, like the plaques of locusts, set
thing on the ground in myriads and
threatening the complete destruction
Of their crops. Then the seagulls came
out of the lake, eating the insects by
the millions, even lighting in the
yards and making their way into
buildings to catch them. They ex-
terminated the grasshoppers and saved
the colony from famine. And very
recently there was unveiled in Salt
Lake City a beautiful statue in honor
of the seagulls.
with the history before us of so
many mistaken crusades against birds
we feel that we ought to make sure
that we are right before attempting
to eNterminate the bird which is the
emblem of our freedom
Letter UphoIds Bounty Law.
Ones Of the letters UNFOLDING the
bounty law of Alaska is from Wright
Wenrich of Juneau, who said:
Strange as it may seem to you,
most of us here shoot the American
eagles whenever we can, whether a
bounty exists or not, feeling that every
eagle killed means the annual saving
OF many, many valuable, or. at least
harmless, birds, beasts and fishes. We
feel as a man has a right to feel when
a public service has been performed.
AT least the lives Of many innocent
creatures has been spared.
"HOw many eagles exist in this ter
ritory, comprising an area equal to a
fifth of the United States, I would
not venture to estimate. On August
2 l was discussing the salmon propa-
CATION situation with the man in
charge Of the territorial fish commits
sion's work at Ketchikan, Alaska.
Among other things he told me of see
ing eagles in flocks numbering 500
along the salmon spawning streams.
The birds We're busily engaged in pick
ing out the eyes first, and then flesh
ing the bones of the salmon so killed.
MOI were these spent salmon, for they
had not recently entered the streams.
| do not doubt his story. Then, too,
many other men have estimated the
number of eagles seen in favorable To-
calities along the salmon streams at
even greater numbers.
another phase of the situation wss
brought to my attention by a carefully
observing forest ranger, who has
been in this section many years-that
the eagles are becoming gunwise and
gunshy. Others have observed this
fact. SO have l.
"a second phase seems to be de-
veloping-that the eagles seem to be
~congregating in out-of-the-way places,
where they are not so apt to be dis
turbed. The places where they go,
and where man never goes, are GER
tainly numerous enough in Alaska.
1T is because we know them to be
so numerous and to be taking such
heavy toll Of ducks, grouse and other,
birds, Iur-bearers, fish and ever full
grown deer, that we feel they should
be reduced in number until the harm
they do is negligible.
GAS l write | have before me notes
of ten Instances, where eagles have
killed, moi only fawn, but full-grown
deer. Should the occasion require it,
| do not doubt I could secure hun
dreds of afidayits to the effect thar
eagles have been observed killing deer,
How many deer they kill out of sight
of human witnesses can only be sur
missed by those who ere in Il position
to comprehend the vast unsettled areas
in Alaska"