The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1941-09-04

/ putting II up yet.
In Western Maryland the depart
ment has developed the ski runs
at New Germany, and that area is
fast becoming known for it's winter
sports. Here the department has con-
structed ten log cabins, enlisting the
aid of the CCC in the work These,
with ten others at Harrington Manor,
! in the Swallow Falls Park, will ac-
commodate from two to six persons
each, are equipped with running water
and toilet facilities and rent from
$12 to $18 week. Eight others stand
in the Big Run-Whiskey Hollow area
you'd be surprised at the number
of persons who don't want to go to
Whiskey Hollow" said the depart
ment employee in charge of booking
the cabins-and these, somewhat ruder
than those at New Germany and Her
rington Manor, bring from So to So
weekly. The department has no trouble
finding tenants for them, even for
those at Whiskey Hollow, and this
year is limiting such tenancy to two
weeks for each renter. But thirty
seven cabins are but a drop in the
bucket when one considers the thous-
ands of persons who like to wander
through the open and who would, if
given the opportunity, spend a week
endZor week or two-in one Of the
State-owned country places.
In the Patapsco State Park, one Of
the spots favored by Baltimore pic
nickers, the department has made use
of CCC labor in the development of
trails, the building of fireplaces, shell
tiers and other park appurtenances.
The CCC camps are being closed, how
ever, as the Federal Government con
centrates its spending on defense
works and now the conscientious OBJ
jectors lodged by the Government in
one of the old CCC camps in the area
have taken up the job where the CCC
! left off.
Funds Inadequate
That is the picture. Forestry off
cials, handicapped by lack of funds
for their development work, are doing
the best they can. Most of their buying
has been done to consolidate the tracts
they now own, picking up privately
owned land surrounded by State
owned sections, or bits here and there
that will round out their holdings.
What money they have for this, aside
from the occasional gifts of cash by
the Legislature, must come from
the forest reserve fund, derived from
the sale of timber and other by
products of the forestry work
Gifts Have Helped
1 Occasionally they are given land; as
a matter Of fact, the department stems
from such a gift. In 1906, John w. and
Robert Garrett offered to give the
State 800 acres of forest land in Gar
rett county if the State would care for
| it. The State agreed, and F. W. Bes-
ley, present head of the department,
who recently celebrated his thirty
fifth anniversary on the job, was made
State forester. The City of Frederick
gave the approximately 1000 acres
making up the Gambrill State Park,
and the citizens of Washington county
turned over to the State the first mon
ument erected to George Washington
in this country, atop a mountain in
the county, and ten acres Of land sur
rounding it. But the proportion of do
mated land to te-acquired acreage
is small
The real problem of recreational
areas for Maryland, as the State Plan
ming Board sees it, cannot be solN ed by
small cash allowances from the Gen
.eral Assembly or gifts of land, or
occasional expenditures from such
funds as come into the Forestry De-
partment's treasury. 1t should be
placed on a broader basis, with the
needs of the State, the City of Balti-
more and the other towns reckoned
with. Officials of the board point out
that great part of the ever-increas-
ing population of Washington spills
over into Maryland when seeking ell
bow room during its leisure hours
These must be included in any esti-
mate for the future, for the State
cannot erect a fence around its bor-
ders and tell outsiders to stay out
The board also points to the fact that
Maryland is unique in that, while it
ranks forty-frst in size among the
forty-eight States, it has sample of
almost everything geographical found
in the others. There is the ocean front,
the Chesapeake Bay area, and the
mountains of Western Maryland. The
State hasn't, it is true, anything such
as the Grand Canyon of Arizona. But
as a Chamber of Commerce secretary
might say, there isn't much one can
do with a Grand Canyon but look at
it and toss pennies into it. One can't
ski in it or hunt in it.
Aid To Tourist Trade
Since Maryland has these natural
resources with which "to make a life"
they should be developed to the fullest,
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