The Winslow mail., 1922-08-04

Of luxurious hotel or to view the
scenery from the tonneau Of a com
Portable motor car had better wait
awhile; but those who like to live
In tent for change or in a log
cabin, who like to tramp among the
mountains-even though under the
handicap of pack-or those who
wish to go for longer iaunts with
saddle and pack horse, will find in
Jasper Park natural beauty of every
kind that will make a vacation spent
within its borders a memorable ev-
ent
Lake Louise in Rocky Mountains
Park is said to be among the first
seven most perfect natural land
scapes in the world, but there are
those VINO stoutly maintain that Ma
ligne Lake in Jasper Park is it's su-
perior. At any rate, it has beauty
all its own, set as it is at the foot
Of great mountains that pierce the
skies on all sides, their peaks and
glaciers reflected on it's placid sur
face. 1t is about 40 miles from the
nearest railway point and is some
what difficult of access. but as it is
unsurpassed scenery the trip will re-
pay in full measure the necessary
difficulty and inconvenience
MOligne Lake is drained by the
river of the same name, but it is
the river, not the lake, that has
earned the rather sinister appela-
ton This is because of it's rapid
and treacherous current A short
distance above it's discharge into the
Athabaska Biver, the Maligne passes
for about half mile through a mar
row and tortuous gorge. in places
not more than 10 feet in width and
more than $50 feet in depth.
About 20 miles above Pasper Sta
ton, the principal railway point in
the park, the Athabaska River itself
drops over a precipice and flows
through narrow canyon which is
described by Stanley Washburn, in
his book, Trails, Trappers and Ten
derfeet," as follows: "The river,
peaceful and quiet as some great in
land waterway, comes flowing around
curve at a width we'll on to 200
yards, and then suddenly the banks
close in and the whole volume of
water seems to leap suddenly for
ward over a ledge less than one
third that width, and fall into
chasm some 80 feet deep. The walls
;lose in abruptly from both sides
and the vast tumult of water goes
surging through the gorge so mar
row that a man could easily leap
across from wall to wall Far down
in the depths is the white froth and
resonant roaring of this vast stream,
which is congested into such a
meager space that it seems as
though the walls of stone could not
Withstand the fury with which it
lashes at the ricky barriers that in
close it. A hundred feet above it.
the noise and thunder created down
in the depths are so great that only
by shouting can one make his voice
heard a foot away"
All the parks that have been re-
ferred to are in the mountains. And
as they are bird and game sanctu-
aries as well there has been mater
ial increase in the wild life in all of
them, but. there were animals more
greatly in need of protection from
the destructive hand of man than
those that inhabit the high noun
ta1ns, for the comparative inaccessi-
bility of the retreat of the latter is
in some measure protection But
the former denizens of the plains,
the buffalo and the antelope, or the
moose and elk of the wooded valleys
were in much greater need of pres
ervat1on. With the purchase by the
Canadian Government in 1907 and
1909 of the herd of buffaloes belong
ing to Michael Don Pablo, of Mont
ana, practically the entire remnant
of these vast bands of buffaloes
which but a few years previously
roamed the prairies came into DOS
session of the people of Canada.
That they should live and multiply
under conditions as nearly similar
to their wild state as possible, a res
ervatiOn of approximately 16O square
miles was set aside at Wainwright,
Alberta, and inclosed in a special
wire fence rs miles in length. The
land here is light and not particu-
larly suited to agriculture. Numer-
Gus old buffalo trail and wallows
show that it was a favored spot in
days gone by.
In addition to the Sentimen- al val
ue arising from the protection of the
animals their rapid increase prom
ises considerable economic gain
At the present moment the buffalo
increase is such that the parks de-
partment is finding it necessary to
slaughter about 1000 males, the
meat of which will be placed on the
market; and the same thing will
probably be done later on with re-
gard to some of the other game ami
mails. Thus it is seen that in this
respect also the policy of setting
aside ample reservations for parks
purposes has solid foundation.