The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1927-02-17

and west, are to be found where
only a few existed ten years ago.
Minnesota has many unusually
attractive state parks, varying in
size, topography, historical inter.
est and recreational appeal, and
tiese are accessible ovec a system
of splendid highways. Itasca park,
at the source of the Mississippi, is
the largest. Jay Cooke State Park,
trdversed Ky the deep gorge Of the
St Louis river in Carlton coun-
y, is second in ARA.
Interstate park, owned and
maintained jointly by the States
of Minnesota and Wisconsin, is
noted especially for it's unusual
geologic features and it's rugged
scenic beauty, emb acing the Dali
les of the st. Croix, Alexander
Ramsey, Fort Ridgely, Horace
Austin, Minnesota, Lake Bemidji,
Scenic, Oh Riley Rick, White
water, Sibley, Sleepy Eye and
other state PARKS and monuments
ale maintained under the Mime
sofa Department of Conservation.
Minnesota State Parks
The provision of such facilities
for wholesome and unrestricted
outdoor recreation, such as nation
al and state parks supply, is more
and more recognized by public of
ficials and by philanthropic citizens
as one of the best means for in.
creasing health, happiness and con-
tentment of the people. And, for
such values, preserves which are
within an hour or two, by motor,
or steamboat, or train, of a large
metropolitan center or a crowded
industrial district are of incalcul.
able value in putting into practic-
al form the ideals of our system OF
so. I'll, mint for the greater pos
sible distribution of happiness.
Ma: y state parks are shrines 81
early history and of famous build
ers of the republic.
For the first 200 years of the
history of the American colonies
and republic, there was little need
to think of preserving any part of
our great domain as parks. Our
100000 square miles were all
park and wild enough, as our pic.
neers found it.
The character of the oldest
forms of outdoor activity is shown
by one of the first laws passed by
any governmental body in our ter
ritory, relating to conservation and
reaction, an ordinance by the
fathers of the Massachusetts Bay
Colony, in 1641, giving the public
rights for fishing and fowling" on
"great ponds," bodies of water
over ten acres in extent. And the
change in our habits of outdoor
enjoyment is likewise shown in re-
cent interpretations of this old
statute, as re-enacted in a modern
measure, by an encouragement
of Massachusetts,, who ruled that
the intent of the Puritan legislat-
ors was not to limit outdoor relax
alton to the specific sports of fish
ing and fowling, and that they
might be extended, for present day
needs, to include bathing and boat
ing in summer and skating in whit,
er.
Origin of State Preserves
The first state parks were his
torical preserves associated with
scenes of early wars, which We're
taken over by public agencies early
in the Nineteenth century. There
was still plenty of room in. the
country for the forms of recrea-
ton then in vogue, from croquet
to chasing Indians. But after the
Civil war, when population was
spreading westward to the Rockies
and the Pacific coast, some far
sighted citizens began to look ahead
and to imagine that in time we
might be more crowded and that
we had better save some of our
finest scenic sites, and our wilder
ness areas. If they had obtained
wider support for their ideas then,
they might have saved a good deal
that was afterward exploited for
private gain, later to be recovered
at high cost for public use.
State parks and forests came in
to being in various parts of the
country by isolated and unconnect-
ed movements, as understanding
and support developed; first in the
northeastern states, then in the
Great Lakes states, then on the Pa
cific slope and in later years, iex-
tending to the. border states and
the south and southwest. State
park and forest officials and their
supporters gradually established
touch with each other, and at
length the need for exchange of
ideas and for united advances re-
suited in the coordination of the
movement, in 1921 in the forma-
ton at Davenport, Ia, of the Ma
tional State Parks. The officers
then, and who still serve are:
Chairman, John Barton Payne,
chairman of the American Red
Cross and former Secretary of the
Interior); vice chairman, Stephen
T. Mather, Director National Park
service; OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES, Miss
Beatrice M. Ward. It's headquart-
ers are at 904 Union Trust build
ing, Washington, D. C., where in