Evening star., 1926-06-13
Areas of State Parks Make Big Total
OF RecreatiOnal Reserves for Country

Park. only 40 miles from New York
City, has given to the people all forms
of outdoor recreation. Think of 10. .00s
children. 10000 in the Summer vaca-
tins, camping in 100 centers in the
hills and lakes in the historic Hudson
Highlands. filled with shrines of the
American Revolution, Two thOusan nd
Boy Scouts camp all at one time in
the camps in their headquarters at
kanaWauke Lakes. Children from
crowded Greater New York sleep in
the open. bathe. hike. learn about
trees and animals. and see what a
benefcent government means i'm ways
that their young minds can APP
preciate. Eleven million people Wis
tied the various parts of that park
last year.
Or take the Cook County Forest
Preserve. along the DeSplaines River.
just outside Chicago, where 5.00o,0n0
people last year enjoyed the outdoors
in the 3n. 900 acres Of woods and
fields and Fairgrounds which the
county commissioners have developed
there Think OF 1UO-mile canoe
trip. within Il to 40 miles of the heart
of the second city in the country.
with pleasant woodland camping
places for every nights bivouac.
Or imagine the great State forests. =
with their included forest parks. in
| PENNSYLVANIA, so large and so wild
| that one can enjoy any form of out
| door recreation and sport he likes.
| from days picnic. by brook. under
! huge hemlocks and tall rhododen-
drons to hunting large game like
deer and hear
Then there is tho great Northern
| Forest Park in Wisconsin. ?S.0o0
acres of woods and dozens of lakes.
with room enough for thousands TO
| fish and camp and swim.
Many state parks are shrines of
our early history and of our famous
builders of the Republic. Along the
| Hudson River in New York. State
properties include the beautiful old
Manor House in Yonkers. where
| George Washington vainly courted
| Mary Philipse; the fort on Stony
| Point which Anthony Wayne and the
| first American regulars stormed on a
dark July night i'll 1879: old forts and
backgrounds about Saratoga and
Lake George and Lake Champlain.
and other sites associated with such
| legendary figures as Sir William
| johnson and with heroes of the
French and Indian and Revolution
airy conflicts.
PENNSYLVANIA has such ShrineS as
| Valley Forge. the name of which Is
| an epitOme of enduring patriotism,
| Washington Crossing. which brings
| up. in the minds eye. that icy and
| stormy Christmas eve when the raE-
| ged American Army crossed to the
surprise of Trenton or Presque Isle.
at Erie, where Commodore Perry fit
ted out his battle fleet for the victory
which enabled him to write the IA
nous: I'VE have met the enemy and
they are ours"
! New England State preserves aret
| full of every aspect Of picturesque
| colonial and later history of the Pur-
itans and their descendants. Maine
recently bought several old forts from
the Federal Government to preserve
| glorious memories and give recreation
spots.
/ In the Middle West such preserves
saemorialiZe stern conflicts in French
and Indian fighting, and mark the
succeeding outposts as the English
J colonists pushed westward. Ohio has
a dozen sites OF this kind. like Logan's
/ Elm and the scenes of many "a fell
! fight. and Starved Rock State Park
| in Illinois was a French post in the
time of Marquette and La Sale. Ala
! hama is lately conserving similar
relics of early French adventures.
and Of sites connected with such
figures as Andrew Jackson.
| Florida and Texas include in their
! STATE PARKS several SITES COHneClcu
with pioneers and fighters. North Da-
kota has a large number Of preserves
where stirring events Of the early fur
trading and Indian fighting days oc-
CURED.
! For the first two hundred years Of
! the history Of the American coloniaes
and republic. there was little need f.
think Of preserving any part Of otr
great domain as parks. Our three mn.
| lion square miles were all park anp
wild enough. as our pioneers found it.
| The character Of the earliest forms
of outdoor activity is shown by one
of the first laws passed by any gov
ernmental body in our territory. relat-
| ing to conservation and recreatian. an
| ordinance by the fathers of the Mas
| sachusetts Bay Colony. in 1641, giving
the public rights for Fishing and fowl
| ing" on great ponds" bodies of wa
ter over 10 acres in extent. And the
change in our habits of outdoor en-
! 1oyment is likewise shown in recent
! interpretations Of this old statute. IA
! re enacted in a modern measure. by an
attorney general Of Massachusetts,
| who ruled that the intent of the Pun
| tan legisla tors was not to limit OUT
| door relaxations to the specific sports
of fishing and AWliuK.