Sieur de Monto Publications (1911-1922) Sieur de Monts Publications (1913-1922) During the decade popularly associated with the travails of World War I, George B. Dorr edited a series of 23 proposed publications concerned with an array of scientific and cultural themes relating to the conservation of Mount Desert Island. Many of these contributions he authored-in whole or part-while also drawing on related publications and recognized authorities. Later publications were printed by the Government Printing Office and bear the Department of the Interior imprint. Hundreds of illustrations support the narrative text, many attributable to George B. Dorr. These documents were obtained from a variety of repositories. Even though many had print runs of several thousand, SO called ephemera do not survive well the passage of time. Publications XII, XIII, XVI, and XX could not be located; whether they are no longer extant or were never published cannot be determined. Gathered here is the most comprehensive collection extant. If others are unearthed by future researchers, they should be brought to the attention of Jesup Memorial Library staff. Cumulatively, this collection constitutes the most wide ranging expression of the land, sea, flora and fauna interests of George B. Dorr. They were initially undertaken to disseminate information about the newly created national monument. Long neglected, they resonate to this day as examples of pioneering conservation built on the legacy of landscape architect Charles Eliot. Sieur de Monts Publications (1913-1922) During the decade popularly associated with the travails of World War I, George B. Dorr edited a series of 23 proposed publications concerned with an array of scientific and cultural themes relating to the conservation of Mount Desert Island. Many of these contributions he authored-in whole or part-while also drawing on related publications and recognized authorities. Later publications were printed by the Government Printing Office and bear the Department of the Interior imprint. Hundreds of illustrations support the narrative text, many attributable to George B. Dorr. These documents were obtained from a variety of repositories. Even though many had print runs of several thousand, SO called ephemera do not survive well the passage of time. Publications XII, XIII, XVI, and XX could not be located; whether they are no longer extant or were never published cannot be determined. Gathered here is the most comprehensive collection extant. If others are unearthed by future researchers, they should be brought to the attention of Jesup Memorial Library staff. Cumulatively, this collection constitutes the most wide ranging expression of the land, sea, flora and fauna interests of George B. Dorr. They were initially undertaken to disseminate information about the newly created national monument. Long neglected, they resonate to this day as examples of pioneering conservation built on the legacy of landscape architect Charles Eliot. Sieur de Monts Publications I. Announcement by the Government of the cre- ation of the Sieur de Monts National Monu- ment by proclamation, on July 8, 1916. II. Addresses at Meeting held at Bar Harbor on Aug- ust 22, 1916, to commemorate the establishment of the Sieur de Monts National Monument. III. The Sieur de Monts National Monument as a Bird Sanctuary. IV. The Coastal Setting, Rocks and Woods of the Sieur de Monts National Monument. V. An Acadian Plant Sanctuary. VI. Wild Life and Nature Conservation in the East- ern States. VII. Man and Nature. Our Duty to the Future. VIII. The Acadian Forest. IX. The Sieur de Mc : National Monument as commemorating Acedia and early French influences of Race and Settlement in the United States. X. Acadia: the Closing Scene. XI. Purchas translation of de Monts' Commission. De Monts: an'Appreciation. XII. The de Monts Ancestry in France. XIII. The District of Maine and the Character of the People of Boston at the end of the 18th century. XIV. Two National Monuments: the Desert and the Ocean Front. XV. Natural Bird Gardens on Mount Desert Island. XVI. The Blueberry and other characteristic plants of the Acadian Region. XVII. The Sieur de Monts National Monument and its Historical Associations. Garden Approaches to the National Monument. The White Mountain National Forest. Crawford Notch in 1797. XVIII. An Old Account of Mt. Washington. A Word upon its Insect Life. A Word on Mt. Katahdin. XIX. National Parks and Monuments. XX. Early Cod and Haddock Fishery in Acadian Waters. XXI. The Birds of Oldfarm: an intimate study of an Acadian Bird Sanctuary. XXII. The Sieur de Monts National Monument and The Wild Gardens of Acadia. XXIII. The Sieur de Monts National Monument as a Huguenot Memorial. These Publications may be obtained by writing to THE CUSTODIAN, Sieur de Monts National Monument, Bar Harbor, Maine. ANPA. 16.66.28 FINDING AID: Sieur de Monts Publications Pp. Source Art # I. Announcement by the Government of the creation of the Sieur de Monts National Monument by proclamation, on July 8, 1916. 3 NHLA \ Dar FILE/Author/source D.E. II. Addresses at Meeting held at Bar Harbor on August 22, 1916, to ANPAG Ellot I Bunker, Deasy, commemorate the establishment of the Sieur de Monts National 22 NPSHC 6 Monument. NHLA W. Laurence, GBD, AlfredMayar II III. The Sieur de Monts National Monument as a Bird Sanctuary. 17 NHLA 1 IV. The Coastal Setting, Rocks and Woods of the Sieur de Monts NHLA Eno, Ornithologist SMNM 1 III National Monument. 12 ANPA 3 V. An Acadian Plant Sanctuary. Eliot, Shaler /Davis, Rand D.I.IV II S.I.L.* VI. Wild Life and Nature Conservation in the Eastern States. in 2 Fernald, E comm. by Dorr 11 WGAV VII. Man and Nature. Our Duty to the Future. ANPAHOK 1 15 ANPA Docr (marginal name citations) W6A KI VIII. The Acadian Forest. 2 IX. The Sieur de Monts National Monument as commemorating I Dorr and James Bryce WGAV11 Dorr HU WGA VIII Acadia and early French influences of Race and Settlement in the United States. - 15 S.I.L. 3* Dorr (Q. Canh. Mad.Hts. Co S2 lectroned X. Acadia: the Closing Scene. TML Francis Pachman 1 W.F. garongwGA IX XI. Purchas translation of de Monts' Commission. De Monts: an 10 ANDA I Parkman Appreciation. 12 ANPA 2 Chamber lain Murchas Halalyyties posthumus. X XII. The de Monts Ancestry in France. W6A XI XIII. The District of Maine and the Character of the People of Boston XII at the end of the 18th century. ml XIV. Two National Monuments: the Desert and the Ocean Front. 15 XIII S.I.L.* I XV. Natural Bird Gardens on Mount Desert Island. Dorr Pubs 11 SIL/ D.F.XIV XVI. The Blueberry and other characteristic plants of the Acadian I Forbush. JML WGA Region. XV XVII. The Sieur de Monts National Monument and its Historical Asso- NALA Dorr. Historial Asso ciations. Garden Approaches to the National Monument. 31+ ANPA The White Mountain National Forest. 34 = 4 Smith. - White Net. N.Forest Dorr. gonder Approved Crawford Notch in 1797. AMCA XVIII. An Old Account of Mtz Washington. A Word upon its Insect 65 pp NHLA Dwight "Notch of White MEDI /WGA XVII Dorr/Eliot "wild garden t Academ Life. A Word on Mt. Katahdin. 33 JML 5 Bigelow hit Bigellow. Vegetation of the white Hills' XIX. National Parks and Monuments. Johnson LOVE Insects of int- wish. W6.4 XVIII tandin 11 ANPA 1 Dorr Cubs XX. Early Cod and Haddock Fishery in Acadian Waters. DIXIX XXI. The Birds of Oldfarm: an intimate study of an Acadian Bird XX Sanctuary. 12 Dorr Papers Henry have Eno XXII. The Sieur de Monts National Monument and The Wild Gardens NHLA XXI of Acadia. XXIII. The secorde Monts Natrans Movent as a Huguenet 17 ANPA 1 Dorr Pubs These Publications may be obtained by writing to removal P.I XXII 2 ANPA 1 THE CUSTODIAN Huguenat Roots of Monument XXIII Sieur ANPA de Monts National Sawtelle Monument Archive ANPA. Bar Harbor, Maine SIA Smithsonear Institution: Librames NHLA: Northeast Harbor Library Archives WGA = wild garden t Acadia 1-9, 11 14, 15, 22, 17-19 (2.21.03) HU HarvardU. DI BANGOR PUBLIC Library (BPL). All in One vol. = Department of Interior AMC: App. Mt. 11PSHC = Natoval Park Service Histon ol Call. It.Ferra JML = Jesup Memorial Library Club Arch. Correct 10. 12, 13, 20. 21). 974.14. M8. 18 Pam. C. 1 M 719 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Franklin K. Lane, Secretary. THE SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT. Where Newport Mountain, the easternmost and boldest in the monument, comes down to meet the sea. From National Geographic Magazine, Washington, D. C., copyright, 1916. HE Sieur de Monts National Monument was created by presidential proc- T lamation July 8, 1916. It includes more than 5,000 acres on Mount Desert Island, Maine, directly south of Bar Harbor. In fact, its northern bound- ary lies within a mile of that famous resort. On the east it touches the Schoonerhead Road. On the south it approaches within a mile of Seal Harbor. It lies less than a mile northeast of Northeast Harbor. It is surrounded, in short, by a large summer population. This superb area, for many years widely celebrated for its historical associations as well as its commanding beauty, includes four lakes and no less than 10 mountains. The lakes are Jordan Pond, Eagle Lake, Bubble Pond, and Sargent Mountain Pond. The Bowl lies just outside the boundary line. The mountains are Green Mountain, Dry Mountain, Pickett Mountain, White Cap, Newport Mountain, Pemetic Moun- tain, The Tryad, Jordan Mountain, The Bubbles, and Sargent Mountain. The lands included in the Sieur de Monts National Monument have never formed a part of the public domain. Through the patriotism and generosity of the owners, known collectively as the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations, they were presented to the United States for the benefit and enjoyment of the public. The creation of this monument extends the national parks service for the first time to the Atlantic coast. 79406°-17 2 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT. beauty by recent i ocean as the coast ] vening lakes the Salisbury Cove between it and th Hulls ookout Cove eastern country, fc 5 Lake the name that Ch Canoe Pt Burnt Wood Witch Porcupinel. under De Monts's Porcupine I. Pond September evenin BAR(HARBOR Bald He reached the Porcupinel western sky, in a KeboMt Mount Aunt Betty the United States L.Round Pond Sols Cliff Pond Desert their dinner in a C Somes Bartlett Round Pond Penobscot River, Island Ripple 5] true river afterwar Pond Bubble Schooner of where the new Pond The Head Hall Bowk will take one the PemeticM The Beehive Jordan Pond Harbor, at its nort Robinson Browns Hodgdon Pond The Triad N It is a unique an or more distant hei Beech Mt OtterCliff the northern vege 855 FT. Moose Further papers Seal Cove Southwest other information, Harbor Greening Road and Main St Sutton Manset West Tremont ATLANTIC Tremont Little -NOTE McKinley Baker 1. IIII National Monument Boundary Line OCEAN Roads in or adjacent to Scale) National Monument 3 4 Miles Harbor Head Map of Sieur de Monts National Monument and surrounding region, Mount Desert Island, Maine. THE SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT. By GEORGE B. DORR. Executive of the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations. N recommending for the President's acceptance the Sieur de Monts National Mon- I ument on the coast of Maine, Secretary Lane has widened importantly by a single stroke the scope and significance of the national parks development in America. For the first part the East, with its beautiful and varied scenery and crowded city population, takes an active part in that development and shares directly in its benefits. Ultimately every striking type of natural scenery in the country, east or west, should be represented in its most characteristic or inspiring form in the national parks system. In illustration of this ideal, the new reservation on the Maine coast is singularly interesting. There is nothing like it elsewhere on the continent. A noble mass of Sieur de Monts T ancient granite that once bore up a dominating Alpine height on its broad shoulders has been laid bare by time immeasurable and carved into forms of bold and striking From MONUMENT. SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT. 3 beauty by recent ice-sheet grinding. This granite mass, surrounded broadly by the ocean as the coast has sunk, constitutes with its ice-worn peaks and gorges and inter- vening lakes the national monument. The picturesque and broken lower lands between it and the sea, on which are the summer homes of men from the whole eastern country, form with the monument the island of Mount Desert, bearing still S Canoe Pt. Burnt the name that Champlain gave it three centuries and more ago, when, exploring Wood Witch Porcupinel Barl under De Monts's orders, he sailed into the shadow of its great eastern cliff on a Sheep Porcupine Pond September evening and beached his open boat on the Bar Harbor shore. 2(HARBORO Bald Porcupine! He reached the island, drawn by the beacon of its sharp-cut peaks against the western sky, in a single, long day's sail from where is now the boundary between KeboMt Sols Cliff the United States and Canada; he left it, guided by Indians whom he found cooking @The their dinner in a cavern by the sea, to enter, as he conceived it, the mouth of the Trumcap Penobscot River, which he ascended, by island-sheltered waterways at first and the ©Dry Newport Mr true river afterwards, to the head of tidal water at Bangor. This tells well the story Schooner of where the new national monument lies. It is readily accessible; boat or motor The Head Bowl will take one there by pleasant, easy ways, and through trains run down to Bar The Beehive Harbor, at its northern base, from New York and Boston. Great Triad Head It is a unique and splendid landscape, revealing the ocean in its majesty as no lesser or more distant height can do, and exhibiting wonderfully the interest and beauty of Otter Cliff the northern vegetation. Pt Seal Harbor Further papers on the Sieur de Monts National Monument may be obtained, with other information, from the custodian, Sieur de Monts National Monument, Park Road and Main Street, Bar Harbor, Maine. (Sutton ATLANTIC Little Cranberry! Baker 1. Cranberry OCEAN Scale 3 4Miles rrounding region, Mount Desert AL MONUMENT. of Public Reservations. he Sieur de Monts National Mon- has widened importantly by a national parks development in beautiful and varied scenery and in that development and shares type of natural scenery in the st characteristic or inspiring form on the Maine coast is singularly the continent. A noble mass of Sieur de Monts Tarn from the entrance to the Kane and Diedrich paths. Fringing ine height on its broad shoulders it are seen the Schermerhorn and Eliot Woods. d into forms of bold and striking From National Geographic Magazine, Washington, D. C., copyright 1916. 4 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT. Sieur de Monts Arboretum and Wild Gardens. The Bowl, a little mountain lake, 400 feet above the sea and deep in woods, that makes the foreground to a great ocean view. A narrow passage on the Kane Memorial Path built along the Tarn side between the Gates of Eden. WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1917 22 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ACADIA NATIONAL PARK BAR HARBOR, MAINE OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT October 31, 1931. Mr B. B. Wood, Librarian, Massachusetts State College Library, Amherst, Massachusetts. Dear Sir: Replying to your letter of October 15th in regard to the Sieur de Monts publications which are lacking in your file: the publication of this series was interrupted by our entrance into the World War with its ensuing complications. Some of the intended publica- tions failed to get published; of others the editions printed long since became exhausted. I will bear your request in mind and if I can put my hand on any of those that you list as lacking I will mail you copies. In the meantime I enclose you a recent paper on the geology of the Talond mrinted by the Columbia Press and another on the ADDRESSES BY CHARLES W. ELIOT President Emeritus of Harvard University HON. JOHN E. BUNKER Secretary of the State of Maine HON. L. B. DEASY RIGHT REV. WILLIAM LAWRENCE, D.D. Bishop of Massachusetts GEORGE B. DORR DR. ALFRED G. MAYER Director of the Department of Marine Biology of the Carnegie Institution of Washington DELIVERED AT A MEETING HELD AT THE BUILDING OF ARTS BAR HARBOR, MAINE Thursday, August 22 1916 ADDRESSES ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT PRESIDENT ELIOT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, LOVERS OF MT. DESERT: We come together here to celebrate a very important step in a long progress-long as we look backward, and longer still as we look forward. Some of us have known this Island for many, many years. The first visit I made to it was just fifty years ago, and I have long been intimate with the Island and its surroundings. Most of us, I suppose, have lived here many years, or at least many summers; but the great event we celebrate today-the taking of nearly half the hills of the Island as a National Monument-has awakened a strong interest also in the Island on the part of single-season visitors, and those who come here for a few days only-or even for a single day. That is an important new fact; be- cause the promoters of the present enterprise are looking for- ward to a large extension of the National Monument which will greatly add to the interest and attractiveness of this beautiful Atlantic Island at all seasons of the year. The old lovers of the Island expect to welcome many new lovers. We who have long known the Island know that it is unique on the entire Atlantic coast of the United States, with nothing even to approach it in varied interest and beauty. Now, the public spirited people who have got together by gift or purchase the lands which constitute today the National Monument have long been hard at work upon the matter-sometimes under discouragements; SO they feel that today is a day for rejoicing and mutual congratulation. The labors of years have been brought to a cheerful and hopeful 6 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT 7 consummation. But these sentiments do not relate to their PORTLAND, MAINE, AUG. 21, 1916. LEURE B. DEASY, own experiences and their own happiness alone. One of the BAR HARBOR, MAINE. greatest satisfactions in doing any sound work for an institu- It is with sincere regret that I am obliged to inform you that tion, a town, or a city, or for the nation is that good work it will be impossible for me to be with you at the noteworthy done for the public lasts, endures through generations; and exercises by which you are to celebrate the establishment of the little bit of work that any individual of the passing gener- the first national park in the state of Maine on the Island of Mt. Desert, to be known as The Sieur de Monts National ation is enabled to do gains through association with such Monument. I am pleased, however, to take advantage of collective activities an immortality of its own. I have been the opportunity afforded by this occasion to extend in behalf accustomed to work for a University-in fact, I worked for of the people and state of Maine to you and your commit- one forty-nine years; but the greatest element of satisfaction tee and to those whose generous acts and earnest efforts have in looking back on that work is the sense that what I was resulted in the realization of a project at once so admirable and so desirable my most sincere congratulations and hearti- enabled to do, with the help of many others, is going to last- est greetings. as good bricks built into a permanent structure. This is the OAKLEY CURTIS, great satisfaction of all the promoters of the enterprise we Governor. meet today to celebrate. We hope to hear during the meeting something about I have the honor to introduce to you the Hon. John E. the different stages of development of this enterprise. I hope Bunker, Secretary of State for Maine. we shall appreciate before we leave this hall what long-con- tinued service a few m n, and particularly one man, have HON. JOHN E. BUNKER rendered to this community through this work for the preser- vation of the Island's hills, woods, and water-supplies. I LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: We have assembled here this hope we are going to hear what needs to be done in the future summer afternoon for the purpose of formally observing the to the same ends. For example, we must understand that establishment of a great national park by our Federal Gov- other great hills of this Island need to be brought into reser- ernment; but more especially to show our appreciation of the vation, to be held first by the Hancock County Trustees of kindness that has made this occasion possible. We have Public Reservations and then by the Government of the gathered from near and far, not only the residents and sum- United States. And then I hope we are going to hear from mer residents of Mount Desert Island, but visitors from dis- a very competent source of the new interests which are about tant states and foreign climes, that by our presence we may to be developed in the wild life of the Island, in the trees, record our thanks for the generous devotion that has ex- shrubs, mosses and flowers, and in the animals that can pressed itself SO practically in this enduring Monument. thrive here on land or in the sea. This undertaking has a In the absence of His Excellency, I am proud to extend large forward look; and before this meeting closes, I think to you the greetings of the great State I have the honor to there will have been presented to us a picture of what we, the represent today, and to bring you the congratulations of our present enjoyers of the Island, can do for the benefit of Governor. All honor and credit to those whose generosity coming generations. and persevering work have resulted in an accomplishment so Governor O. Curtis has sent the following telegram to great. The story of the founding of Maine's National Park the Hon. L. B. Deasy: will be told to generations yet unborn. May they also learn the purpose and gain the spirit of its founders. 8 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT 9 PRESIDENT ELIOT ton, a member of the earliest group of summer residents upon The next speaker has been identified with the legal work the Island. That same fall, through the initiative of Mr. involved in obtaining the great reservations which until a few Dorr and the gift of Mr. John S. Kennedy of New York, the days ago were in the hands of the Hancock County Trustees summit of the Island-the old hotel tract upon Green of Public Reservations. He knows the history of the enter- Mountain, belonging to the heirs of Daniel Brewer-was prise; he also knows what the meaning of the undertaking has acquired, to pass this summer into the Nation's keeping as been in the minds of those who promoted it. I call on the the highest point upon our eastern coast. Hon. L. B. Deasy. Dry Mountain, Newport and Pickett Mountains, Peme- tic-the only one that still retains an Indian appellation- Jordan, Sargent, and the Bubbles, in whole or in at least their HON. L. B. DEASY summit portions, followed steadily as the seasons passed, with MR. CHAIRMAN: Not forgetting the many who have the gorges and high-lying lakes that they include, till in 1914 rendered valuable assistance, who have made generous dona- an undivided tract, that seemed to Mr. Dorr and President tions of land and gifts of money to buy land, the chief credit Eliot worthy of offering to the Nation, had been secured. for the establishment of this National Park belongs to two Mr. Dorr went to Washington accordingly that spring men. and decided, on the strength of encouragement given him by It owes its inception as a public reservation to the far- the Secretary of the Interior, the Hon. Franklin K. Lane, to sightedness and public spirit of the distinguished chairman of seek its acceptance by the Government under what is known this meeting. as the Monuments Act, passed in 1906 under President It owes its successful accomplishment and ultimate Roosevelt, and widely since then made use of by the Govern- transformation into a National Park to the energy, the per- ment in western portions of the country-this Act being one sistence, the unfailing tact, the consecrated altruism of which authorizes the administration, upon the recommenda- George B. Dorr. tion of the Secretary of the Interior, to set aside by Presi- The movement for the creation of a great public reserva- dential proclamation lands of "historic, pre-historic, or tion on Mt. Desert Island started in 1901, when, at the sug- scientific interest" as National Parks, when previously owned gestion of Dr. Eliot the Hancock County Trustees of Public by it or freely offered to it from a private source. Reservations was organized under the general law. Two Two further years were spent in active work, in extend- years later, in 1903, the organization of this corporation was ing the Park's boundaries and securing its approaches, and confirmed by a special Act of the Maine legislature. The in studying and clearing the land titles of the tract, to bring purposes of the Corporation as stated in this Act were to re- them up to the high standard that the Government requires. ceive, hold, and improve for public use lands in Hancock In early June this year, 1916, Mr. Dorr again returned County which by reason of historic interest, scenic beauty, or to Washington, taking with him all necessary deeds for the any other cause, were suitable for such an object. Government's acceptance, and, aided by the hearty support It was not until 1908, however, eight years before the of Secretary Lane and his Assistant Secretary in charge of proclamation of the National Monument, that the Trustees Parks, Mr. Stephen T. Mather, obtained President Wilson's received their first gift of land, the Bowl and Beehive tract on approval of the Park, the proclamation creating it being Newport Mountain, from Mrs. Charles D. Homans of Bos- signed by him on July 8th. The establishment of this Park guarantees that it will SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT 11 10 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT toric association with the early exploration of our coast and be perpetually open for the use of the public, not as a matter its attempted occupation by the French. of sufferance but as a matter of right; it guarantees that it We do well, therefore, to celebrate this occasion; we do will be protected against devastation, against commercial well to express our appreciation of the work done by Dr. exploitation; it guarantees that its animal, bird, and plant Eliot and Mr. Dorr, and of the important co-operation of the life shall be conserved, something that could not be accom- Secretary of the Interior and his associates; but let us re- plished under private or even corporate ownership. These member that all these efforts might have come to naught had guarantees are worth far more than the Park has cost. it not been that he who had to render the final decision and This great Park lies midway between Northeast Harbor, do the final act was a man big enough to pause amidst the Seal Harbor and Bar Harbor. It is equally accessible to multitudinous duties and besetting cares of his great office to them all. All have a common interest in it. It reaches out give this matter consideration, and clear-visioned enough to to each of these resorts and binds them together into one perceive its real worth and value. community. But to him who possesses imagination and vision, the PRESIDENT ELIOT opening of this Park has a wider and deeper significance. That these mountains, standing at the very edge of the Con- In evidence of the interest which the President of the tinent, looking out across the ocean far beyond our Country's United States has taken in the cause and object of the meet- domain, should remain in private ownership, bought and sold ing today, I read this telegram from President Wilson: by metes and bounds and used for private gain, is incongru- THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D. C., Aug. 17, 1916. ous. That they should be held by the Nation in trust for all MR. GEORGE B. DORR, its people is their appropriate destiny. BAR HARBOR, MAINE. The man who lives in the interior of the country has Mrs. Wilson and I warmly appreciate your kind message but very little to remind him of the Federal Government under it is only too evident to me now that the constant demand of public duties upon my time will prevent our having the which he lives. He has the postage stamp and the income pleasure of visiting the new park this summer. tax, but scarcely anything else. But go with me upon the WOODROW WILSON. crest of any one of these hills in the National Park and look seaward; upon every headland a light-house; upon every We are to hear next from Bishop Lawrence, who, I am sunken ledge, a buoy or spindle; the safe road or channel sure, will speak some words of congratulation on the achieve- along the whole coast marked by buoys; and when the fog ment we are this day commemorating; I have a hope that he curtain falls, the Nation does not forget its children upon the will indicate to us also how considerable sums of money for water, but guides them to safety by signals. the carrying on of our project can be raised. It is fitting that the Nation should be given this unique post of vantage, these mountains by the sea from which its BISHOP LAWRENCE most beneficent work may be observed. It is fitting it LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MR. ELIOT: My present should hold them in trust for the public, because of the les- duty is that of congratulation. Whom shall I congratulate? sons they teach of ancient geologic history and Nature's Why ourselves, of course! It is always pleasant to congratu- ways; because of the exceptional variety and interest of the late ourselves on any happiness that comes to us. In the life they shelter, plant and animal; and because of their his- first place, then, please try to recall the thought that came SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT 13 12 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT into your mind as you heard of this National Park. Presi- henceforth can take them from her. To my mind this Park dent Eliot claims, and has the right I think to claim, seniority is fitted remarkably to be a park for urban people. I feel here; but others of us, too, are running close back to fifty oppressed by big national parks. Their distances are too years ago this summer. But whether we go back a single great. They do not appeal to one's capacity for achieve- year or fifty there is not one of us here who has not some de- ment. But here we have hills which those accustomed to lightful association with this spot. And when we heard the city life may mount, and walks they may use to gain strength. President had signed that proclamation I think our first im- Here we have a park naturally formed in its smallness of dis- pression was relief. No one now can come down and spoil tances, in its quintessence of beauty, to help city-dwelling these lands the Government has taken under its protection. men to gain new energy for heavy work in winter. No fire can sweep through them. We are content in the thought that they are in the hands of the Government, and, PRESIDENT ELIOT knowing how it has administered other parks, we therefore Bishop Lawrence certainly has given us a pleasing pic- congratulate ourselves that the Nation has assumed control, ture of the results of the conservation of the Island for our- feeling assured that what it has taken will remain forever selves, for our descendants, and for the world at large; but it beautiful. apparently slipped his mind to tell us how the money we'yet In the second place, may we not congratulate those who need is to be raised. I take his place on that subject with have been instrumental in the creation of the Park? Un- one item. A lady spoke to me after our meeting in the Union doubtedly; but that has been so well expressed by Mr. Deasy church at Northeast Harbor last Sunday, and said she wished that it is needless to say more. That these mountains should to send me a check to be applied to the preservation of this have remained endangered SO long when it was clear that beautiful Island. The next day I got a note from her. private ownership might claim them is a mystery. That "Dear Mr. Eliot: more people have not come forward and given of their wealth Enclosed[please find my, check to be used, towards the to save them is a wonder. Transfer the value of a thousand preservation of the mountains of this wonderfully beautiful feet in New York City, covered with nothing but steel and Island, which we old Northeasters love." mortar, to one of these mountains, and a large part of it is I found in the note a check for one thousand dollars. bought. How small that sum compared with the happiness Before I call on the next speaker I venture to correct one that it will give. Think of the good sense and joy of giving statement in the otherwise entirely accurate remarks of Mr. as some have given, and of the opportunity that remains to Deasy. He attributed to me the early conception of what give as others will give. For we may be confident that this might be done here for the developing of a noble public park, Park will not remain bounded with its present lines, but will thereby securing for future generations this Island as a great increase until in time it covers the beautiful parts of the health and pleasure resort. He did me more than justice. whole Island. The conception in my mind was derived from my son, the I feel that we may congratulate Mr. Dorr on having had landscape architect, who died in 1897. Moreover, the con- the privilege of being one to whom the achievement of a great ception of a Hancock County Board of Trustees, which has thing has come, and that we may add the thanks and con- been applied on this Island, was copied from the Massachu- gratulations, too, of future generations. People will gather setts Board of Trustees of Public Reservations which my son here from all parts of this country, from all parts of the not only conceived, but carried into effect. So it is to my world. New England has won these mountains and none 14 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT 15 son, and not to me, that the merit of the conception belongs. come to see, should be secured. The areas adjoining it that I have, however, had a continuous function with regard are fertile in wild life--exceptional forest tracts, wild orchid to the work of the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reser- meadows and natural wild-flower areas of other type, the vations, of which I have been President. This function has pools haunted by water-loving birds, and the deep, well- been one of consultation, advice, encouragement, and now wooded and well-watered valleys that lie between the moun- and then incitement; but this advice, this encouragement has tains-are necessary to include in order to make the Park been addressed to just one person, Mr. George B. Dorr, the what it should be, a sanctuary and protecting home for the principal worker in the enterprise, one great step of which we whole region's plant and animal life, and for the birds that ask are now celebrating. I hope Mr. Dorr will say a few words to its hospitality upon their long migrations. Make it this, and you not only on the nature of the enterprise itself, but on the naturalists will seek it from the whole world over, and from future work which ought to be done for it; because he is not it other men will learn similarly to cherish wild life in other only a man of persistent enthusiasm and devotion to what- places. ever he undertakes for the public good, but also a man of wise The influence of such work, beneficent in every aspect, and far-reaching vision. I present to you Mr. George B. travels far; and many, beholding it, will go hence as mission- Dorr. aries to extend it. We have a wonderful landscape, to deep- en the impression, and, now that the Government has set its GEORGE B. DORR seal of high approval on it, wide publicity will be given to all that we accomplish. MR. CHAIRMAN: By taking the opportunity given us by the richly varied My thought turns forward, rather, to the great opportu- topography of the Island, by its situation on the border be- nity that springs from what is now achieved, than back tween land and sea, by the magnificent beginning made, and toward the past, save for the memory of those I would were the Government's co-operation, we can do something now here to be glad with us at this first stage attained. It is an whose influence will be widely felt. And here I wish to say a opportunity of singular interest, SO to develop and preserve word which falls in singularly well with the thought of the the wild charm and beauty of a spot thus honored by the far-reaching influence this work may have. Nation that future generations may rejoice in them yet more Charles Eliot, Dr. Eliot's older son, was a landscape than we; and SO to conserve, and where there is need restore, architect of rare ability and enthusiasm. Moved by a public the wild life whose native haunt it is that all may find de- spirit that he derived alike from his own nature and the home light in it, and men of science a uniquely interesting field for influences that helped to form him, he initiated in Massachu- study. setts the system of Public Reservations on which our own was For both purposes we need more land, as anyone may modeled. - To him Mt. Desert owes that debt of leadership, see by studying the Park and Reservation bounds on Dr. while he, in turn, might never have been awakened to the Abbe's wonderfully illuminating relief map. We have begun value and importance of such work had it not been for the an important work; we have succeeded until the Nation itself inspiration, the love of nature and the quickened conscious- has taken cognizance of it and joined with us for its ad- ness of beauty, drawn from boyhood summers passed upon it. vancement; let us not stop short of its fulfilment in essential During the early summer, when I was at Washington points. Adequate approaches to the National Monument, working on this matter of the Park's establishment and was which men and women from the country over will henceforth plunged for weeks together in its oppressive heat, it struck SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT 17 16 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT morning from Professor Francis G. Peabody, who has now me what a splendid and useful thing it would be if we could his summer residence at Northeast Harbor, but who used to provide down here, in a spot SO full of biologic interest and live in Bar Harbor. All through his early married life he was unsolved biologic problems, SO rich in various beauty and a resident at Bar Harbor. locked around by a cool northern sea, a summer camp-some simple summer home-for men of science working in the My DEAR PRESIDENT ELIOT: Government bureaus, in the museums and universities. I am prevented by a cold from attending the meeting at They would come down to work, as Henry Chapman and Bar Harbor today, but wish to express my keen interest in Charles Sedgwick Minot used to do, on a fresh field of life, its purpose. To one who has tramped over these hills almost every bird or plant or animal, and then go back invigorated, ready summer for forty-six years, the assurance that this privilege to do more valuable work the whole winter through in con- is to be secured for all later generations is a peculiar happi- sequence of this climatic boon and stimulating change. ness; and I trust that the obligation laid on residents along the Western shore to guard their mountains and water-sup- This is one opportunity. Another, which is urgent, is to plies may be as obvious and imperative as it has been to their secure now, while it may be done, tracts of special biologic neighbors at Bar Harbor and Seal Harbor. interest not yet secured, irreplaceable if lost in private owner- May I add one personal reflection? Mr. and Mrs. ship or through destruction of their natural conditions,as Charles Dorr were, from my point of view, late comers to Bar well as adequate approaches to the National Park, con- Harbor, having settled there not more than forty years ago; venient and scenically worthy of the national possession to but they were the first to discover the possibilities of the shore for landscape-gardening, and to transform the wild beauty which they lead. Both of these are essentially important at surrounding their hospitable home into a well-ordered and this time. No one who has not made the study of it which I unspoiled park. have can realize how truly wonderful the opportunities are How happy it would now make these devoted parents to which the creation of this Park has opened, alike in wild life know that among the names to be forever associated with the unique loveliness of this Island was that of their beloved son! ways and splendid scenery. To lose by want of action now Cordially yours what will be SO precious to the future, whether for the de- FRANCIS G. PEABODY. light of men or as a means to study, would be no less than tragic. Mr. Peabody has in this letter referred to the need of guard- Do not, therefore, look on what has been accomplished ing other mountains-Brown Mountain, Robinson Mountain as other than a first step attained upon a longer way, which and Dog Mountain. should be followed only the more keenly for the national Mr. Dorr spoke to us of another development which co-operation that has been secured, the national recognition ought to take place on this Island-the study of its wild life won. of all sorts, its trees, shrubs and flowers, marine animals and land animals. Such studies add greatly to the interest PRESIDENT ELIOT of such a place as Mount Desert, both for adults and for children; and they afford exquisite delights to the people You see, ladies and gentlemen, that this celebration of an of whom Bishop Lawrence spoke as urban. important step in the progress of a large public work has in- In Mr. Dorr's work to secure these reservations on Mt. evitably brought in the mention of simple domestic loves, of Desert and put them in the hands of the Government he has transmitted affections and dispositions. found need of advice from scientific experts in all branches of I want to read at this stage a letter which I received this 18 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT 19 natural history. This occasion would have been incomplete of the new National Park, tells me he has noted more than unless we had been enabled to hear from one of these scientific 140 species of birds during his residence at Bar Harbor, a experts. I present to you Dr. Alfred G. Mayer, Director of wonderful list for any single area. Fully a hundred of these the Department of Marine Biology of the Carnegie Institu- are land birds, many of whom will soon become delightfully tion of Washington. tame under the Nation's kindly and protecting care. The rest are wanderers along the coast and strangely interesting, DR. ALFRED G. MAYER often, in form and habit. The scientific study of this region is singularly rich in LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: interest in many fields, with its fascinating geologic history, There is something essentially American in this gift to its glacial scars upon the ancient rocks, its grand fjord, the Nation, American in the sense that it must ever remain Somes Sound, its splendid sea-cut cliffs and deep ravines; stimulating and constructive in regard to the character of its while the forest, with its "murmuring pines and hemlocks," recipients, never arresting as SO often were the gifts of older its golden autumn foliage and dark green spruces, its density times. Yet was it an English friend of our land, Smithson- and interesting forest floor, is to me in its wild state the most a lover of freedom and a man of noble dreams-who first attractive in the world. established this modern form of giving in our country, when Alone among the nations we possess a coast line extend- he bequeathed to it in his will funds for the establishment of ing from the pine trees to the palms, from the gray and all but the Smithsonian Institution. arctic waters of Maine to the sparkling blue sea of Florida's At first men feared the very breadth of possibility it Gulf Stream. opened; but a great and leading spirit, Joseph Henry, so Our Government has, strangely, never established a shaped this possibility into definite achievement that today permanent laboratory north of Cape Cod for our fisheries' no other single agency for the advancement of science upon benefit, yet no richer or more promising field for biological this continent has succeeded SO largely in constructive work work exists than that offered by these fruitful northern as the Smithsonian. How fortunate you are, then, in having waters, nor a more desirable and practical station for such similarly, as founders of this present enterprise, two other work than that offered by the tract of sheltered and deep- great and leading spirits-our famous and distinguished watered coast at Mount Desert now dedicated to the mem- chairman, Charles W. Eliot, and his far-sighted associate in ory of Dr. S. Weir Mitchell. this project, George B. Dorr. How deeply we need more information respecting our For it is a project that contemplates far more than its fisheries is all too evident. Why was it that in 1911 our mere gift of land, important though that be. fishing fleet obtained not more than one quarter of its usual To Natural Science this gift, carried to its completion and expected catch of Cod? Think of the millions that according to the plans now made, should prove inestimable; might be saved, the loss and misery averted, could we but and it is as a naturalist that I must look upon these beautiful predict the fisheries catch as we now do the crops on land. forests with their soft green moss and clustering ferns, and In Norway, where the study of the practical problems of the on the old gray rocks that bear SO rich a growth of lichens. sea has made more headway than with us, they are able even But it is a meeting ground not of floras only; both the to predict in accurate measure the seasonal growth of trees Canadian and Appalachian faunas meet here too, and SO along the coast, and to determine ahead the earliness or late- rich in bird life is it that Mr. Henry Lane Eno, ornithologist ness of the spring by observing the temperature of the neigh- 20 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT 21 boring ocean waters. Similarly a relation has been dis- contamination by Bar Harbor or other sewage; and your in- covered between the abundance of those floating plants, the tended station there, with its well protected anchorage and diatoms, and the fluctuations of the herring in the North Sea. Many a problem of vital import to our race awaits the ready access to the sea, constitutes a far better site for a solution of these ocean problems, and the science of marine laboratory than any one of those now occupied by our Fish Commission at Woods Hole, Beaufort, or Key West; for, good biology, with all the advance that it has made, is yet but in as these sites are in some respects, none of them are imme- its infancy. diately adjacent to the pure waters of the open ocean. Let us hope that the guiding spirit of this foundation, The tide-pools are far richer in marine life than those of George B. Dorr, and his wise counsellor, Dr. Eliot, may be Newfoundland and compare favorably with those of East- given opportunity to establish it safely upon this larger basis, now that its first and hardest stage has been completed, and port, Maine, before that region became contaminated by sewage. The marked variety, too, in the character of the to continue the undertaking in like spirit to the past till a shore, with its rocky tide-pools, its muddy or gravelly beach- priceless heritage be secured to future generations, in an en- es, its luxuriant growth of Fucus, Laminaria and other sea during opportunity for important work in a locality SO fa- weeds, and the shade of the well-developed sea-caves in the vorable. cliffs, are all of them important factors, rendering the site superior to that of Newport in its best days for a Marine PRESIDENT ELIOT Laboratory. The address to which we have just listened contains so The surface "tow" showed that the floating life is that of many points of interest, so much of science and suggestive the cold Shore Current which creeps down our coast from the thought, that we must all hope that we may be enabled to Gulf of St. Lawrence to Cape Cod, and of which a remnant read it. It ought to be printed for wide circulation. even reaches Cape Canaveral in Florida. Now, in August, This congratulatory meeting is now ended. We part the animals are sub-arctic in character, but in the spring and with rejoicing in our hearts at what has been accomplished, early summer I should expect to find many truly arctic forms and I am sure also with strong hope that the good work will maturing rapidly in the warming waters around Bar Harbor. be vigorously carried forward. Curiously, our Government has never established a perma- nent laboratory for the study of the sea north of Cape Cod, yet this region is that of the Cod and Haddock fisheries par excellence, and, with the exception of the oyster, nearly every The following letter received from Dr. Mayer since the great fishery centers off the New England Coast north of meeting is published here as adding, by a fresh expression, Cape Cod. Thus your intended laboratory on Mt. Desert to the already great interest of his address. would meet a long-felt want. With our Country's past history in marine exploration, Gloucester, Mass., August 28, 1916. with such names behind us as Maury, Boche, and the Agas- Dear Mr. Dorr: During my recent stay with you at Oldfarm I was able sizs, father and son, we should not now be content to permit the little nation of Norway to surpass us; yet this it has done, to inspect the shores and to make surface hauls in the waters and able as our men of science are they are powerless in the surrounding Mt. Desert. The tests I made show clearly that the water off Salisbury Cove is practically free from absence of support for such researches. It is a great work, accordingly, that you and the public- 22 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT spirited men associated with you are contemplating, and I hope if you do establish such a laboratory on Mt. Desert Island in connection with the Sieur de Monts National Mon- ment it will be one worthy of your aim and sufficiently endowed to enable it to conduct research work of interna- tional importance that will bring back once more to our Country the honorable position it once had of leadership in the study of the sea, its physics, its chemistry and its life. I have not spoken of the land, for this may be beyond the scope of the statement you desire from me; but nowhere along our entire coast is there such varied terrestrial environ- ment as is afforded by your abrupt, rocky mountains, post- glacial meadows of peat, your lakes and fjords, and your dense forests of Mt. Desert. A meeting place for both the Canadian and Appalachian faunas, it offers suitable habitats for a remarkable range of animal life. The smallness of the Island, in view of this, is a decided advantage, enabling one to travel readily from one environment to another of a wholly different character. It should afford a remarkable opportunity, also, for experimental plant-acclimatization, and with the co-operation of our Department of Agriculture interesting results should be achieved in this direction. In your gardens even now we find plants from the Carolinas growing by the side of others from Labrador. In the name of science I wish you all success, and shall esteem it a delight to render all service in my power to aid your project for the advance of learning and the appreciation of that rare beauty which is our Country's own. Yours truly, ALFRED G. MAYER. SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS III The Seacoast National Park in Maine Viewed in the light of its relation to Bird Life and Bird Study By Young Bald-headed Eagle at Henry Lane Eno "The Bowl," on Newport Mountain Photographed by Marion Rich Ornithologist Sieur de Monts National Monument 27 M945 no. 3 SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS III The Sieur de Monts National Monument AS A Bird Sanctuary Mount Desert Island Maine The Sieur de Monts National Monument as a Bird Sanctuary With the opening of the Sieur de Monts National Mon- ument upon Mount Desert Island-the first National Park east of the Mississippi-a large and important area has been set aside as a bird reserve. The significance of this new creation, moreover, can scarcely be overestimated; for, the lover of wild life, the scientist, and the farmer alike possess interests in the con- servation of our birds. The principal causes for these several interests are three: Aesthetic, Scientific, and Economic; the first of which, in its broad appeal, is the Aesthetic. THE AESTHETIC REASON Our wild birds constitute one of the most beautiful and essential elements in nature. Without their abundant presence, the streams, the forests and the flowers-even the sky and the ocean-would lose their chief living charm. The imagination shrinks before the picture of a spring, no matter how lovely, deprived of the sweet voices and flash- ing forms of our early migrants; of a birdless summer forest, or of an autumn without its cheerful bands of roving feath- ered hunters. Yet with the rapidly increasing occupation of all avail- able lands-especially along our crowded eastern seaboard- for the purposes of industry, agriculture, and residence, all the wilder and more picturesque regions will soon be greatly diminished in extent, eventually to disappear almost com- pletely, together with the wild and interesting forms of life which they at present shelter, unless considerable tracts are set apart, before it is too late, in order to conserve them. For it is well-known that whenever the numbers of any 4 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT 5 species, through persecution or lack of suitable environment, fauna is quite as great as the Aesthetic interest, and much become reduced beyond a certain point, the whole species more specific. quickly comes to an end. Already the splendid Pileated The wild life of any region constitutes almost the entire Woodpecker and the Woodcock, once so plentiful, have material with which Natural History and Biology must work; grown alarmingly scarce; while the Passenger Pigeon and the without this material in abundance and wide variety they Great Auk are extinct. Moreover, needless to say, any form can not pursue at all their valuable researches. Plenitude of bird or animal that is once gone can never be brought of living organisms is as important to them as seed to the back. farmer or stone to the mason. It is clearly, then, our task and duty, while yet in time, We are performing, therefore, a most useful service in to take the necessary measures to preserve, by every means the cause of Science in helping to preserve and multiply within our power, the rich fullness of our wild-life, with its those forms which are the subjects of her study. congenial haunts, for the profit and joy of future genera- As a basis, too, for special research particular species tions. may become essential. We all know of Darwin's wonder- Neither economic prosperity nor social advantage com- ful experiments with pigeons, and the importance of the re- prise the whole value of experience. To the tired dweller in sults obtained. How much might he not have been handi- our great cities, to the overworked toiler under the growing capped, if all the pigeons had been ruthlessly slaughtered and nervous tension of modern artificial conditions, the peaceful exterminated-as our own wild pigeons were-before their healing of natural things-their quiet beauty and their sooth- domestication had become established? ing charm-are becoming constantly more indispensable. Similarly, the researches of modern Biology into the "These enchantments," said Emerson in his famous nature of the life process itself-researches which promise so "Nature", "are medicinal, they sober and heal us. These much in the interest of science and for the benefit of the are plain pleasures, kindly and native to us." It is not alone race-are dependent largely upon the presence of certain the body that finds rest and recuperation among our se- specific organisms as subjects of investigation, and, at any cluded lakes and forests, but most of all the mind, which, moment, some fresh variety of bird or animal may prove of turning its stream into new and more healthful channels, paramount importance for the successful prosecution of gains a great invigoration, establishing fresh throught- this great work. centers which will act, through memory and association, as For Animal Psychology, again, which is now casting life-giving stimuli for weeks and months to come. illumination upon such vexed questions as the migrating and But none of these beneficent conditions would be com- homing instincts of birds-with the fascinating suggestion of plete without the birds. For whether we study their enticing a sixth sense, the mysterious sense of direction-as well as ways with scientific interest, or idly follow their flight and upon other problems of research which have an even more song as simple nature lovers, they remain, always, the su- intimate connection with human behavior, all the higher preme, delicate touch in the picture, without which the for- forms of life, in widest possible variety, are essential as ests would seem desolate, the meadows lifeless and cold. subjects for investigation. There remains, in addition still, the more exclusive THE SCIENTIFIC REASON biologic interest in the protection of our birds as objects in themselves of study. Here, again, abundance and variety The interest of Science in the conservation of our native of forms are essential for the investigation of such questions 6 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT 7 as the range and migration of species, their most favorable THE ECONOMIC REASON habitat and environment, their breeding and feeding habits, The considerations which have led to an appreciation the merging of varieties, or the possible development of of the economic importance of our wild birds have been one varieties into distinct species under changing conditions. of the immediate results of scientific ornithology, and make, Nature, moreover, is not an unrelated patchwork but a complex in which no constituent part can be destroyed with- perhaps, its most direct appeal. It should not be forgotten, however, that here, as elsewhere, the more purely scientific out affecting to some degree the whole, and disturbing the research-the pursuit of special knowledge for its own sake well-regulated balance. Nor, with our limited knowledge, alone-has been the necessary and inevitable forerunner of are we ever aware how essential any particular species of the practical application which has followed, and that it was animal or plant may be in nature's economy, nor how impor- the interest of the professional ornithologist in the food tant to ourselves, until, perhaps, realization of its useful- supply of particular species that opened the way to a ness comes all too late. correct estimation of the astonishing part played by birds as A striking instance in point occurred within the last destroyers of the various insect pests. few years. It has been stated, indeed, and not without good reason, A large sheep owner on one of the grassy islands off the that were it not for their feathered enemies, the voracious and Massachusetts coast had reason to believe that the crows, rapidly multiplying insect hosts would occasion such havoc which flocked to his meadows in great numbers, were in the among our trees and crops that the green earth would quick- habit of feeding occasionally upon his young lambs. He ly become a desert incapable of supporting any form of life accordingly prosecuted a relentless warfare on these feathered whatever. For nearly all birds are insect destroyers, while enemies of his flock. many species feed exclusively upon these devastating The next year his fields were yellow and barren; the creatures. grass had all been killed by the larvae of the Junebug. In- Woodpeckers, chicadees, nuthatches, and other smaller structed by a friendly ornithologist, he discovered, to his tree-creepers cleanse the various layers of bark from the chagrin, that the crows had been feeding almost exclusively grubs, eggs, and larvae which infest them. Warblers simi- upon these destructive grubs and that as the result of his larly act as scavengers among the leaves. Swallows and fly- campaign he had lost many more lambs from starvation catchers pursue their quarry among the tiny winged denizens than the light toll he had accused the crows of taking. of the air. Thrushes, sparrows, and the ground feeders hunt This is but one example of the immense value of certain through the herbage and undergrowth; while even the smaller birds-and, in this case, of birds popularly considered among hawks and other birds of prey subsist largely upon grass- the most harmful and useless-as our defenders against fatally destructive foes. hoppers and such vermin. The number of insects devoured, in these various ways, The exact role played by the different species, however, is almost incredible. can be fully discovered only after many more years of ac- "It will be found stated," says Dr. Chapman, Curator of curate research. If, in the meantime, useful species are Ornithology in the American Museum of Natural History, largely diminished, or perhaps totally destroyed, through lack "that the stomach of a single Cedar Waxwing contained one of proper protection, the special benefits they bring are lost hundred canker worms, that one Cuckoo had eaten two forever. hundred and fifty caterpillars, that four hundred and fifty SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT 9 8 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT but it is highly probable that further research will show that plantlice were found in the stomach of one Chicadee, that a it is far from being the least among their many valuable Nighthawk had made a meal on sixty grasshoppers, that a services. Flicker had devoured one thousand chinch bugs, that a Scarlet Tanager was seen to eat six hundred and thirty gypsy HOW BIRDS ARE PROTECTED moth caterpillars in eighteen minutes, or at the rate of two thousand one hundred an hour; while a Maryland Yellow- We have seen, in brief outline, how important is the throat ate three thousand five hundred plantlice in forty problem of bird-conservation for economic, as well as sci- minutes, or at the rate of five thousand two hundred seventy entific, and aesthetic reasons. an hour!" How, then, is their conservation to be insured? If we add that the United States Department of Agri- For this purpose there are three principal agencies: culture has estimated the loss to agricultural interests oc- Legislation, Education, and Sequestration. casioned by insects at about Eight Hundred Million Dollars a year, and the loss to the interests of forestry at One Hun- PROTECTIVE LEGISLATION dred Million Dollars, we can form some rough estimate of the services of our wild birds! Almost every State has enacted more or less stringent As devourers of the seeds of noxious weeds, also, the laws for the protection of its birds; and recently the Federal birds are of inestimable value to the agriculturist. Government, in the Migratory Bird Act, has taken a much Dr. Chapman states "that seven hundred seeds of the needed step in the cause of inter-state protective legislation. pigeon grass were taken from the stomach of a Tree Spar- In general the statutes provide for a limited open season row by Professor Beal, who estimates that this species de- for most game birds, both of sea and land; and, in many stroys no less than eight hundred and seventy-five tons of states, a prohibition against shooting for the market at any weed seed annually in the single state of Iowa; that one season, as well as against the killing of songbirds at all times. thousand pigweed seeds were found in the stomach of a In this way a great deal, undoubtedly, has been accom- Snow Bunting; that a Bob-white contained five thousand plished; and if the laws were indeed strictly observed, there would be much less left for private endeavor to achieve. It seeds of pigeon grass; while a Mourning Dove had eaten the enormous number of seven thousand five hundred seeds of is to be regretted, however, that they are honored more large- the yellow-wood sorrel." ly in the breach than in the observance. For this reason the campaign of education, waged now It should be mentioned, further, that the hawks and owls yearly destroy an enormous quantity of noxious rodents; for some years, has proved of the greatest significance in while the crows and gulls of the North, and the vultures in the the cause of bird protection. South, perform a most necessary duty as scavengers. Nor, finally, let us be ungrateful to the wing-feeding EDUCATION and marsh-inhabiting birds who are responsible for the de- struction of innumerable hosts of mosquitos and other di- It is, in fact, due principally to the growing efficiency of sease-conveying insects. How important this last function this instructive campaign that the laws which are already of our avifauna may be, Science has not as yet determined; upon the various statute books have been obtained; and it will, without doubt, be by reason of a still more wide-spread *Birds of Eastern North America, by Frank M. Chapman, pp. 99-103. appreciation of the value of our birds that these laws will in 10 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT 11 time become universally observed, and yet greater private and public efforts directed towards bird conservation. One has only to note the surprising number of species In this important work the well-known Audubon which congregate at certain times of the year in such places Society, with its various branches in the different States, was as the church-yard of Trinity Church, in New York City, at a pioneer; and it was largely because of its intelligent ex- the very heart of the Western World's greatest financial ertions that not only protective legislation, but the splendid- center, to see how the birds will flock even to the smallest ly effective methods of Public School instruction and wide area, in an apparently most unfavorable environment, where circulation of ornithological literature have, together, suc- adequate protection is insured. ceeded in drawing the public attention. Bradford Torrey, again, has counted half a hundred "It is the diffusion of this wide-spread knowledge of the different species of birds in one day in the Boston Common economic, as well as the aesthetic importance of birds," says and Public Gardens-a much larger but nonetheless unlikely Dr. Chapman, "which has made it possible to secure the spot for the observation of wild life; while Central Park in passage and enforcement of effective laws for their protec- New York City constitutes a still wider and more fertile field tion; and it is in this continued and increasing interest in for the urban ornithologist. birds, not alone as our efficient co-workers in garden, field, If these astounding results have been accidentally ob- orchard, and forest, but as the most eloquent expression of tained under such adverse conditions, what may we not nature's joy and freedom, that we shall doubtless find a true reasonably expect where the protected areas are of wide measure of their greatest value to man." extent and suitable environment? A striking example of actual accomplishment is the wonderfully successful experiment conducted by Edward A. SEQUESTRATION McIllhenny at Avery Island, Louisiana. Starting with eight young snowy herons which he trans- It is, however, in the recent movement for the creation planted to the borders of a pond upon his own estate, at the of special reservations, absolute sanctuaries for the protection end of seventeen years he had no less than twenty thousand of bird life, that the awakening of public interest has shown pair of herons of various species nesting there. its culminating effect; for these reservations "combine all the "Now let it be impressed upon the reader," he says, measures serving for the protection of birds."* "that this great bird city, where the inhabitants are free to Such sanctuaries may be of vast extent, as our great come and go as they choose, is not in the heart of some dense National Parks in the West; or they may comprise but the swamp, miles away from human habitation, but in a little tiniest garden plot in the outskirts of one of our great eastern valley between the hills, and fully fifty feet above the sea cities. In either case they are of almost inestimable value, level. The land on the south and southwest is cultivated, and afford, within their limits, satisfactory solutions for al- and the home of the writer is within two hundred yards of the most every problem-food, shelter, protection from maraud- northwest end. A railroad, wagon road, and telephone line ing creatures, and nesting facilities. bound the eastern side. A busy factory, a railroad station, and a dozen dwelling houses are within two hundred yards of ts eastern and southern border, and yet these birds live here *How to Attract and Protect Wild Birds, by Martin Hieseman. Translated by Emma S. Buchheim, London. Witherly & Co., London, in perfect contentment, without fear of their greatest enemy, 316 High Holborn man. Many nests are within ten feet of the wagon road This little book is most valuable, and a classic upon the subject. and within thirty feet of the railroad; SO near, in fact, that SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT 13 12 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT stringent laws against all forms of devastation, while the the people on the train daily see the herons on their nests. effective co-operation of the various bureaus at Washington The nesting water and marsh birds now include snowy heron, may be then enlisted for the purposes of investigation. yellow crowned night heron, purple gallinule, Louisiana Fortunately, there are now in existence, principally heron, American egret, little blue heron, green heron, Florida under the control of the Department of Agriculture, over gallinule, American bittern, least bittern, king rail, anhinga, seventy of these National Bird Reserves, comprising many wood duck, blue wing teal, gadwall, and mallard, besides a hundreds of square miles. number of species of land birds which make their homes in It is to be noted, however, that with the exception of the small twigs where the larger birds cannot go." certain tracts upon the Florida coast and its outlying Keys, Such obvious appreciation of safe dwelling places, and and an island in Alabama, not one of these existed in the the manner in which they are, frequented by constantly in- whole great eastern area of our country upon this side of creasing multitudes, would seem to indicate some method of the Mississippi until the creation, in the present year of communication between our winged neighbors. Of all this, 1916, of the Sieur de Monts National Monument in Maine. however, as well as of bird psychology in general, we know as yet but little. It is, nevertheless, a fully demonstrated The especial importance of the Sieur de Monts Park fact that, in some unknown way, the birds soon become aware of the benefits of protected places and are quick as a Bird Sanctuary to take advantage of them. While if, in addition to freedom The new Sieur de Monts National Park is of especial from disturbing enemies, they are furnished with attractive interest as a Bird Reserve for three important reasons- and convenient nesting facilities, with an artificially increased Geographical Position; Coastal Situation upon a great route food supply during the bitter winter months when natural of Bird Migration; and Physical Character. food is scarce and difficult to obtain, especially for the ground feeding species; and with occasional shelters from severe GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION storms and driving snow, they will flock to any well-placed sanctuary in constantly increasing numbers and variety. As the first National Bird Reserve east of the Missis- Species which once were rare in the neighborhood will then ippi drainage basin, and the first upon the Atlantic seaboard be found in relative abundance, the common kinds in aug- north of Florida, the setting aside of this area assumes a mented numbers; while opportunities for observation and paramount importance. Indeed, the significance of its crea- study can be created to so favorable an extent in such a sanc- tion, will, in all probability, not be fully realized until, in tuary as to make of it practically a vast ornithological future years, the compelling force of an awakened public laboratory. opinion shall have largely multiplied, along the coast and The importance of sanctuaries, therefore, both for con- among the woods, the lakes, the marshes and the mountains serving and increasing the birds of the adjacent regions, and of our whole Eastern Section, similar beneficent foundations for the scientific study of their habits and economic value in imitation of this prototype. can hardly be over-emphasized. And this is especially true Yet even when that time shall have come, the Sieur de when they are placed under the Federal Authorities, for this Monts Reserve must still rank first among its peers, since ensures their good administration and the enforcement of its position is unique. It stands, in the first place, at the junction and overlapping of two great faunal areas-the *How I Made a Bird City, by Edward A. McIllhenny, 1912. 14 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT 15 Canadian and Alleghanian-drawing from each many species Mount Desert Island, remarkable for the contour, which scarcely surpass this limit north or south; while height, and ocean-girdled situation of its rock-built hills, some even of the Hudsonian birds from remote sub-arctic constitutes the most conspicuous coastal feature between regions frequent its rocky shores and mountain tops. the St. Lawrence and the Gulf of Mexico, and as the human Technically the Island of Mount Desert comes within traveller, approaching by either sea or land, sights with a the boundaries of the Canadian faunal area, but lying SO thrill of pleasure, from many miles away, its striking peaks, near its southern limit, many of the typical Alleghanian SO doubtless our winged wanderers are affected in a manner species are frequently found upon it. For, as Knight says, little different. in his excellent work on the Birds of Maine,* "The change "The tendency," says Forbush, the Massachusetts from one area to another is not at all abrupt; but instead, as ornithologist, "of most migratory birds nesting on the eastern we near their common boundary we find species common to third of the continent is to fly southeastward from their nest- both occurring on the same grounds." For example, the ing grounds until they reach the coast and then to follow it northern-ranging Bicknell's Thrush and the Canadian sub- southward, guided apparently by prominent landmarks species of the Hudsonian Chicadee, as well as such southern spread along the coast, or to strike out presently across the species as the White-eyed Vireo, Wood Thrush, and Blue- sea to the Antilles. gray Gnatcatcher have been observed. "When the autumn frosts come, migratory birds from For while the Canadian zone is distinguished by the Greenland, from all the shores of Baffins Bay, from Labrador high development of its coniferous forests, and while these and Newfoundland, from the cultivated lands of eastern are typical of this Island, imparting to it their distinctive Canada and all the wild interior beyond, pour their dimin- Canadian quality, its position, jutting far out to sea, so ished legions down toward the Maine coast; in the spring- tempers the climate in relation to the neighboring interior time they return and spread out northward from it. as to make it the frequent resort of many birds which "Thus Mount Desert Island, unique in being the only would not otherwise be tempted so far North. mountainous tract thrust prominently out into the sea, offers an important landmark and admirable resting place for migratory birds of every kind-birds of sea and shore, SITUATION ON A GREAT MIGRATORY ROUTE the useful insect-eating birds of cultivated lands, of woods It is well-known that the migration routes of most and gardens, the birds of marsh and meadow lands and birds follow the lines of important natural features, such as inland waters."* great mountain chains, river valleys, and especially the PHYSICAL CHARACTER sea coast. The border of the Atlantic Ocean, constitutes accordingly, the principal highway for the majority of all the It is not alone, however, from its favorable geographical eastern land species, while for most aquatic birds this route situation, or its pre-eminence as a coastal landmark, that is almost exclusively the main thoroughfare. Along these Mt. Desert Island possesses the necessary elements for a migratory routes, again, unusual landmarks, and particularly successful bird sanctuary. The remarkable and varied prominent elevations, serve as guides and rallying points for physical character of the Island constitutes, of itself, a the travellers on their long journeys. *The Unique Island of Mount Desert. National Geographic Magazine *"The Birds of Maine" by Ora Willis Knight, Bangor, Maine, 1908. 1914. 16 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT 17 feature which peculiarly fits it to be the habitat of an as- tonishing diversity of life forms, both plant and animal. mit and Olive-backed Thrushes. Upon the colder moun- Facing the ocean, there stretches a precipitous mountain tain summits may be found Canadian Chicadees and the range nearly twelve miles in length, containing seven peaks rare Bicknell's Thrush; along their precipices flap a not of over a thousand feet, the highest, Green Mountain, rising infrequent pair of Northern Ravens; above them soar the to above fifteen hundred. These hills are heavily wooded Ospreys and Bald-headed Eagles which nest among their in- with coniferous trees, although their summits are crowned accessible crags; while overhead countless Swallows sail and with bare and ice-scarred granite, from whence was derived flutter against the blue vault of heaven. the picturesque name given to the island by its first dis- Within this small compass, accordingly, of less than fif- coverer, Champlain-"Lisle des Monts Deserts"-The teen miles square, may be found varieties of natural environ- Isle of Desert Mountains. ment suitable as habitat for every species of wild bird which Under the various hills, in deep glacier-furrowed ravines, frequent the surrounding regions. Nor does SO felicitous lie numerous beautiful lakes and ponds, while between two and close an association of mountain, lake, forest, upland, of the steep mountain-sides the narrow fjord of Somes Sound meadow, and ocean exist elsewhere on all our eastern slope. draws in the ocean for seven miles, to the island's center. This splendid Island, therefore, with its native bird-life To the north of this wilderness of lake and mountain lies a saved from the predatory hunter, with its natural attractive- more gently rolling country of forest, field, and little streams; ness for birds enhanced by increased supplies of food in time broken, here and there, by great heaths and marshes, and of need and adequate shelter from exceptional storm and surrounded by a shore full of striking cliffs and deeply re- cold, should soon become a sanctuary whose like it would cessed coves. be hard to find, for rich variety of life, for conservational With such a notable diversity of natural scenery, of land usefulness, and for the purposes of scientific study. and ocean climate, within so small an area, it is scarcely necessary to point out to any naturalist the inevitable pres- ence of a corresponding variety of organic life; while, for the bird lover, the Island can be no less than a veritable garden of delight. From the surrounding ocean, with its numerous bays, come numberless sea birds, Gulls, Ducks, Petrels, Cormor- ants, Crebes, Loons, and Mergansers. Many more wäter- fowl inhabit the wild forest-bordered lakes among the hills. Snipe, Sandpiper, and Plover gather on the beaches and pebbly shores. Herons fish in the salt marshes and the shallow waters of inlets at ebb tide. The sunny meadows are peopled with the different Blackbirds and Sparrows. The open woods and glades throng with Robins, Vireos, Fly catchers and the more southern Warblers. The densely forested hillsides shelter the north-ranging Warblers, Purple Finches, White-throated Sparrows, Her- ANPA B4, FA. 2 Pub lations #4 BAR HARBO 12 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT. The forests of Mount Desert Island were once full of wealth, and full DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR of wealth they still would be if the lumbermen had not done their work Franklin K. Lane, Secretary NATIONAL PARK SERVICE so well. High up on the mountain sides, through the mountain gorges, along the borders of the lakes and streams, everywhere to the water's edge, the great trees growing on the thin but rich wood-soil were taken THE COASTAL SETTING, ROCKS, out, as one may plainly see by their huge rotting stumps to-day. The importance of preserving the woods which still remain no lover of AND WOODS OF THE SIEUR DE MONT: Nature can question. They are infinitely precious as a part of the wild NATIONAL MONUMENT Glacial boulder in a forested mountain valley 700 feet above the sea. scenery of the place and for their wonderful attraction to the city- wearied man or woman in search of a summer home and resting-place. What the island was in the early days of its primeval beauty, when Champlain sailed along its shore and for a century after, lies far beyond the possibility of conjecture now. Yet some idea of what these woods once were may still be gained from a few favored spots where portions of the ancient forest yet remain, and much of their original beauty may be brought back if steps are taken to preserve them now and protect from consuming forest fires the all-important humus in their soil. Note All three are condensations by GBD. WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1917 B4 F4.3 THE COASTAL SETTING, ROCKS, AND WOODS OF THE SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT. INTRODUCTION By GEORGE B. DORR. The following description of the Maine coast and appeal for the pres- ervation of its beauty and freedom to the public in appropriate tracts was written-in somewhat ampler form-nearly 30 years ago by Charles Eliot, the landscape architect, who drew from his summers at the island, the home influences that surrounded him, and the bent of his own mind a love of nature and a will for public service that enabled him to leave behind him, when his day closed suddenly in the fullness of his early man- hood, an enduring monument in important public work initiated and in Further papers on the Sieur de Monts National Monument may be ideas that other men could make their own and build into their work in obtained, with other information, from the custodian, Sieur de Monts National Monument, Park Road and Main Street, Bar Harbor, Me. turn. What he then said can not be better said today; the importance of action which he foresaw so clearly and felt so strongly has only become more evident and more urgent with each passing year. THE COAST OF MAINE. By CHARLES ELIOT. FROM Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, the broad densation of portion of The Waverly entrance of the Gulf of Maine is 200 miles wide, and it is 100 miles across from each of these capes to the corresponding end of the Maine coast at Kittery and Quoddy. Thus, Maine squarely faces the gulf's wide Oaks," Garden { Forest 3, # 104 (1890) : 85-87. seaward opening, while to the east and west, beyond her bounds, stretch its two great offshoots, the Bays of Fundy and of Massachusetts. The latter and lesser bay presents a south shore, built mostly of sands and gravels, in bluffs and beaches, and a north shore of bold and enduring rocks-both already overgrown with seaside hotels and cottages. The Bay of Fundy, on the other hand, is little resorted to as yet for pleasure; its shores in many parts are grandly high and bold, but its waters are moved by such rushing tides and its coasts are so frequently wrapped in fog that it will doubtless long remain a comparatively unfrequented region. Along the coast of Maine scenery and climate change from the Massa- chusetts to the Fundy type. At Boston the average temperature of July is 70°; at Eastport it is 61°. No such coolness is to be found along the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod southward, and this summer freshness of the air must always be an irresistible attraction to many thousand dwellers in hot cities. Again, in contrast with the low beaches farther 3 B4, F4.4 4 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT. SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT. 5 south, the scenery of the Maine coast is exceedingly interesting and islands, is the first of a succession of bays, thoroughfares, and reaches refreshing. The mere map of it is most attractive. From the Piscata- which line the coast almost unceasingly to Quoddy. The mainland qua River, a deep estuary whose swift tides flow through an archipelago becomes lost behind a maze of rock-bound islands; the salt water pene- f rocks and lesser islands, to Cape Elizabeth, a broad wedge of rock trates by deep and narrow channels into the very woods, ebbs and flows in and out of hundreds of lonely, unfrequented harbors, discovers count- less hidden nooks and coves. Sand beaches become rare, and great and small "Sea Walls" of rounded stones or pebbles take their place. Except at Mount Desert, great cliffs occur but seldom until Grand Manan is reached, while mountains come down only to the open sea at Mount Desert; but the variety of lesser topographic forms is great. The general aspect of the coast is wild and untamable, an effect due partly to its own rocky character and storm-swept ledges, but yet more to the changed character of the coastal vegetation. Beyond Cape Eliza- beth capes and islands are wooded, if at all, with the dark, stiff cresting of spruce and fir, interspersed perhaps with pine and fringed by birch and Copyright by National Geographic Society. View of Frenchmans Bay and the Gouldsborough Hills from a mountain trail in the National Monument. mountain ash. One by one familiar species disappear as the coast is traversed eastward, and northern forms replace them. The red pine first appears on Massachusetts Bay, the gray pine at Mount Desert; the Arbor-vitae is first met with near Kennebec; the balsam fir and the black and white spruces show themselves nowhere to the south of Cape Ann, nor do they abound until Cape Elizabeth is passed. It is these somber coniferous woods crowding to the water's edge along the rugged shore Copyright by Dr. Robert Abbe. which give the traveler his strong impression of a wild sub-arctic land t Desert Island as seen from an aeroplane toward sundown. Photograph from where strange Indian names-Pemaquid, Megunticook, Eggemoggin, or relief map made by Dr. Robert Abbe of New York. Schoodic-are altogether fitting. ed out to sea as though to mark the entrance to Portland Harbor, The human story of the coast of Maine is almost as picturesque and oast is already rich in varied scenery; but there another type, wilder, varied as its scenery. This coast was first explored by Samuel de Cham- : intricate and picturesque, begins. Casco Bay, with its many plain, whose narrative of his adventure is still delightful reading. Fruit- checked 81507°-17-2 B4. F4,5 6 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT. SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT. 7 less attempts at settlement followed, led by French knights at St. Croix, destiny before it as a resort and summer home. Now, summer hotels are French Jesuits at Mount Desert, and English cavaliers at Sagadahock; scattered all along its shores to Frenchmans Bay, and colonies of summer all of them years in advance of the English Colony at New Plymouth. villas already occupy many of the more accessible capes and islands. Then followed a long period of fishing and fur trading, during which The spectacle of thousands upon thousands of people spending annually Maine belonged to neither New France nor New England. Rival French- several weeks or months of summer in healthful life by the seashore is men fought and besieged each other in truly feudal fashion at Penobscot very pleasant, but there is danger lest this human flood so overflow and and St. John. The numerous French names on the eastern coast bear occupy the limited stretch of coast which it invades as to rob it of that witness still to the long French occupation there; as, for instance, Grand flavor of wildness which hitherto has constituted its most refreshing and Petit Manan, Bois Bubert, Monts Deserts and Isle au Hault, and charm. Yet it is not the tide of life itself, abundant though it be, which Burnt Coat-English apparently, but really a mistranslation of the can work the scene such harm. A surf-beaten headland may be crowned French, Côte Brulé. by a lighthouse tower without losing its dignity and impressiveness; a No Englishmen settled east of the Penobscot until after the capture of lonely fiord shut in by dark woods, where the fog lingers in wreaths as it Quebec; when they did, more fighting followed in the wars of the Revo- comes and goes, still may make its strong imaginative appeal when fisher- lution and of 1812. The settlers fished and hunted, cut hay on the salt men build their huts upon its shore and ply their trade. But the ines- capable presence of a life, an architecture and a landscape architecture alien to the spirit of the place may take from it an inspirational and re-creative value for work-wearied men no economic terms can measure. The United States have but this one short stretch of Atlantic seacoast where a pleasant summer climate and real picturesqueness of scenery are to be found together; can nothing be done to preserve for the use and enjoyment of the great body of the people in the centuries to come some fine parts at least of this seaside wilderness of Maine? THE GEOLOGY OF MOUNT DESERT Condensed by GEORGE B. DORR from a Government report by NATHANIEL S. SHALER and later study by WILLIAM MORRIS DAVIS. [Statement approved by the U.S. Geological Survey.] THE mountains of the Mount Desert range are by far the highest of the many mountainous hills that rise above the rolling lowland of southern and southeastern Maine. Long ago this lowland, far more extensive seaward then, was tilted toward the south until its southern portion passed beneath the ocean, to form the platform of the Gulf of Maine, while its northern portion gradually ascended inland till it finally Copyright by National Geographic Society. took on in the interior the character of a plateau. The tilted lowland, The top of Newport Mountain under whose shadow at the close of day Champlain in the portion that remained above the ocean level, became scored by must have sailed when he first reached the island. numerous stream-cut valleys, following down its gentle slope toward the marshes, and timber in the great woods; then, in later times, took to ship- sea; since these were excavated the coastal region has again been slightly building. These, the occupations of a wild and timbered coast, still form lowered, carrying the whole shore line farther inland, changing its business in great part. The fisheries are an abiding resource and many a land valley into a long sea arm and isolating many a hilltop as fleets of more than two hundred graceful vessels may be often seen in an outlying island. Associated with this later change of level there port together, waiting the end of a storm. Hunting is carried on at came a period of arctic climate which covered the region with a deep certain seasons in the eastern counties, where deer are numerous, and sheet of ice such as that which holds possession now of Greenland-then innumerable inland lakes and streams are full of trout. The large pines less arctic than New England possibly. The slow southward and sea- and spruces of the shore woods have long since been cut, but Bangor still ward flow of this vast mass of frozen water stripped from the land its sends down the Penobscot a fleet of lumber schooners, loaded from the ancient soil, wore down the hills, deepened the valleys, and pushed the interior, every time the wind blows from the north. accumulated débris before it to form the present fishing banks upon the It was in the early sixties that what may be called the discovery of the ancient coastal plain, the Cape Cod sands, and the deep gravels of Long picturesqueness, the wild beauty and refreshing character of the Maine Island, besides blocking on its way the course of innumerable streams coast took place. Then, through the resort to it of a few well-known and damming them to create the myriad lakes and meadowlands which landscape painters, the poor hamlet of Bar Harbor leaped into sudden make Maine famous now as one of the greatest inland fishing regions in fame and it became evident that the whole coast had an important the world. B4, F4.6 8 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT. SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT. 9 The lowland from which the mountainous hills of Maine rise up is The boldly uplifted range of Mount Desert is one of the most stubborn not, like the coastal lowlands to the southward of Cape Cod, a recently survivors of that ancient highland, and the beauty of the island as seen emerged sea bottom, still for the most part as smooth as when the ocean from the sea, unparalleled along our whole Atlantic coast, is due to its persistent retention of some portion of the height which the whole region once had but which nearly every other part of it has lost. Although the noble granitic rocks that form this range rest quiet and cold in their age to-day, they were once hot and energetic, pressing their way upward, as a vast molten mass, toward-and overflowing possibly-the ancient surface of the land. The massive granite stretches east and west across the island, inclosed wherever the attack of ice or sea has failed to lay it bare by rocks of a wholly different origin and character. At first these other rocks are seen as isolated fragments in- cluded in the granite; the fragments then become more frequent until Pegmatite dike filling a rift in the granite of Pemetic Mountain. solid rock of their own type, strangely twisted and contorted, begins to take the granite's place, as in the wonderful displays at Great Head and Hunter's Beach Head; further on, the granite is only seen penetrating these other rocks in long, narrow crevices, as on Sutton Island; at last it ceases entirely, and the rocky floor, wherever it can be observed, is Copyright by National Geographic Society. Rock formed by coastal deposit in an ancient ocean at a period antedating any present wholly formed by rocks like those first seen as fragments caught and trace of life on land. The strata formed by seasonal rains are still plainly to be frozen in the cooling granite. Near the margin of its area, again, the seen in the foreground; the cliff beyond, of more resistant character, has been granite is finer textured than where erosion has laid bare its ancient molten, compressed, and hardened by volcanic agencies. depths, as in the mountain gorges; for it is the way of igneous, or fire- formed, rocks when crystallizing from a molten state to develop smaller covered it. It is low in spite of having been strongly uplifted long ago; it is low because the ancient alpine heights that occupied it once have crystals and finer texture near their boundaries, where the cooling is more rapid. been worn down by age-long denudation and have slowly wasted away This fine texture of the margin of the granite, the inclusion of angular under the ceaseless attack of the atmosphere. and freshly broken fragments of the regional rocks within its borders, B4, F4.7 IO SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT. SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT. II and the penetration of the regional rocks themselves by narrowing gra- nitic arms or dikes, clearly show that the granite is the later comer, and THE WOODS OF MOUNT DESERT that it came molten, breaking its way with tremendous power into the ancient rocky crust under some vast, compelling pressure; at last, when By EDWARD L. RAND, Secretary of the New England Botanical Society and author of "The Flora of Mount Desert." the impelling forces were satisfied, it came to a halt and slowly froze into a rigid mass, holding in its grasp innumerable fragments gathered from OUNT Desert Island has an area of over one hundred square miles. the rent and fractured walls, whose cracks it fills. The ocean surges against it on the south; broad bays enclose it on This granitic outburst is the greatest event in the geologic history of the east and west, and at its northernmost extremity a narrow passage Mount Desert. It was of colossal magnitude. The energy of its intru- only separates it from the mainland. Its outline is very irregular, sion can not be conceived. Not that the intrusion was suddenly accom- like that of the Maine coast in general, with harbors and indentations plished, for no conjecture can be made as to the time it took, but that it everywhere. The largest of these, Somes Sound, a long, deep fiord run- was effected against enormous resistances and involved the movement ning far into the land between mountainous shores, nearly bisects the of gigantic masses. island. There are some 13 mountains-bare rocky summits varying in The granite mass disclosed in these ancient monuments of the geologic past is at least a dozen miles in length and four or five in breadth at widest, with roots far wider spread beneath the level of the present sur- face. No one can give a measure of the greater height to which it once ascended, and he would be a daring geologist who would set a limit to the unsounded depths from which it rose. The uprising may have re- quired many historic ages; it may have been relatively rapid; but that it was progressive, not instantaneous, is clearly to be seen upon examina- tion of the granite margins. The bare ledges and cliffs of the southeastern coast especially afford wonderfully clear illustrations of the molten stone's intrusive processes. Here we may follow the upward-driven granite forcing its way into narrowing cracks among the older rocks; there great fragments of the older rocks have been caught up in it and partly melted by its heat per- haps. Sometimes a block of the ancient regional stone may be seen divided by granite-filled fissures whose fractured walls can still be matched with certainty, striking instances of which are shown on the eastern side in the narrows of the Somes Sound fiord. The now rigid granite then yielded so perfectly under the heat and tremendous pressures acting on it as to penetrate the narrowest cracks and crevices, following them down to hairlike fineness. Nowhere in the world, indeed, may the geologist or traveler find better or more impressive illustration of the manifold processes of deep-seated intrusion than on the wave-swept ledges of the island's southern coast between Somes Sound and Frenchmans Bay. Schooner Head and the entrance to Frenchmans Bay seen from the summit of a splendid cliff. The sea horizon from this point lies over 30 miles away. height up to over 1,500 feet and lying in a great belt from east to west; between them deep, blue lakes are sunk in rocky beds. To the north, the northwest and the southeast, the surface-of a different geologic structure-is relatively flat, with lower and more undulating hills and broad stretches of meadow land and marsh. On the southeast and east the mountains approach closely to the shore, ending in a coast of precipi- tous cliffs and bold, rocky headlands that has long been famous. No- where else on the Atlantic coast is there such a wonderful combination of natural scenery as this island possesses; nowhere is there another spot where shore and mountain are so grandly blended. For years it has been renowned as the crowning glory of the beautiful, countless-harbored coast of Maine. B4.F4.8 I2 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT. The forests of Mount Desert Island were once full of wealth, and full of wealth they still would be if the lumbermen had not done their work so well. High up on the mountain sides, through the mountain gorges, along the borders of the lakes and streams, everywhere to the water's edge, the great trees growing on the thin but rich wood-soil were taken out, as one may plainly see by their huge rotting stumps to-day. The importance of preserving the woods which still remain no lover of Nature can question. They are infinitely precious as a part of the wild Glacial boulder in a forested mountain valley 700 feet above the sea. scenery of the place and for their wonderful attraction to the city- wearied man or woman in search of a summer home and resting-place What the island was in the early days of its primeval beauty, when Champlain sailed along its shore and for a century after, lies far beyond the possibility of conjecture now. Yet some idea of what these woods once were may still be gained from a few favored spots where portions of the ancient forest yet remain, and much of their original beauty may be brought back if steps are taken to preserve them now and protect from consuming forest fires the all-important humus in their soil. SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS V An Acadian Plant Sanctuary 241553 ISSUED BY THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA BAR HARBOR, MAINE SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS V "There are few things in the course of journeys which one recalls with more pleasure than parks and gardens which combine opportunities for studying the flora of a country with the enjoyment of natural beauty. JAMES BRYCE. M. L. FERNALD Professor of Botany at Harvard University Curator of the Gray Herbarium Former President New England Botanical Society One of the commonest sights in the wilder districts of our once densely timbered eastern States is vast stretches of burned and wasted land, desolate and unproductive Now, nearly all the native plants which originally inhabited these desolated areas have a peculiarly modi- lied root-structure which renders it impossible for them to grow in any soil other than the moist and spongelike forest humus, to life in which their whole development has been shaped for ages past. The immediate effect, then, of the removal of the forest and burning over of its leafy floor is the complete annihi- lation of countless lesser plants, wild flowers and ferns in hundreds of beautiful and interesting species which give the primeval forest of the region its great natural charm. The evil does not stop, however, with the destruction of the native woods and wild flowers and the gradually ac- 3 emmulated wealth of woodland soil. Nature's anciently established equilibrium is disturbed at its foundation, and the native insects, associated from the beginning with the native flowering plants and rarely hurtful to the farmer, perish largely with the vegetation and the soil that they have lived and bred upon, leaving the field clear for the invasion of destructive foreign species. The birds, in turn; who feed upon the native insects and control the balance of insect increase, no longer find their former food supply or shelter, and either vanish from the wasted region or continue in diminished numbers. Much of the land thus wrecked by axe and fire in the well-watered eastern portion of our country must ulti- mately be reclothed with forest as its best economic use, and none can be SO well adapted to it as that which na- ture clothed it with originally, rich alike in beauty and in valuable species. But it will be long before such land again develops the humus covering the native forest flora and its associated life require, and unless prompt measures are taken to conserve them till it does the task of resettling future forests with the rich, indigenous life that is the region's own will have become impossible. It has, therefore, long seemed to the writer that the only way in which to conserve for the enjoyment and study of future generations any portions of our coun- try which by good fortune still remain in their natural condition is the reservation of appropriate tracts, such as may properly be set aside, with the explicit stipula- tion that they be left essentially in their natural state. This brings me to the crucial point: Where is the best spot, if only a single spot can be thus preserved, for the perfection of this ideal? A detailed knowledge of the geography, the flora, and to some extent the soil condi- tions of eastern North America, acquired through twen- ty-five years of active exploration in New England, the Maritime Provinces, Quebec, Newfoundland, and Labra- 4 SMI 5 dor, naturally brings several regions to mind; but as a cannot be duplicated at any point known to the writer. single area within the possible reach of this hope, the In its rock and soil composition Mount Desert offers Island of Mount Desert, with its adjacent islets and head- a most attractive possibility. Much of the Island consists lands, stands out as offering the greatest natural of granite rocks, with the consequent acid soils that these diversity. give rise to; but the soils derived from some of the meta- This comes obviously from the fact that Mount Desert morphic series, slates and shales, are, judging from the is the highest land on the Atlantic coast of North America native vegetation, of a basic or even limy character, and south of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, its boldly sculptured many of the swamps are covered not with the heath hills, which rise directly from the water's edge, attaining thickets of acid bogs but with the characteristic grasses altitudes of almost montane character. and sedges of sweet areas. The exposed headlands and bogs of the Mount Desert A number of the Island plants, indeed, sometimes of region support between two and three hundred species rock habitats, sometimes of swamps, suggest themselves of plants which are typical of the arctic, subarctic, and at once as species which, in their wide range, show a Hudsonian regions of America, and which on the eastern strong preference for sweet or limy habitats: the Shrubby coast of New England or the alpine summits of the White Cinquefoil, Potentilla fruticosa; the Showy Lady's Slip- Mountains reach their actual or approximate southern per, Cypripedium hirsutum; the Hemlock Parsley, Con- limits-such plants, for instance, as the Black Crowberry, ioselinum chinense, are instances. Empetrum nigrum; the Baked-apple Berry, Rubus These features alone are sufficient to indicate the Chamaemorus; the Creeping Juniper, Juniperus horizon- remarkable possibilities for the future if a tract like talis; the Greenland Sandwort, Arenaria groenlandica; Mount Desert, unique upon our coast in physical config- the Rose-root, Sedum roscum; and the Banksian Pine, uration as in beauty, can be preserved from the destruc- Pinus Banksiana. tion of its natural charm by the judicious guarding of But the flora of the Mount Desert region is not by any what it now possesses and the re-introduction of what it means entirely arctic or subarctic. There we find essen- has lost, or lost presumably, both plants and animals. tially all the common plants of the Canadian zone, and The fame of the island as the playground, habitual or mingling with them in sheltered nooks and meadows or occasional of a vast and highly intelligent portion of on warm slopes, many scores of plants which reach their our population, also renders it remarkably appropriate extreme northern or northeastern limit on Mount Desert for such a natural reservation; and should such a reser- or the immediate coast-such plants as the Pitch Pine, vation be established there, with due emphasis laid upon Pinus rigida; the Bear Oak, Quercus ilicifolia; the Sweet the maintenance or redevelopment of natural and indi- Pepperbush, Clethra alnifolia; the Swamp Loosestrife, genous conditions, its influence upon the intelligent Decodon verticillatus; the Meadow Beauty, Rhexia vir- peoples of America will be indeed far-reaching. For it ginica; and the Maple-leaved Viburnum, Viburnum is inconceivable that lovers of nature could enjoy such acerifolium. an ideal area, with its unmolested wild flowers, ferns, This extraordinary accumulation within one small area birds and harmless animals and with the full beauty of of the typical plants of the arctic realm, of the Canadian nature everywhere displayed, without desiring and pro- zone, and in many cases of the southern coastal plain, viding a similar blessing-according to the varied 6 7 opportunities that offer-for themselves, their children, and their children's children in other portions of the entinent. Professor Fernald wrote his plea for conservation of the Acadian flora through the establishment of plant sanctuaries upon Mount Desert Island--a place of extraordinary natural fitness for the purpose-hefore it was known whether or not the United States Govern- ment would accept the lands then offered it upon the Island for a national monument and park. The warm interest of the Secretary of the Interior, the Hon. Franklin K. Lane, in a project which would extend the benefits of the National Parks Service to the great eastern section of the country, with its dense city populations, resulted in the establishment upon Mount Desert Island of the first national park area-war monuments apart-cast of Arkansas. This monument initiates, accordingly, a new departure on the Govern- ment's part, a broadening of its policy for nature con- servation and the establishment of recreation areas for its people amidst the older eastern country. And it is filly chosen for such purpose, its grey granite moun- tains fronting the Acadian Seas traversed by the early voyagers and already annually visited in the sixteenth century by fishing fleets from Brittany. It is with that wild Breton coast, famous always for its hardy, fearless race of seamen, and with the Bay of Biscay shores be- bind which lay de Monts' and Champlain's boyhood homes that the history of eastern North America is first associated. This early Acadian period of the first settlements it is that the Sieur de Monts National Monument is intended to commemorate historically. But, historic interest apart, as what Alexander von Humboldt first called, in his home tongue, a "Nature" monument, Mount Desert in its 9 own type and region stands supreme, not only exhibit- ing the boldest rock formations on our eastern coast, worn by the sea's attack and deep ice-sheet erosion, but also furnishing a uniquely favorable opportunity for Wild Gardens such as Professor Fernald writes of, Plant Sanetuaries preserving and exhibiting-so far as that is possible-in a single tract of concentrated plant and landscape interest the whole Acadian flora. How rich this flora is in beautiful and interesting species yet capable of preservation no one knows who has not made, as he, a thorough study of the subject by personal investigation; nor how rapidly these species are diminishing. There is no other way to save its wild and woodland beauty, the infinite variety and interest of the native vegetation, but that which Professor Fernald urges-Wild Garden Sanctuaries wherein the ancient forest life of the Acadian region may still perpetuate itself and its plants grow on in their original environment, of leafy woodland shade or peaty meadow; and where their loveliness may give men pleasure always and not lead to their destruction. GEORGE B. DORR. 11 M c.l 719 Pan SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS VI Wild Life and Nature Conservation in the Eastern States ISSUED BY THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA BAR HARBOR, MAINE SII WII T James Bryce unti Kerner von Marilaun the Univ. of Vienna unbi A. F. Schimper Unit Univ. of Bonn regi C.S. Sargent Atla tivel U.S. Forestry Report state was, It fossi place and immo of its A. R. Wallace sheet no Tulip dwelt found Lign: as ri irst glimpse of the ocean on the path to Huguenot Head in the Sieur de Monts national conti park upon the coast of Maine searc speci SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS VI WILD LIFE AND NATURE CONSERVATION IN THE EASTERN STATES. James Bryce The Appalachian region of America contained Kerner von until lately the finest temperate-zone forest, and Marilaun the richest in species, in the world. It ranged Univ. of Vienna unbrokenly from the northern boundary of the A. F. Schimper United States to Alabama and the Red River Univ. of Bonn region of Louisiana, and it stretched from the C. S. Sargent Atlantic lowlands to the prairies. Now, compara- tively little of this forest is left in an unaltered U. S. Forestry Report state; its area has shrunk to a fraction of what it was, and is still shrinking rapidly. It is a forest of immense antiquity. The earliest fossil record of the broad-leaved, deciduous-leaved type of tree found in the world is found in deep- placed rock-strata of the southern Appalachians, and the evidence is strong that never since that immeasurably far-off time has the long succession of its trees been broken, south of the limit of ice- A. R. Wallace sheet invasion. It is unique today in species no longer to be found elsewhere, such as the Tulip Tree, of which a dozen other species once dwelt within it; the Magnolias-now elsewhere found in eastern Asia only; the Tupelo, the Liquidamber, Sassafras, and others. Anciently as rich as it in these and other forms, the whole Head in the Sieur de Monts national continent of Europe at the present time can Maine scarcely show one-half its wealth in genera and species. 3 These M. L. Fernald are-like and anim eudanger America in a sing of wealth in floweri forms of N. S. Shaler Again, I. C. Russell and the I J. P. Lesley the other and crow of men, 1 and ever the Apr natural b tracts, th ests, the dergrowt Charles Eliot and p watei of incalc populatic Central I and refr the great tive to Sa A. R. Wallace forest's and othe A. F. Schimper precious ever, and What i Dutch and on a sche English Colo- nial Reports lish natu forest an Giant Maple-tree in Pennsylvania These species, forever irreplaceable if lost, M. L. Fernald are-like many of our native wild-flowers, birds and animals whose home the forest was-seriously endangered under existing conditions; and eastern America stands in the way today of losing swiftly, in a single human lifetime, its long inheritance of wealth and beauty in the natural world, in trees, in flowering shrubs and plants, in birds and other forms of animal life. N. S. Shaler Again, the Atlantic coast lands on the one hand I. C. Russell and the Mississippi Valley, with its branches, on J. P. Lesley the other, are regions destined to be permanent and crowded homes of industry and trade-homes of men, that is, on a vast scale. Between them, and everywhere within easy reach from them, lie the Appalachian mountain ranges, of great natural beauty and refreshing quality in extensive tracts, the ancient home of these magnificent for- ests, the source of streams, rich in delightful un- dergrowth and faunal life. This region of woods Charles Eliot and mountains, terminating in a magnificently watered region in the north, presents possibilities of incalculable importance to the crowded city populations of the East, the South, and the great Central Plains. To save it to the utmost in beauty and refreshing quality is imperative, in view of the great coming need, and it is yet more impera- tive to save to those who will come after us the A. R. Wallace forest's wealth of tree and plant species, of bird and other animal life. For these are things, A. F. Schimper precious in every sense, that once lost are lost for- ever, and not a few are lost already. What is now proposed is this-founded partly Dutch and on a scheme urged years ago by Dutch and Eng- English Colo- nial Reports lish naturalists for the preservation of the native forest and its associated life in their eastern col- 5 a A magnificent region of mountains, lakes and forest in -- onies and partly on the knowledge that biologists have gained in recent years concerning bird and other wild life conservation: To establish a systematic chain of reserves, large or small as opportunity serves but selected always with well- studied reference to the preservation and favor- A. R. Wallace able exhibit of the native forest and other floras, the bird and other faunas of their region and to choose these areas, also, SO as to make of each, SO for as possible, a scenic reservation and a park, Charles Eliot contributing to health and pleasure and the de- velopment of a love for nature. Each such reserve would thus contribute- variously, according to its character-toward these general ends: (1) the preservation of the native forest flora, its trees and underplants; (2) the preservation of bird and other forms of ani- mal life, natively inhabiting the forest; (3) op- portunity for scientific observation and study of these both, existing naturally under their original conditions; (4) conservation, in the public inter- est, of beautiful and inspiring landscapes; (5) the establishment of a means of study for plant- ers, landscape architects and foresters who have work to plan and carry out in the surrounding region. National Assn. In certain places, one or the other of these Audubon objects would be dominant-as bird sanctuaries Societies along the shore from Cape Cod southward, or scenic reservations in tracts of exceptionally James Bryce striking scenery, such as mountain heights and river gorges or beautiful coast landscapes. To the development of landscape work along broad and natural lines-work soundly based on nature-nothing that could else be done, no train- 7 Grandfather Mountain and its hard-wood forest, North Carolina S. American In- ing in schools or study of foreign examples im- stitute of Architects possible of reproduction here, would contribute SO liberally as this. In exhibiting to architects and landscape architects, or men charged with the development of public parks, the whole range of native material within their reach, a work of widest influence would be accomplished, and one that would aid greatly in the creation of a national landscape art. For the botanist and entomologist such reserves, C. S. Minot grouped in a linked series readily and quickly traversed, would not only provide living collec- tions of the rare plant and insect species of each M. L. Fernald region, difficult to study otherwise, but would also save from destruction many an interesting life form else certain to become extinct as the woods are cut away, the lands denuded and burnt over. For the preservation of the bird and other wild life of the Continent, migratory as the former U. S. Biologi- cal Survey largely is, absolute sanctuaries, well grouped and not too far apart, have already proved themselves beyond dispute essential, in the presence of a time where human forethought and prompt ac- tion only can avert the swift destructiveness of human agencies more ruinous biologically and wider spread than the destructive agencies of any previous age, glacial or other, the rocks or later clays reveal. GEORGE B. DORR. () 9 Forest interior in the Southern Appalachians-Senle is given by the man and horse upon the trail Ancient sea-cliff on Mount Desert Island, raised by coastal elevation and deeply sunk in woods Pam, c.2 M 719 SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS VII Man and Nature ISSUED BY THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA BAR HARBOR, MAINE A beautiful landscape in the Southern Appalachians i SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS VII Man and Nature GEORGE B. DORR A paper written in 1913, when plans now realized for the creation of a national park upon Mount Desert Island were first brought forward. The question of Public Reservations is of paramount importance in the eastern portion of our country, where we have already got a dense population swiftly created and swiftly growing denser without apparent limit. Magnificent reservations have been created in the West, with wise prevision ; nothing similar, save the re- cent first establishment of national forests in the North- ern and the Southern Appalachians, has yet been undertaken in the East, with its far greater human need, its beautiful scenery, ready accessibility and perma- nently productive territory. We are passing into a new phase of human life where men are congregating in vast multitudes, for industrial purposes, for trade and intercourse; the population of the future must inevitably be many times the popula- tion of the present, and the need of conserving now, while there is time, pleasant, wholesome breathing-places for these coming multitudes is great. How great, we can with difficulty realize in our country yet so newly occupied and in a period SO new of growth and vast 3 industrial change, but what such open spaces in the form of commons have meant to England in the past, the long struggle to prevent their enclosure by the few shows strikingly, and what is lost by their absence in densely peopled regions of China, where every rod of ground is given up to the material struggle for existence, the ac- counts of all returning travellers tell. But it is not a question of breathing-spaces and physi- cal well-being only; it goes far beyond that and is deeply concerned with the inner life of men. With Nature in her beauty and freedom shut out from SO many lives in these industrial and city-dwelling times, it is going to become-has, indeed, become already-a matter of su- preme importance to preserve in their openness, in their unspoiled beauty and the charm of their wild life, their native trees and plants, their birds and animals, the places where the wealth or significance of these things is greatest, the places where the influence of Nature will be felt the most or where the life with which she has peopled the world, and man or chance has not destroyed, may be enjoyed and studied at its fullest. The times are moving fast in the destruction of beau- tiful and interesting things. The lost opportunity of one year becomes the bitter regret of thinking people in a few years more. Valuable and inter- esting species of birds, that were still familiar a genera- tion since and that might have added to the delight or wealth of the world forever, have now become extinct- as hopeless of resurrection as if we had known them only in fossil forms. Many a landscape and forest-land that should have remained forever unspoilt and public in the crowded eastern regions of the future has been ruined needlessly or locked up in private ownership. In nothing is conservation needed more than in saving all that is economically possible of the pleasantness and freedom of Nature in regions accessible, even by travel, 4 Giant t the form the long W shows I densely ;round is ), the ac- ad physi- is deeply Nature in J lives in going to er of su- , in their life, their pals, the hings ture will l she has [estroyed, of beau- portunity thinking nd inter- a genera- delight or extinct- own them brest-land nd public has been ership. in saving tness and by travel, Giant tulip trees: North Carolina, on the left; Virginia, on the right to the vast, town-dwelling populations of the future; in preserving the features of scientific interest or land- scape beauty that widen men's horizon or quicken their imagination. City parks and playgrounds, valuable and necessary as they are, cannot do this, nor can cultivated fields and motor-traversed roads. The bold hilltops and mountain-heights which the ancient Hebrews felt were God-inhabited; the clear springs in Syria over which the Greeks built temples through whose ruined stones the crystal water still comes gushing; the sacred groves of Italy and Druid oaks of Northern Europe, tell a story of the deep influence of such things upon the hearts and lives of men, an influence we cannot afford to lose today in our mechanism-shrunken modern world of immeas- urably growing population. By taking thought in season, little need be sacrificed to secure incalculable benefits in Nature's wilder near-by regions, in her grander landscapes that lie within the reach of busy men; in refreshing forests, not too lim- ited; in picturesque and open downs beside the sea; or along the pleasant, wooded side of streams with unpol- luted water. When coal becomes exhausted, water-power or other form of energy will take its place, but nothing will ever compensate for natural beauty permanently ruined within the narrowing bounds of modern life. Life will always be a compromise between conflicting needs, but its needs are not material only. Man's future is deeply concerned with recognition of its spiritual side, and if there be anything in the world, next to the oppor- tunity to gain the necessities of life, to meet disease or find the means of education, that should be kept open to right use by all, it is the wholesome freedom of Nature and opportunity for contact with her beauty and many- sided interest in appropriate tracts. The day will ulti- mately come when to provide such will be felt to be one of the most essential duties of the state or greatest privileges of wealthy citizens. For wiser and better gifts than 6 iced @@@@@@@@@@@@@ Lakes in the Sieur de Monts national park-Looking north toward the Mainland these, to be public heritages forever, it were hard to find. Permanent as few others can be, they will only gain with time, in beauty often and in richness of association always. Changes in science or social organization, al- tered standards of artistic interest or change in char- itable method will not destroy their value. There are landscapes and tracts of land which for their beauty and exceptional interest-or their close relation to important centers-should be inalienably public, for- ever free to all. Our metropolitan parks and reserva- tions are a first step in this direction, as are the national parks out West, but with increasing private ownership and rapidly increasing population, the movement is one that will need to go far eventually. The earth is our common heritage. It is both right and needful that it should be kept widely free in the portions that the homes of men, industry and agriculture do not claim. Personal possession reaches out at widest but a little way, and passes quickly in the present day, gath- ering about itself little of that greater charm which time alone can give. If men of wealth would spend but a fraction of what they do for themselves alone, with brief result, in making the landscape about them beautiful for the benefit of all in permanent and simple ways, the result would be to give extraordinary interest-of a steadily accumulative kind-to every residential section of the land; and it would tend, besides, to give all men living in or passing through it a sense of personal pos- session in the landscape instead of injury at exclusion from it, and to give them, too, a freedom of wandering and a beauty by the way which do not lie within the reach of anyone today. And with such gifts would also go the pleasant sense of sharing, of participation in a wholesome joy which each recurrent year would bring afresh. No monument could be a better one to leave behind, no memorial pleas- anter-whether for one's self or others-than gifts like 8 these that make the earth a happier, a more interesting or delightful place for other men to live upon. That this movement must grow, no one who has thought upon the matter can doubt-the movement for public parks and open spaces, near or far, not as playgrounds simply but as opportunities for Nature in her deep appeal and various beauty to remain an influence in human life; for places, too, where such features of wild life as may coexist with man can be preserved, and where plant life, whether in forest growths or the infinite detail of flowering plants and lowly forms, may still continue a source of health and happiness in man's environment. The movement will grow, as all great movements do, because a great truth - man's need for Nature - lies behind it. The essentially important thing is to save now what opportunity we can for its expansion later. Our Duty to the Future JAMES BRYCE Extract from address delivered when ambassador to this country, urging the importance of creating national parks and forest reservations in the Eastern States before the opportunity was lost. I have had experience in England in dealing with this question, having been for some years chairman of a society for preserving commons and open spaces and public rights of way, and having also served on the com- mittee of another society for securing to the public places of national and historic interest. Thus I was led often to think of what is our duty to the future, and of the benefits which the preservation of places of natural beauty may confer on the community. That is a problem which presents itself not only in Great Britain but all over Europe, and now you in America are tending to 10 e interesting or 1. who has thought nent for public as playgrounds her deep appeal ence in human es of wild life ved, and where ae infinite detail still continue a environment. movements do, r Nature - lies hing is to save sion later. ure bassador to this creating national : Eastern States dealing with this 3 chairman of a open spaces and eved on the com- the public places 3 I was led often uture, and of the laces of natural That is a problem it Britain but all a are tending to Giant Pine-trees in the north become what Europe already is. Europe is now a popu- lous, and in parts a crowded, continent; you, too, will some day be a populous, and ultimately, except in those regions which the want of rain condemns to sterility, a crowded continent; and it is well to take thought at once, before these days confront you, how you will deal with the difficulties which have met us in Europe. So that you may not find too late that the beauty, the freedom and primitive simplicity of nature have been snatched from you. Of all those pleasures the power to enjoy which has been implanted in us, the love of Nature is the very simplest and best. It is the most easily accessible; it is one which can never be perverted; it is one of which you cannot have too much; and it lasts from youth to age. Then, too, there are the literary associations which clothe many a wild or lovely spot with poetry. The farther a people recedes from barbarism, the more refined its tastes, the more gentle its manners, the less sordid its aims, so much the greater is its susceptibility to every form of beauty, so much the more do the charms of Nature appeal to it. Delight in them is a test of civiliza- tion. Now, let us remember that the regions and spots cal- culated to give enjoyment in the highest form are lim- ited, and are being constantly encroached upon. Although you have set a wholesome example in creat- ing the National Parks you have, there are still other places where National Parks are wanted. There is a splendid region in the Alleghenies, a region of beautiful forests, where the tulip trees lift their tall, smooth shafts and graceful heads one hundred and fifty feet or more into the air, a mountain land on the borders of North Carolina and East Tennessee, with romantic river val- leys and hills clothed with luxuriant woods, primitive forests standing as they stood before the white man drove the Indians away, high lawns filled with flowers 12 The path to Huguenot Head and a great ocean view; Sieur de Monts national park and traversed by sparkling brooks, containing every- murmur of a strea thing to delight the heart of the lover of Nature. It would and the birds singu be a fine thing to have a tract of three or four hundred service can be render thousand acres set apart there for the benefit of the to preserve for their people of the South and Middle Atlantic States, for whom We are trustees it is a far cry to the Rockies. ourselves alone. The Then there are the Northeastern States with their used by a single gen mountains and forests. No other part of Eastern Amer- generation only befo ica can compare with this for the varied charms of a those who have gone wild and romantic nature. And as wealth increases in we owe to those who other parts of the country, as the gigantic cities of the duty which seems n Eastern States grow still vaster, as population thickens handing on to othe in the agricultural and manufacturing parts of Ohio and facilities for the en Pennsylvania, of Indiana and Illinois, the love of nature that the Creator has and the desire for health-giving recreation will draw more and more of the population of those cities and states to seek these spots where Nature shows at her loveliest. Do not suffer, therefore, any of the charms they offer to be lost by want of foresight now. Save your woods, not only because they are one of your great natural resources but also because they are a source of beauty which once lost can never be recovered. Preserve the purity of your streams and lakes, not erely for the sake of the angler but also for the sake of those who live on the banks, and of those who come to seek the freshness and delight of an unspoiled nature by the lake or river side. Keep open the long ridges that lead up to the rocky summits of your mountains; let no man debar you from free access to their tops, or from enjoyment of the broad prospects they afford. And keep wide woodland spaces open within the reach of cities, where those who seek quiet and the sense of communing with Nature can go and spend whole days enjoying one spot after another where Nature has pro- vided her simple joys-mingled shade and sunlight falling on the long vistas of the forest, the ripple and 14 aining every- murmur of a streamlet, the rustling of the leaves, ure. It would and the birds singing among the branches. No better four hundred service can be rendered to the masses of the people than benefit of the to preserve for their delight wide spaces of fine scenery. ites, for whom We are trustees for the future we are not here for ourselves alone. These gifts were not given to us to be es with their used by a single generation, or with the thought of one lastern Amer- generation only before our minds. We are the heirs of charms of a those who have gone before and charged with the duty increases in we owe to those who shall come after; and there is no cities of the duty which seems more clearly incumbent on us than tion thickens handing on to others undiminished opportunities and in of Ohio and facilities for the enjoyment of some of the best gifts ove of nature that the Creator has bestowed upon his children. on will draw se cities and shows at her E the charms y are one of use they are be recovered. id lakes, not for the sake se who come ooiled nature to the rocky ar you from of the broad in the reach the sense of whole days ure has pro- nd sunlight e ripple and 15 SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS VIII THE ACADIAN FOREST GEORGE B. DORR The Acadian forest, using the word Acadian in its early French sense, stretched dense and unbroken in de Monts' and Champlain's time over the wide coastal territory now occupied by eastern Maine, by Nova Seotia and New Brunswick. Phundered of its wealth and existing but in fragments now, no forest of a temperate zone clothes with more vigorous growth the land it ocen- pies, none has greater charm or shelters a wild life more interesting. This forest is typically represented, with singular com pleteness, upon Mount Desert Island, where land and sea conditions meet and where a unique topography creates a correspondingly exceptional range of woodland opportunity. To establish on the Island, in connection with its now realized national park, a permanent ex- hibit of this forest growing under original conditions, has been from the first a constant aim with those who sought the park's creation. Such an exhibit has extraordinary value. A forest is far more than the mere assemblage of its trees; asso- ciated with them it contains, in regions of abundant moisture such as the Acadian, a related life, both plant and animal, of infinite variety and richness, whose home and sheltering habitat it makes. If it perish, the plants that dwell beneath its shade and draw their sustenance 3 in part from its decay, together with the multitudinous other life that haunts it, largely perish with it. Such a forest is a wonderful complex of mutually dependent forms, a complex anciently established which once oblit- erated in a region can never be restored. It passes quickly, too, destroyed by axe and fire. No forest now exists in Europe, botanists say, that shows the early, natural condition of the European woodland; its very type is matter for conjecture. The typical trees of the Acadian forest, those that give it its peculiar character, are the northern evergreens, the cone-bearing pines and firs and spruces, the hem- locks and the arbor vitae. It is of these one thinks in picturing to oneself the region. Maine itself is called the Pine Tree State; its eastern coast, "The Land of Pointed Firs." Longfellow sets the Acadian scene for us in Evangeline with "This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlocks," and far out to sea in early, long-voyaged days the approaching sailor welcomed with delight the pungent forest fragrance. But mingled with these evergreens which give the for- est its prevailing character there are abundant other trees that lend their beauty to the scene. Champlain describes the oaks growing as in a park upon one side of the Penobscot River, when he ascended it in 1604, with pine forest on the other. Deer and bears grow fat in autunn on the beechnuts in the wilder woods. The two noblest birch trees in the world, the Canoe Birch, with its pure white trunk, and the Yellow Birch, which in the North outstrips the oak itself in size, find here their native home. Ash and maple are abundant. Poplars, mingled with Paper Birches, turn into rivers of gold amongst the somber evergreens in fall, and nowhere is the autumn coloring more brilliant or of richer contrast. Underneath the taller trees, wherever an even partial break occurs, shrubs and lesser trees spring up in wide variety; thorns and wild plum trees, beautiful in flower 4 8 and fruit; mountain ash and elder, with red, elustered berries; viburnums that would grace the finest pleasure ground; dogwoods of northern species; sumach, beauti ful at every leafy season; blueberries in the open, rocky places; wild roses by the streams and roadsides; black- berries with splendid flowering stems; witch hazel with its strange autumnal bloom; rhodora, spreading out great sheets of pink in spring upon the peaty marshlands, min- gled with the fragrant labrador tea; brilliant-berried ilexes, sold in the cities at Christmas time for holly; and a host of others. No inch of ground, in sun or shade, is left unocen- pied. The very rocks are liehen-elad and ferns mat over them in shady places. Trilliums and wild orchids bloom in the forest depths, with white-flowered hobble-bushes; elintonias and the fragrant northern twin-flower that Linnaeus loved extend themselves as in wild garden beds upon the woodland floor. Everywhere there is life, spreading mats of crowberry and the beautiful coast juniper where they are deluged by the ocean spray in winter storms; clothing wind-swept granite heights, wherever there is crack or cranny soil can gather in, with partridge-berry, blueberry, and mountain cranberry; penetrating the forest shade and profiting by the dense northern covering of leafy humus that it finds there; and rich, wherever nature has not been disturbed, in infinite variety-of mosses, fungus growths and ferns as well as flowering plants. Few forests in the world, indeed, outside the rainy tropies, clothe themselves with such abundant life, and there are none that bring one more directly into touch with nature, its wildness and its charm. "Whilst we followed on our course. there came from the land odors incomparable for sweetness. brought with a warm wind so abundantly that all the Orient parts could not produce the like. We did stretch out our hands, as it were, to take them. so pulpable were they, which / Sieur de Monts Spring road, passing through a rare bit of Primeval Forest have admired a thousand time since." MARC LESCARBOT. 1609. in the national park Purchas translation. 6 SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS SEP 241553 IX The Sieur de Monts National Monument As Commemorating Acadia and Early French Influences of Race and Settlement in the United States ISSUED BY THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA BAR HARBOR, MAINE SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS IX The Sieur de Monts National Monument Is Commemorating Acadia and Early French Influences of Race and Settlement in the United States GEORGE B. DORR The Sieur de Monts National Monument combines in a remarkable way three separate aspects: It is an ex- traordinary Nature Monument, as such are termed abroad, fitted to exhibit and preserve its regional life in the widest range a single area can, and to set forth its region's geologie history; it is a great Recreation Area, a park in the true popular sense, capable in the highest degree of drawing city-wearied men and sending them away refreshed and stimulated; and it is a Historic Monument of singularly impressive character whose ancient granite heights, sculptured in bold relief by ice and sea, commemorate as they look out across the stormy wilderness of the North Atlantic the men who sailed across that wilderness in early days from ports of west- ern France to settle on the Acadian shores or fish in the Acadian seas. The first commissions that resulted in permanent settle- ment on the American continent to the north of Florida were issued by Henry of Navarre, Henry IV of France, in December, 1603, to Pierre du Guast, Sieur de Monts and Governor of Pons, a Huguenot of noble family who had served the King faithfully through the recent wars and stood high in his esteem. De Monts, then not over thirty years of age and in his prime, was a native of Saintonge, a district facing on the Bay of Biscay between La Vendée and Bordeaux, 3 which was the home of Champlain also who accompanied him to the Acadian shores. Born of one of the most ancient families of France, that had served the Crown for centuries with credit and distinction, all accounts agree in praise of him as a brave and gallant gentleman. Champlain who later wrote the history of the enterprise speaks of him ever in terms of warm regard, and states that the King had "great confidence in him for his fidelity, as he ever showed, even to his death-," while the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier de Charlevoix, writing over a century later, described him, though a Huguenot, as "a most honorable man of upright views and zealous for the State, who had every quality necessary for success in the enterprise committed to his charge." Court in- trigues and powerful trading influences seeking to control the valuable fur-trade rights which had been granted him and his associates to meet the expense of new colonial establishments on a yet savage coast, forested to the water's edge, wrested at length this charter from him, to be restored again, then lost again, till the assassination of Henry IV, by a fanatic, on the 14th of May, 1610, in- volved in a common ruin de Monts and the best interests of France. The Jesuits took up in turn the work de Monts had left, establishing a colony in 1613 at Mount Desert, the first land touched on by Champlain within the limits of the United States, when, in September, 1604, he sailed out from its future boundary at the mouth of the St. Croix, where de Monts was establishing his first colony, to explore the neighboring coast. For a century after, till the peace of Utrecht, France continued to hold the land it called Acadia, a name which included until then the magnifi- cently harbored coast of eastern Maine as well as Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Had France, moved by the spirit of Henry IV and de Monts, made some present sacrifice to consolidate what their and other early enterprise had won instead of plung- 4 ing again upon the death of Henry into factional polities heirs to the polish of a far-reaching ancestry, here, with and religious strife, she probably and not Anglo-Saxon their dauntless hardihood, put to shame the boldest sons nations would have controlled the larger destinies and of toil. development of this continent. It is a memorable but half-forgotten chapter in the book It was a time of new beginnings when mighty rivers of of human life that can be rightly read only by widely future history were gathering their first waters and es- scattered lights. tablishing their yet doubtful course. France, through the enterprise and adventurous spirit of the early mariners and nobles on her western coasts, fronting the W. F. GANONG Atlantic, won the first advantage in the occupation of the Striking description of the landing of de Monts and new continent discovered on its opposite shores; she lost Champlain to lay the first foundations of Acadia, taken her opportunity through the triumph of reactionary poli- from address delivered at the Ter-Centennial Celebra- ties and selfish privilege which culminated in the French tion held at St. Croix Island on June 25th, 1904, in Revolution's fearful travail after thwarting for genera- which France, England and the United States were all tions the best energies of the nation and destroying officially represented. largely or sending into exile her best blood. Three centuries ago today all the northern part of The French Dominion America was one vast wilderness and all its mighty FRANCIS PARKMAN sweep of forest and plain a solitude, save only where the The French dominion is a memory of the past; and little groups of Indian lodges clung to the shores of its when we evoke its departed shades, they rise upon us lonely rivers. from their graves in strange, romantic guise. Again In the year 1604 over a century had already elapsed their ghostly camp-fires seem to burn, and the fitful light since Columbus had found the New World, and since is cast around on lord and vassal and black-robed priest, Cabot had explored its northeastern coast for England mingled with wild forms of savage warriors, knit in close and marked it for the empire of the Anglo-Saxon. Over fellowship on the same stern errand. A boundless vision three-quarters of a century had passed since Verrazano grows upon us; an untamed continent; vast wastes of had explored the same coast for France; and nearly as forest verdure; mountains silent in primeval sleep; river, long since Cartier had carried the fleur-de-lys up the lake, and glimmering pool; wilderness oceans mingling St. Lawrence, laying the foundation for the French do- with the sky. Such was the domain which France con- minion in America. Both nations had thus acquired quered for Civilization. Plumed helmets gleamed in the claims to this continent, but neither had obtained any shade of its forests, priestly vestments in its dens and foothold upon it. Both, indeed, had attempted settle- fastnesses of ancient barbarism. Men steeped in antique ment, the English in Newfoundland and Virginia, and learning, pale with the close breath of the cloister, here the French at Quebec and Tadoussac; but both had spent the noon and evening of their lives, ruled savage failed. Upon the whole continent only the Spaniard had hordes with a mild, parental sway, and stood serene be- succeeded, for he had planted a small settlement in fore the direst shapes of death. Men of courtly nurture, Florida and others around the Gulf of Mexico; else- 6 7 where, and everywhere to the northward, there was only day the keel of her small boat grated on the beach of wilderness. St. Croix Island, this continent has never been without Such was the state of North America, when, on a fair a population of those races which have made the history midsummer day, just three centuries ago, a tiny vessel of the principal part of America,-the French and the came sailing along the lonely Fundy coast from the cast- English. We celebrate today not only an event of great ward and turned her prow to the river on whose historic human interest, but one of the momentous circumstances banks we are now standing. She was a tiny craft that of history, the actual first step of North America from thus appeared out of the unknown, for she was no larger barbarism over the threshold of civilization, and the first than the fishing sloops we know SO well in our Quoddy stage in the expansion of two of the most virile races waters today. She carried about a dozen men, of whom of Europe into the wonderful New World. two bore the unmistakable stamp of leadership. One was a prominent gentleman of France, lofty in NOTE BY EDITOR.-De Monts had left his well-equipped spirit, devoted in purpose, trusted of his King, the com- and furnished larger vessel in safe moorings at St. mander of the company, Sieur de Monts. The other was Mary's Bay, upon the Nova Scotia coast-opposite one of the great men whom France has given to the Mount Desert Island, at the eastern entrance to the world, a remarkable combination of dreamer and man Bay of Fundy-while he and Champlain searched out, of swift and wise action. The intentness of his gaze as in the little barque of a few tons described, a site upon one new feature after another unfolds itself along the the unknown shore beyond for their first colony. coast, and his constant use of compass and pencil, shows him to be the geographer and chronicler of the expedition. He was the first cartographer and historian of Acadia, Acadia at the End of the Seventeenth Century Samuel de Champlain. FRANCIS PARKMAN But the little vessel is coming nearer; she reaches Amid domestic strife, the war of France with Eng- our beautiful Passamaquoddy islands; she winds her land and the Iroquois went on. Each division of the war cautious and curious way among them she crosses the was distinct from the rest, and each had a character of its spacious bay; she enters our noble river; she sails up own. As the contest for the West was wholly with New the hill-bordered valley; she reaches the island where York and her Iroquois allies, SO the contest for Acadia today we placed our memorial, then unbroken forest; was wholly with the "Bostonnais," or people of New her sails are furled; the leaders step ashore and, with England. the air of men who have ended a weary search, declare Acadia, as the French at this time understood the that it is good and that here they will plant the capital name, included Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the of the New World. greater part of Maine. The river Kennebec, which they Whence came this little vessel? What carried she that looked on as the true dividing line between their posses- we should here assemble three centuries later, to cele- sions and New England, they regarded with the most brate her coming? watchful jealousy. Its headwaters approached those of She was the herald of the permanent occupation of the Canadian river Chaudière, the mouth of which is the northern part of America by Europeans. From the near Quebec; and by ascending the former stream and 8 9' rossing to the headwaters of the latter through an on the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the huts of a ntricacy of forests, hills, ponds and marshes, it was population of fishermen and fur-traders. possible for a small band of hardy men to reach the Rude as it then was, Acadia had charms- Canadian capital-as was done long after by the fol- them still-in its wilderness of woods and its wi owers of Benedict Arnold. Hence, it was thought a of waves; the rocky ramparts that guard its CO atter of the last importance to control the river. deep, still bays and foaming headlands; the 1 Since the wars of D'Aunay and La Tour, this wilder- cliffs of Grand Menan; the innumerable islands t less had been a scene of unceasing strife; for the Eng- ter about Penobscot Bay; and the romantic h ish drew their eastern boundary at the St. Croix, and of Mount Desert, down whose gorges the sea- he claims of the rival nationalities overlapped each like an invading host while the spires of firs and ther. pierce the surging vapors like lances in the S Along the lonely coasts one might have sailed for battle. Leaving Pentegoet and sailing westward lays and seen no human form. At Canseau, at the east- along a solitude of woods, one might reach the rn end of Nova Scotia, there was a fishing-station and outpost of Pemaquid, and thence, still sailing o , fort; Chibuctou, now Halifax, was a solitude; at La anchor at evening off Casco Bay, and see in the Iêve there were a few fishermen; and thence, as you west the distant peaks of the White Mountains. loubled the rocks of Cape Sable, the ancient haunt of Inland, Acadia was all forest, as vast tracts a Tour, you would have seen four French settlers and primeval forest still. Here roamed the Abena n unlimited number of seals and sea-fowl. Ranging the their kindred tribes, a race wild as their haunt hore by St. Mary's Bay and entering the Strait of villages were on the waters of the Androscog Annapolis Basin, you would have found the fort and Saco, the Kennebee, the Penobscot, the St. Cr ettlement of Port Royal, the chief place of all Acadia. the St. John; here in spring they planted the t stood at the head of the basin, where de Monts had beans, and pumpkins, and then, leaving them lanted his settlement eighty or one hundred years be- went down to the sea in their birch-canoes. : ore. At the head of the Bay of Fundy were two other turned towards the end of summer, gathered tl ettlements, Beaubassin-the Beautiful Basin-and Les vest, and went again to the sea, where they Mines-the Place of Mines, comparatively stable and abundance on ducks, geese, and other water-fowl populous. At the mouth of the St. John were the aban- the winter, most of the women, children, and loned ruins of La Tour's old fort; while at some dis- remained in the villages; while the hunters rai ance up the river stood the small wooden fort of Jem- forest in chase of moose, deer, caribou, beav ec, with a few intervening clearings. Still sailing west- bears. vard, passing Mount Desert-another scene of ancient Their summer stay at the seashore was perl settlement-and entering Penobscot Bay, you would have most pleasant, and certainly the most pictureso ound the Baron de Saint-Castin, with his Indian house- of their lives. Bivouacked by one of the innu hold, at Pentegoet, where the town of Castine now stands. coves and inlets that indent these coasts, they All Acadia was comprised in these various stations, more their days in that alternation of indolence an r less permanent, together with one or two small posts which is a second nature to the Indian. Here 10 11 weather, while the torpid water was dimpled with rain- Acadian fishing-grounds, and we hear at one time of a drops and the upturned canoes lay idle on the pebbles, hundred of their vessels thus engaged. They often the listless warrior smoked his pipe under his roof of landed and traded with the Indians along the coast. bark; or launched his slender craft at the dawn of the Meneval, the governor, complained bitterly of their arro- July day, when shores and islands were painted in gance. Sometimes, it is said, they pretended to be for- shadow against the rosy east, and forests, dusky and eign pirates, and plundered vessels and settlements, cool, lay waiting for the sunrise. The women gathered while the aggrieved parties could get no redress at Bos- raspberries or whortleberries in the open places of the ton. They also carried on a regular trade at Port Royal woods, or clams and oysters in the sands and shallows, and Les Mines or Grand Pré, where many of the in- adding their shells to the shell-heaps that have accumu- habitants regarded them with a degree of favor which lated for ages along these shores. The men fished, gave great umbrage to the military authorities, who, speared porpoises, or shot seals. A priest was often nevertheless, are themselves accused of seeking their in the camp watching over his flock, and saying mass own profit by dealings with the heretics. The settlers every day in his chapel of bark. There was no lack of caught from the "Bostonnais" what their governor altar candles, made by mixing tallow with the wax of stigmatizes as English and parliamentary ideas, the the bayberry, which abounded among the rocky hills and chief effect of which was to make them restive under his was gathered in profusion by the squaws and children. rule. The Church, moreover, was less successful in ex- Some of the French were as lawless as their Indian cluding heresy from Acadia than from Canada. A num- friends. Nothing is more strange than the incongruous ber of Huguenots established themselves at Port Royal, mixture of the forms of feudalism with the independence and formed sympathetic relations with the Boston Puri- of the Acadian woods. The only settled agricultural tans. The bishop at Quebec was much alarmed. "This population was at Port Royal, Beaubassin, and the is dangerous," he writes; "I pray your Majesty to put Basin of Minas. The rest were fishermen, fur-traders, an end to these disorders." or rovers of the forest. Repeated orders came from the "Men know little of the consequences of their actions. court to open a communication with Quebec, and even It was the Stuart policy of religious intolerance at home to establish a line of military posts through the inter- and of allowing colonies as safety valves for dissent which vening wilderness; but the distance and the natural diffi- laid the sure foundation of the future United States." culties of the country proved insurmountable obstacles. -Cambridge Modern History. If communication with Quebec was difficult, that with Boston was easy; and thus Acadia became largely de- After the Peace of Utrecht pendent on its New England neighbors, who, says an Acadian officer, "are mostly fugitives from England, FRANCIS PARKMAN guilty of the death of their late King, and accused of "Along the borders of the sea an adverse power was conspiracy against their present sovereign; others of strengthening with slow but steadfast growth. By name, them are pirates and they are all united in a sort of inde- local position and character, one community stands forth pendent republic." Their relations with the Acadians as the conspicuous representative of this antagonism- were of a mixed sort. They continually encroached on Liberty and Absolutism, New England and New France." 12 13 After the Peace of Utrecht, in 1713, the contest between rising flood slowly invading by the unconscious force of France and England in America divided itself into growing volume. three parts,-the Acadian contest; the contest for north- In the French colonies all was different. Here the ern New England the contest for the West. Nothing is representatives of the Crown were men bred in an atmos- more striking than the contrast in the conduct and phere of broad ambition and far-reaching enterprise. methods of the rival claimants to this wild but magnifi- Achievement was demanded of them. They recognized cent domain. Each was strong in its own qualities, and the greatness of the prize, studied the strong and weak utterly wanting in the qualities that marked his opponent. points of their rivals, and with a cautious forecast and a On maps of British America in the earlier part of the daring energy set themselves to the task of defeating eighteenth century, one sees the eastern shore, from them. Maine to Georgia, garnished with ten or twelve colored If the English colonies were comparatively strong in patches, defined, more or less distinctly, by dividing-lines numbers their numbers could not be brought into action; which in some cases are prolonged westward till they while if the French forces were small, they were vigor- touch the Mississippi, or even cross it and stretch on in- ously commanded, and always ready at a word. It was definitely. These patches are the British provinces, and union confronting division, energy confronting apathy, military centralization opposed to industrial democracy; the westward prolongation of their boundary lines rep- and, for a time, the advantage was all on one side. resents their several claims to vast interior tracts, The demands of the French were sufficiently compre- founded on ancient grants but not made good by occupa- hensive. They regretted their enforced concessions at tion, or vindicated by any exertion of power. the Treaty of Utrecht, and, in spite of that compact, main- These English communities took little thought of the tained that, with a few local exceptions along the Atlantic region beyond the Alleghanies. Each lived a life of its Shore, the whole North American continent, except own, shut within its own limits, not dreaming of a future Mexico, was theirs of right; while their opponents seemed collective greatness to which the possession of the West neither to understand the situation, nor to recognize the would be a necessary condition. No conscious community greatness of the stakes at issue. of aims and interests held them together, nor was there "The Articles in the Treaty of Utrecht which dealt any authority capable of uniting their forces and turning with cessions made by France to Great Britain in the New them to a common object. Each province remained in World are justly regarded as the real beginnings of the jealous isolation, busied with its own work, growing in expansion of the British Colonial Empire in America strength, in the capacity of self-rule and the spirit of in- hence, also, of the United States and its democracy. It dependence, and stubbornly resisting all exercise of was a notable event accordingly in the view-point of authority from without. If the English-speaking popu- World History when, by the Treaty's terms, Acadia- lation flowed westward, it was in obedience to natural save Cape Breton Island-was assigned to England." laws, for the King did not aid the movement, the royal governors had no authority to do so, and the colonial as- -Cambridge Modern History. semblies were too much engrossed with immediate local interests. The power of these colonies was that of a 14 15 Acadia The Cloting scene 10 the Montealm and Wolfe. MDI/ME EXPL By Francis Parkman. -Chapter XIX. Dec. The stormy coast of Cape Breton is indented by a small land- locked bay, between which and the ocean lies a tongue of land dotted with a few grazing sheep, and intersected by rows of stone that mark more or less distinctly the lines of what once were streets. Green mounds and embankments of earth enclose the whole space, and beneath the highest of them yawn arches and caverns of ancient masonry. This grassy solitude was once the "Dunkirk of America;" the vaulted caverns where the sheep find shelter from the rain were casemates where terrified women sought refuge from storms of shot and shell, and the shapeless green mounds were citadel, bastion, rampart, and glacis. Here stood Louisbourg; and not all the efforts of its conquerors, nor all the havoo of suc- 2 ceeding times, have availed to efface it. Men in hundreds toiled for months with lever, spade, and gunpowder in the work of destruc- tion, and for more than a century it has served as a stone quarry; but the remains of its vast defences still tell their tale of hu- man valor and human WO e. Stand on the mounds that were once the King's Bastion. The * glistening sea spreads vastward three thousand miles. and its waves Oncoming A meet their first rebuff against this iron coast Lighthouse Point is white with foam; jets of spray spout from the rocks of Goat Is- land; mist curls in clouds from the seething surf that lashes the crags of Black Point, and the sea boils like a caldron among the reefs by the harbor's mouth; but on the calm water within. the small Siever de Monts Publications X Typesemp 17pts- - -1- Ling vessels rest tranquil at their moorings. Beyond lies a ham- let of fishermen by the edge of the water, and a few scattered dwell- ings dot the Dough hills, bristled with stunted firs, that gird the quiet basin; while close at hand, within the precinct of the vanish- ed fortress, stand two small farmhouses. All else is a solitude of I ocean, rock, marsh, and forest. At the beginning of June, 1758, the place wore another aspect. Since the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, vast sums had been spent in repair- ing and strengthening it; and Louisbourg was the strongest fortress in French or British America. The circuit of the fortifications was more than a mile and a half, and the town contained about four thou- sand inhabitants. The garrison consisted of the battalions of Artois, Bourgogne, Cambis, and Volontaires Etrangers, with two companies of artillery and twenty-four of colonial troops from Canada. In the harbor were five ships-of-the-line and seven frigates, carrying in 2 all five hundred and forty-four guns and about three thousand men. Two hundred and nineteen cannon and seventeen mortars were mounted 3 on the walls and outworks. Of these last, the most important were the Grand Battery on the shore of the harbor opposite its mouth, and the Island Battery on the rocky islet at its entrance. Louisbourg is described as I saw it ten days before writing the above after an easterly gale. Le Prudent, 74 guns; Entreprenant, 74; Capricieux, 64; Celebre, 64; Bienfaisant, 64; Apollon, 50; Chevre,2 22; Biche, 18; Fidele, 22; Echo, 26; Arethuse, 36; Comete, 30. The Bizarre, 64, sailed for France on the eighth of June, and was followed by the Comete. Etat d'Artillerie, appended to the Journal of Drucour. There were also forty-four cannon in reserve. -2- at the best defence of Louisbourg was the craggy shore that for leagues on either hand was accessible only at a few points, and even there with difficulty. All these points were vigilantly watched. There had been signs of the enemy from the first opening of spring. In the intervals of Log, rain, and snow-squalls, sails were seen hovering on the distant sea; and during the latter part of May a squadron of nine ships cruised off the mouth of the har- - bor, appearing and disappearing, sometimes driven away by gales, sometimes lost in fogs, and sometimes approaching to within cannon-shot of the batteries. Their object was to blockade the port, -- in which they failed; for French ships had come in at intervals, till twelve of them lay safe-anchored in the harbor, with more than a year's supply of provisions for the garrison. At length, on the first of June, the southeastern horizon was white with a cloud of canvas. The long-expected crisis was come. At the end of May Admiral Boscawen was at Halifax with twenty- three ships-of-the-line, eighteen frigates and fireships, and a fleet of transports, on board of which were eleven thousand and six hundred soldiers, all regulars, except five hundred provincial 1 rangers. Amherst had not yet arrived, and on the twenty-eighth, Boscawen, in pursuance of his orders, put to sea without him; but x scarcely had the fleet sailed out of Halifax, when they met the ship that bore the general. Amherst took command of the troops; 1 of this force, according to Mante, only 9,900 were fit for duty. The table printed by Knox (i.127) shows a total of 11,112, besides officers ,artillery, and rangers. The Authent Account of the Re- duction of Louisbourg, by a Spedtator, puts the force at 11,326 men, besides officers. Entick makes the whole 11,936. -3- L nd the expedition held its way till, the second day of June, they saw the rocky shore-line of Cape Breton and descried the masts of the French squadron in the harbor of Louisbourg. Boscawen sailed into Gabarus Bay. The sea was rough; but in the afternoon Amherst, Lawrence, and Wolfe, with a number of naval officers, reconnoitred the shore in boats, coasting it for miles, and approaching it as near as the French batteries would permit. The rocks were white with surf, and every accessible point was strongly guarded. Boscawen saw little chance of success. He sent for his captains, and consulted them separately. They thought, like him, that it would be rash to attempt a landing, and proposed a council of war. One of them alone, an old sea officer name d Fergu- son, advised his commander to take the responsibility himself, hold no council, and make the attempt at every risk. Boscawen took his advice, and declared that he would not leave Gabarus Bay till he 1 had fulfilled his instructions and set the troops on shore. West of Louisbourg there were three accessible places, Fresh- water Cove, four miles from the town, Flat Point and White Point, which were nearer. In order to distract the attention of the enemy it was resolved to threaten all these places, forming the troops into three divisions, two of which were to advance towards Flat Point and White Point, while wolfe, with the third was to make the real attack and try to force a landing at Freshwater Cove, which, as it proved, was the most strongly defended of all. On the next day, the third, the surf was so high that nothing Entick,111.224. -4- at farther end of the beach, followed by Amherst himself. The French, attacked on right and left, and fearing, with good reason, that they would be cut off from the town, abandoned their cannon and fled into the woods. The English followed through a matted growth of firs till the cannon, opening on them from the ramparts, stopped pursuit. The first move of the great game was played and 1 won. Amherst made his camp just beyond range of the French cannon, and Flat Point Cove was chosen as the landing-place of guns and stores. Clearing the ground, making roads, and pitching tents fill- ed the rest of the day. At night there was a glare of flames from the direction of the town. The French had abandoned the Grand Bat- tery after setting fire to the buildings in it and to the houses and fish-stages along the shore of the harbor. During the following days stores were landed as fast as the surf would permit: but the task was SO difficult that from first to last more than a hundred boats were stove in accomplishing it; and such was the violence of the waves that none of the siege-guns could be got ashore till the eightMeenth. The camp extended two miles along a stream that flowed down to the Cove among the low, woody hills that curved a- round the town and harbor. Redoubts were made to protect its front, and block-houses to guard its left and rear from t he bands of Acadians known to be hovering in the woods. wolfe, with twelve hundred men, made his way six or seven miles around the harbor, took possession of the battery at Light- 1 Journal of Amherst, in Mante, 117. Amherst to Pitt, 11 June, 1758. Authentic Account of the Reduction of Louisbourg, by a Spectator, 11. General Orders of Amherst, 3-7 June, 1759 Letter from an Officer, in Knox, i. 191; Entick, iii. 225. The French accounts generally agree in essentials with the English. The English lost one hundred and nine, killed, wounded, and drowned. -7- house Point which the French had abandoned, planted guns and mortars, and opened fire on the Island Battery that guarded the entrance. Other guns wer placed at different points along the shore, and soon opened on the French ships. The ships and batteries replied. The artillery fight raged night and days till on the twenty-fifth the Island guns were dismounted and silenced. Wolfe then strengthened his posts, secured his com- munications, and returned to the main army in front of the town. Amherst had reconnoitred the ground and chosen a hillock at the edge of the marsh, less than half a mile from the ramparts, as the point for opening his trenches. A road with an epaulement to protect it must first be made to the spot; and as the way was over a tract of deep mud covered with water-weeds and moss, the labor was prodigious. A thousand men worked at it day and night under the fire of the town and ships. When the French looked landward from their ramparts they could see scarcely a sign of the impending storm. Behind them Wolfe's cannon were playing busily from Lighthouse Point and the heights around the harbor; but, before them, the broad flat marsh and the low hills seemed almost a solitude. Two miles distant, they could descry some of the English tents; but the greater part were hidden by the inequalities of the ground. On the right, a prolongation of the harbor reached nearly half a mile beyond the town, ending in a small lagoon formed by a projecting sandbar, and known as the Barachois. Near this bar lay moored the little frigate "Arethuse," under a gallant officer named Vauquelin. Her position -8- as a perilous one; but SO long as she could maintain it she could sweep with her fire the ground before the works, and seriously im- pede the operations of the enemy. The frigate "Echo," under cover of a fog, had been sent to Quebec for aid; but she was chased and captured; and, a day or two after, the French saw her pass the mouth of the harbor with an English flag at her mast-head. When Wolfe had silenced the Island Battery, a new and imminent danger threatened Louisbourg. Boscawen might enter the harbor, over- power the French naval force, and cannonade the town on its weakest side. Therefore Drucour resolved to sink four large ships at the entrance; and on a dark and foggy night this was successfully ac- complished. Two more vessels were afterwards sunk, and the harbor was then thought safe. The English had at last finished their preparations, and were urging on the siege with determined vigor. The landward view was a solitude no longer. They could be seen in multitudes piling earth and fascines beyond the hillock at the edge of the marsh. On the twenty-fifth they occupied the hillock itself, and fortified them- selves there under a shower of bombs. Then they threw up earth on the right, and pushed their approaches towards the Barachois, in spite of a hot fire from the frigate "Arethuse." Next they appear- ed on the left towards the sea,about a third of a mile from the Princess's Bastion. It was Wolfe, with a strong detachment, throw- ing up a redoubt and opening an intrenchment. Late on the night of the ninth of July six hundred French troops sallied to interrupt the work. The English grenadiers in the trenches fought stubbornly with bayonet and sword, but were forced back to the second line, where a desperate conflict in the dark took place; finally after severe loss on both sides, the French were driven back. Various cour tesies were exchanged between the two camman ders. Drucour, on occasion of a flag of truce, wrote to Amherst that there was a surgeon of uncommon skill in uisbourg, whose services were at the command of any English officer who might need them. Amherst on his part sent to his enemy letters and messages from wounded Frenchmen in his hands, adding his compliments to Madame Drucour, with an expression of regret for the disquiet to which she was exposed, begging her at the same time to accept a gift of pineapples from the West Indies. She returned his courtesy by sending him a basket of wine; after which amenities the cannon roared again. Madame Drucour was a woman of heroic spirit. Every day she was on the ramparts, where her presence roused the soldiers to enthusiasm; and every day with her own hand she fired three cannon to encourage them. The English lines grew closer and closer, and their fire more and more destructive. Desgouttes, the naval commander, withdrew the "Arethuse" from her exposed position, where her fire had great- ly annoyed the besiegers. The shot-holes in her sides were plugged up, and in the dark night of the fourteenth of July she was towed through the obstructions in the mouth of the harbor, and sent to France to report the situation of Louisbourg. More fortunate than her predecessor, she escaped the English in a fog. Only five ves- sels now remained afloat in the harbor. On the sixteenth of July, early in the evening, a party of English, led by Wolfe, dashed forward, drove off a band of French volunteers, seized some rising ground and began to intrench them- -10- 1ves scarcely three hundred yards from the Dauphin's Bastion. The town opened on them furiously with grape-shot; but in the intervals of the firing the sound of their picks and spades could plainly be heard. In the morning they were seen throwing up earth like moles as they burrowed their way forward; and on the twenty-first they opened another parallel, within two hundred yards of the rampart. Still their sappers pushed on. Every day they had more guns in position, and on right and left their fire grew hotter. Their pickets made a lodgement along the foot of the glacis, and fired up the slope at the French in the covered way. The twenty-first was a memorable day. In the afternoon a bomb fell on the ship "Celebre" and set her on fire. An explosion followed. The few men on board could not save her, and she drifted from her moorings. The wind blew the flames into the rigging of the "Entreprenant," and then into that of the "Capricieux." At night all three were in full blaze; for when the fire broke out the English batteries turned on them a tempest of shot and shell to prevent it from being extinguished. The glare of the triple conflagration lighted up the town, the trenches, the harbor, and the surrounding hills; while the burning ships shot off their guns at random as they slowly drifted westward, and grounded at last near the Barachois. In the morning they were consumed to the water's edge; and of all the squadron the "Prudent" and the "Bienfaisant" alone were left. In the citadel, of which the King's Bastion formed the front, there was a large oblong stone building containing the chapel, -11- odgings for men and officers, and at the southern end the cuar- ters of the governor. On the morning after the burning of the ships a shell fell through the roof among a party of soldiers in the chamber below, burst, and set the place on fire. In half an hour the chapel and all the northern part of the building were in flames; and no sooner did the smoke rise above the bastion than the English threw into it a steady shower of missiles. Yet sol- diers, sailors, and inhabitants hastened to the spot, and labored desperately to check the fire. They saved the end occupied by Drucour and his wife, but all the rest was destroyed. Under the adjacent rampart were the casemates. one of which was crowded with wounded officers, and the rest with women and children seeking shelter in these subterranean dens. Before the entrance there was a long barrier of timber to protect them from exploding shells; and as the wind blew the flames towards it, there was danger that it would take fire and suffocate those within. They rushed out, crazed with fright, and ran hither and thither amid the storm of iron. In the neighboring Queen's Bastion was a large range of bar- racks built of wood. Here were lodged the greater part of the gar- - rison: but such was the danger of fire, that they were now ordered to leave it; and they accordingly lay in the streets or along the foot of the ramparts, under shelters of timber which gave some little protection against bombs. The order was well timed; for on the night after the fire in the King's Bastion, a shell filled with combustibles set this building also in flames. A fearful scene ensued. All the English batteries opened upon it. The roar -12- mortars and cannon, the rushing and screaming of round-shot and grape, the hissing of fuses and the explosion of grenades and bombs mingled with a storm of musketry from the covered way and trenches; while, by the glare of the conflagration, the English regiments were seen drawn up in battle array, before the ramparts, as if pre- paring for an assault. Two days after, at one o'clock in the morning, a burst of loud cheers was heard in the distance, followed by confused cries and the noise of musketry, which lasted but a moment. Six hundred English sailors had silently rowed into the harbor and seized the two remain- ing ships, the "Prudent" and the "Bienfaisant." After the first hub- bub all was silent for half an hour. Then a light glowed through the thick fog that covered the water. The "Prudent" was burning. Being aground with the low tide, her captors had set her on fire, allowing the men on board to escape to the town in her boats. The flames soon wrapped her from stem to stern; and as the broad glare pierced the illumined mists, the English sailors, reckless of shot and shell, towed her companion-ship, with all on board, to a safe anchorage under Wolfe's batteries. The position of the besieged was deplorable. Nearly a fourth of the ir number were in the hospitals; while the rest, exhausted with incessant toil, could find no place to snatch an hour of sleep; "and yet, " says an officer, "they still show ardor." "To-day," he again says, on the twe nt y-fourth, "the fire of the place is so weak that it is more like funeral guns than a defence." On the front of the town only four cannon could fire at all. The rest were either dismounted or silenced by the musketry from the trenches. The ma- sonry of the ramparts had been shaken by the concussion of their -13- own guns; and now, in the Dauphin's and King's bastions, the Eng- lish shot brought it down in masses. The trenches had been pushed SO close on the rising ground at the right that a great part of the covered way was enfiladed, while a battery on a hill across the harbor swept the whole front with a flank fire. Amherst had ordered the gunners to spare the houses of the town; but, accord_ ing to French accounts, the order had little effect, for shot and shell fell everywhere. "There is not a house in the place, says the Diary just quoted, "that has not felt the effects of this for- midable artillery. From yesterday morning till seven o'clock this evening we reckon that a thousand or twelve hundred bombs, great and small, have been thrown into the town, accompanied all the time by the fire of forty pieces of cannon, served with an activity not often seen. On the twenty-sixth the last cannon was silenced in front of the town, and the English batteries had made a breach which seemed practicable for assault. On the day before, Drucour, with his chief officers had made the tour of the covered way, and examined the state of the defences. All but Franquet, the engineer who had constructed them, were for offering to capitulate. Early on the next morning a council of war was held, which ended in a unanimous decision to ask for terms. Accordingly, at ten o'clock, a white flag was displayed over the breach in the Dauphin's Bastion, and an officer was sent out with offers to capitulate. The answer was prompt and stern: the garri- son must surrender as prisoners of war; a definite reply must be given within an hour; in case of refusal the place will be attacked 1 by land and sea. 1, Mante and other English writers give the text of this reply. -14- Drucour, indignant he regarded refused the English terms and declared his purpose to abide the assault. An officer was sent back to the English camp with a note of defiance. He was no sooner gone than the intendant, an officer of functions purely civil, brought a memorial which he had drawn up in anticipation of the emergency. "The violent resolution which the council continues to hold, said this do cument , "obliges me, for the good of the state, the preservation of the King's subjects, and the averting of horrors shocking to humanity, to lay before your eyes the consequences that may ensue. What will become of the four thousand souls who compose the families of this town, of the thousand or twelve hundred sick in the hospitals, and the officers and crews of our unfortunate ships? They will be delivered over to carnage and the rage of an unbridled soldiery, eager for plunder, and impelled to deeds of horror by resentment Canada. It remains, Monsieur," continues the paper, "to remind you that the councils you have held thus far have been composed of none but military officers. The Glory of the King's arms and the honor of their several corps have inspired them. You and I alone are charged with the administration of the co lony and the care of the King's sub jects who compose it. It is at the prayer of an intimidated people that I lay before you the considerations specified in this memorial. "In view of these considerations, writes Drucour, "joined to the impossibility of resisting an assault, I recalled my messenger." Officers were than sent to the English -15- The articles of capitulation stipulated that the garrison should be sent to England, prisoners of war, in British ships; that all artillery, arms, munitions, and stores, both in Louis- bourg and elsewhere on the Island of Cape Breton, as well as on Isle St. Jean, now Prince Edward's Island, should be given up in- tact; that the gate of the Dauphin's Bastion should be delivered to the British troops at eight o'clock in the morning; and that the garrison should lay down their arms at noon. The victors, on their part, promised to give the French sick and wounded the same care as their own, and to protect private property from pillage. Drucour signed the paper at midnight, and in the morning a body of grenadiers took possession of the Dauphin's Gate. The rude soldiery poured in, swarthy with wind and sun, and begrimed with smoke and dust ; the garrison, drawn up on the esplanade, flung down their muskets and marched from the ground with tears of rage; the cross of St. George floated over the shattered ram- part; and Louisbourg, with all that yet remained of French Acadia, passed to the British Crown. Guards were posted, & stern disci- pline was enforced, and perfect order maintained. The conquerors and the conquered exchanged greetings, and the English general was lavish of courtesies to the brave lady who had aided the defence SO well. Drucour and his garrison had made a gallant defence. It had been his aim to pro long the siege till it should be too late for Amherst to co-operate with Abercrombie in an attack on Canada; and -16- in this, at least, he succeeded. Five thousand six hundred and thirty-seven officers, sol- diers, and aailors were prisoners in the hands of the victors. Eighteen mortars and two hundred and twenty-one cannon were found in the town, along with a great quantity of arms, muni- 1 tions, and stores. At the middle of August such of the pris- oners as were not disabled by wounds or sickness were embarked for England, and the merchants and inhabitants were sent to France. Brigadier Whitmore, as governor of Louisbourg, remain- ed with four regiments to hold guard over the desolation they had made. 1 Account of the Guns, Mortars, Shot, Shell, etc., , found in the Town of Louisbourg upon its Surrender this day, signed Jeffrey Amherst, 27 July, 1758. -17- 4/24/15 SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS XI Sieur De Monts Commission De Monts and Acadia An Appreciation ISSUED BY THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA BAR HARBOR, MAINE SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS XI Sieur De Monts Commission De Monts and Acadia An Appreciation PURCHAS HIS PILGRIMES CONTAINING A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN SEA VOYAGES AND LANDE TRAVELLS BY ENGLISHMEN AND OTHERS. The Patent of the French King to Monsieur de Monts for the inhabiting of the Countries of La Cadia, Canada, and other places in New France. Henry, by the grace of God King of France and Na varre. To our deare and well beloved the Lord of Monts, one of the ordinarie Gentlemen of our Chamber, greeting .Is our greatest care and labour is, and hath alwayes beene, since our comming to this Crowne, to maintaine and conserve it in the ancient dignitie, greatnesse and splendour thereof, to extend and amplifie, as much its lawfully may bee done, the bounds and limits of the same. We being, of it long time, informed of the situation and condition of the Lands and Territories of La Cadia, moved above all things, with a singular zeale, and devout and constant resolution, which we have taken, with the helpe and assistance of God, Author, Distributour, and Protectour of all Kingdomes and Estates, to cause the people, which doe inhabit the Countrey, men (at this present time) Barbarous, Atheists, without Faith, or r de Monts National Monument-The East Cliff Religion, to be converted to Christianitie, and to the 3 Beliefs and Profession of our Faith and Religion and in the exercise and profession of the same, keepe and con- to draw them from the ignorance and unbeliefs wherein serve the said people, and all other Inhabitants in the they are. Having also of a long time knowne by the said places, and there to command in peace, rest and Relation of the Sea Captaines, Pilots, Merchants and tranquillitie, as well by Sea as by Land: to ordaine, de- others, who of long time have haunted, frequented and cide, and cause to bee executed all that which you shall trafficked with the people that are found in the said places, judge fit and necessarie to be done, for to maintaine, how fruitfull, commodious and profitable may be unto us, keepe and conserve the said places under our Power and to our Estates and Subjects, the Dwelling, Possession, Authoritie, by the formes, wayes and means prescribed and Habitation of those Countries, for the great and by our Lawes. And for to have there a care of the same apparent profit which may be drawne by the greater fre- with you, to appoint, establish, and constitute all Officers, quentation and habitude which may bee had with the as well in the affaires of Warre, as for Justice and people that are found there, and the Trafficke and Com- Policie, for the first time, and from thence forward to merce which may be by that means safely treated and name and present them unto us: for to be disposed by us, negotiated. and to give Letters, Titles, and such Provisoes as shall We then for these causes fully trusting on your great be necessarie, etc. wisdome, and in the knowledge and experience that you Given at Fountain-Bleau the eight day of November: have of the qualitie, condition and situation of the said in the yeere of our Lord 1603. And of our Reigne the Countrie of La Cadia; for divers and sundry Navigations, fifteenth. Signed Henry and underneath by the King, Voyages and Frequentations that you have made into Potier; And sealed upon single labell with yellow Waxe. those parts, and others neere and bordering upon it: Assuring our selves that this our resolution and inten- De Monts and Acadia: An Appreciation tion, being committed unto you, you will attentively, dili- Being portion of an address delivered by Major General gently, and no lesse couragiously and valorously execute Joshua L. Chamberlain at the Ter-Centennial celebra- and bring to such perfection as we desire: Have expressly tion of the founding of Acadia and first permanent appointed and established you, and by these Presents, settlement of America to the north of Florida. signed with our owne hands, doe commit, ordaine, make, constitute and establish you, our Lieutenant Generall, There are things done in the world which by a certain for to represent our person, in the Countries, Territories, estimation are accounted failure, but which belong to an Coasts and Confines of La Cadia. To begin from the 40. eternal process turning to its appointed ends the dis- degree unto the 46. And in the same distance, or part of continuities of bafiled endeavor. We have come to this it, as farre as may bee done, to establish, extend and little spot where broken beginnings were the signal of make to be knowne onr Name, Might, and Authoritie. mighty adventure, and restless spirits, lured by visions of And under the same to subject, submit and bring into empire forecast upon the morning clouds, pressed and obedience all the people of the said Land, end the Bor- passed like them. The great action of the times we com- derers thereof: And by the meanes thereof, and all law- memorate was not the result of shrewd calculations of full wayes, to call, make, instruct, provoke and incite economic advantage; it was largely the impulse of bold them to the knowledge of God, and to the light of the imagination and adventurous spirit stirred by the fore- Faith and Christian Religion, to establish it there: And 5 4 shadowing of untested possibilities, and knowing no limit actual occupancy that France sent out two great ex- but each one's daring or dream. While the motive of ploring expeditions which were not only thorough-going pecuniary gain was not absent from even noble minds, in character but pregnant of consequences: that of Ver- yet this was secondary and subordinate. A deeper razano in 1524, which gave the name New France to these thought was moving them,-to turn to human good such North Atlantic shores, and that of Jacques Cartier ten opening store of rich material and marvellous oppor- years later, whose remarkable observations and glowing tunity; to signalize the valor of their race, the glory of accounts deepened this nominal interest into the sense their country and their religion to take a foremost step and pride of ownership. France now asserted her sole in the march of civilization,-the mastery of man over right to all the region north of Spanish Florida. nature. It was akin to the chivalry which enjoys per- Portugal, also, laid early claim to the vast, unbounded sonal hazard for a sake beyond self. What generous region north of the Newfoundland waters, which she ambitions, what lofty hopes hovered in those early skies, named Corterealis after her great discoverer in the year and since have "faded into the light of common day !' 1500; the name Labrador preserves a record of her We come here to recognize the worth of a remarkable passing hand. She commenced an occupancy, too, about man, Pierre du Guast, Sieur de Monts,-to commemorate the Newfoundland shores, building a rendezvous or re- in a material structure more lasting than any of his own cruiting station for her fishermen there which lasted a the value of his work and the greatness of his ideas. It long time. Portuguese names remain here, although in is, moreover, a part of the glory of Old France of which disguised form; Cape Race, from Cavo Raso-Flat Cape; we come with one heart to celebrate a passage,-taking and Bay of Fundy, replacing the name Baie Francoise this term in both senses of its meaning. Not other than given by de Monts. On the oldest Portuguese and Span- glorious the passage from vision to ideal,-from dream ish maps this is Rio Fundo, or Hondo-Deep River. to deed; and although passed are the facts and forms SO England kept up some intercourse with these north- vivid and vital in their day, who shall say passed the eastern coasts in the way of fishing interests, but in this spirit and power, the living potentiality of good, whose she was far exceeded by others. In 1578 the fishing fleet course is by unrecorded ways and whose law of mani- of England here numbered fifty; that of Portugal and festation is unsearchable? Spain twice that number; that of France three times as England was not wanting in bold sea enterprise. many. And think of what strong, indomitable blood Almost a century before the discovery of this continent those early Frenchmen were: Norman, Breton, Biscayan. she had a brisk trade with Iceland. In a single snow- Strains of these inextinguishable essences remain in storm in April, 1419, twenty-five of her vessels were lost those who follow the old vocation off those outlying, on that wild coast. But whether the race instinct of storm-swept shores, and abiding tokens in the name and colonization was taking a rest, or because of the absorb- character of Cape Breton, and in the stubborn contest ing interest in the mythical "northwest passage to over treaty rights reserved in the islands of Miquelon. Cathay," she made no effort to follow up the discoveries The inaction of England was practically abandonment of the Cabots in 1497 by acts evincing intention of per- of claim. The middle of the sixteenth century saw the manent possession. new world in theory, in legal presumption and probable But it was with express purpose of proceeding to fate, apportioned between France, Portugal and Spain. 6 7 To us, familiar with the history of modern movement in these did not prevent association in a common purpose the world's masteries, it seems strange that the Norman for SO high an end. Under Henry IV a notable company element in English blood, so prone to see an opportunity, was formed, the leading spirit of which was Aylmar de and some might say SO prompt to seize an advantage, did Chastes, a gentleman of high standing and governor of not follow up England's claimed priority of discovery by Dieppe, to carry forward colonization on these shores earliest occupancy of the new Atlantic shores. But know- "in the name of God and the King." ing also as we do, the audacity of the mingled strains in. At this juncture comes upon the scene one of the most the old French blood, we do not wonder that it was this remarkable characters of our New World history-Sam- which took the forefront and held on till its last foothold uel, Sieur de Champlain. Born on the shore of Biscay was drowned in its last red tide. in a little seaport where departing and returning ships Occupancy by settlement was slow. A charter was bringing stories of wide and wild adventure quickened granted to Sir Humphrey Gilbert by Queen Elizabeth in into life that vague consciousness of power which stirs 1578, but it was not until 1583 that he began a settlement in all brave spirits; by nature bold, chivalrous, romantic; in Newfoundland at what he called St. John's. But that by early experience soldier, sailor, observer and relater; high spirit who declared, "We are as near heaven by sea tireless in labor, patient of suffering, large of vision and as land!'' passed out through a storm of elements off generous of purpose, genial of spirit and firm of soul, he those headlands, precarious indeed, and with him the soul may well be regarded as providentially prepared to be went out of his enterprise, and the claim of England called to the solution of great problems of enterprise. through this occupancy did not for a long time emerge. We do not wonder that he had already received special Sir Walter Raleigh's vigorous efforts in Virginia in marks of honor from the king. He and de Chastes seem 1584 also came to nought. And so at the close of the to have come together by mutual attraction. To him the 16th century there was not a European settlement north king gave special charge to observe carefully and report of Florida on the western Atlantic shores. all he should see. The practical charge of the expedition But the human ferment was going on, and the time was entrusted to Du Pont Gravé, of St. Malo in Bretagne, appointed drawing near. The fierce persecution of the who had already made a voyage to this region. Huguenots was tearing asunder social bonds in France. This expedition explored the St. Lawrence, tarrying The quarrel over the succession of King Henry of some time at Tadoussac, at the mouth of the mysterious Navarre had its spring in this bitterness, and the chang- Saguenay, and finally ascending to the site of Montreal. ing play of parties permitted no one to be safe. Earnest Of this exploration there were wonderful things to tell in minds were moved to seek peaceful homes in the wilder- France; and told by Champlain roused an interest such ness of the New World, where they might find at least as nothing had done before. IIe came back with high freedom of thought and action, and possibly scope for hopes, but found that his generous patron had passed their best energies. Thus Admiral Coligny sought to away, and with him the supporting hand, if not the ani- plant Huguenot colonies in both South and North mating spirit, of the enterprise. America, which soon succumbed to Portugal or Spain. But he found also that the king had given a new charter But inward pressure prompted outward movement and to a gentleman of equally high character, an officer of bitterly manifest as were the differences in the old home, the king's household, Pierre de Monts, Seigneur of the 8 9 Commune of Guast in Santonge, a region of which La glory of de Monts' dawning dream. Contemplating this Rochelle was the natural center and strongly Huguenot ruin and this baffled purpose, must we speak of failure? in its proclivities, as was the family of de Monts. This If so, for de Monts personally the case is not singular. charter was given November 8, 1603. It conveyed to de All the first leaders had sad experiences. Gilbert, Monts in elaborate terms trading and seignorial rights Raleigh, Gorges, de Monts, Poutrincourt, Champlain even, over the New World territory between the fortieth and and we might also say Columbus himself-jealousy, forty-sixth parallels of latitude-those of Philadelphia enmity, imprisonment, disgrace barred their sunset sky. and Montreal today-this territory being designated But we judge men more by the ideas they quicken into Lacadie, or Acadia. With this came the appointment of action than by the immediate material results they live Lieutenant-general, and by inference Vice-admiral, of to see. this vast and vaguely known domain of Acadia. All the developments of succeeding history in this re- With reciprocal personal respect and the sympathy of gion must be regarded as in some true sense the unfolding like purpose, these two men joined hands and hearts in of de Monts' purpose, not under his guidance indeed the enterprise now more definitely thought out and prac- but under the momentum of the impulse he originated, and tically organized than any before. De Monts had been the although we cannot see all the interaction of the com- companion of Chauvin in a former voyage to these north- posite forces which determine life and history, we must eastern shores, and had the confidence of experience. think back to de Monts, when we consider the long, sharp Champlain again received appointment as special geo- struggle for possession of these Acadian shores and the grapher and reporter for the king. They enlisted also tenacious hold on them which France maintained for the interest and companionship of Jean de Poutrineourt, more than a century, and is not wholly yet unfelt. Baron of Saint Just in Bretagne, a man of ample means One singular dignity this St. Croix settlement of de and large of mind and heart, pronounced by King Henry Monts has come to hold. After long lost identity and to be "one of the most honorable and valiant men of earnest searching, these ruins were discovered and ad- the Kingdom." mitted to be the proper mark for the boundary line be- Thus was ordained and organized that famous adven- tween two great nations, England and the United States ture of Acadia, fraught with human hopes as high and of America. Such value had this broken enterprise in fancies as wide as its sequel was to be bright with char- the minds of men and council of nations. Without the acters of courage and devotion and stormy with vicissi- identifying of this spot the language of treaties was in tude and tragedy. vain, and the bounds of nationalities in confusion. But this little relic is not the measure of the man. The NOTE BY EDITOR:-This and the following extracts from General Chambertain's address are published for their admirable and eloquent narrow compass of this island does not bound his thought, appreciation of the deeper meaning and significance of de Monts' adven- nor the dim fragments of his doing that have taken ture. The story of the enterprise itself will be published later in this series, in a condensation from Champlain's account. GEORGE B. DORR. earthly form around us compose his record. The meas- ure of him is his purpose and ideal. The blood and brain of France that once led the civi- So passed to dust and ruin this little beginning on the lization of Europe has not perished from the earth. It Island of the Cross. So passed into broken lights the has entered into the on-going of human welfare, and the 10 11 vision, the prayer, the hope, that went SO high and far, may find answer in visible forms of power even beyond the early dream. Consequences are not in one line alone, but in many lines. When a living thought is projected into the ideal, we cannot trace its course, nor forsee its end. God's ways are on mighty orbits, and their real tending is often lost to human sight; but the "times appointed" will arrive, and the end crown the work. One thing we may be sure of: all these vicissitudes of life, all these toils and struggles, these seeming defeats as well as seeming vic- tories, are overruled for some final good for man-and for every man who has borne himself worthily in them. So we greet in spirit today him who three centuries ago saw in visions of his soul what for man could be wrought on these treasured shores. The work is going on-but by other hands; the dream is coming true-but to other eyes. The thought is his; and the fulfilment, though different, is of his beginning. As a Contemporary Saw It Marc Lescarbot, who came out in May, 1606, to visit de Monts' settlement with Jean de Biencourt, Seigneur de Poutrincourt, and who afterward wrote the History of New France, the best account next to Champlain's we have of de Monts' undertaking and of Acadia at that time, begins his History "I have to tell in this book of the most courageous undertaking, and the least aided and assisted, that we of France have made to occupy the new lands beyond the Ocean. The Sieur de Monts, called in his own name Pierre du Gua, a man of noble family in Saintonge, is its chief subject. He, having a heart moved to high enterprise, and seeing France in repose through the peace happily concluded at Vervins, proposed to the King. 12 SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS SIEUR D E MONTS B L I ( ATIONS XIV I. Announcement by the Government of the creation of the Sieur de Monts National Monument by Presidential Proclamation on July 8, 1916. Two National Monuments: II. Addresses at Meeting held at Bar Harbor on August 22, 1916, to commemorate the establishment of the Sieur de Monts The Desert and the Ocean Front. National Monument. III. The Sieur de Monts National Monument as a Bird Sanctuary. IV. The Coastal Setting, Rocks and Woods of the Sieur de Monts National Monument. COCT 12 1920 V. An Acadian Plant Sanctuary. 25105G VI. Wild Life and Nature Conservation in the Eastern States. National VII. Man and Nature. Our Duty to the Future. Mue VIII. The Acadian Forest. IX. The Sieur de Monts National Monument as commemorating Acadia and early French influences of Race and Settle- ment in the United States. X. Acadia: the Closing Scene. XI. Purchas Pilgrimes translation of de Monts' Commission. De Monts: an Appreciation. XII. The de Monts Ancestry in France. XIII. The District of Maine and the Character of the People of Boston at the end of the 18th century. XIV. Two National Monuments: The Desert and the Ocean Front. XV. Natural Bird Gardens on Mount Desert Island. XVI. The Blueberry and other characteristic plants of the Acadian Region. XVII. The Sieur de Monts National Monument and its Historical Associations. Garden Approaches to the National Monu- ment. The White Mountain National Forest. Crawford Notch in 1797. XVIII. An Old Account of Mt. Washington. A Word upon its Insect Life. A Word on Mt. Katahdin. XIX. National Parks and Monuments. XX. Early Cod and Haddock Fishery in Acadian Waters. XXI. The Birds of Oldfarm: an intimate study of an Acadian Bird Sanctuary. XXII. The Sieur de Monts National Monument and The Wild Gardens of Acadia. These Publications may be obtained by writing to THE CUSTODIAN, Sieur de Monts National Monument, Bar Harbor, Maine. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ZION NATIONAL MONUMENT GEORGE BUCKNAM DORR Custodian, Sieur de Monts National Monument In the summer of 1902 I found myself one August afternoon, when corn was ripe and grapes were ripening, starting out on horseback from the Mormon village of Kanab, where the Kanab river issues from the Vermilion Cliffs onto the Antelope Plains, to find what geologists familiar with the West had told me was one of its most wonderful sights, the Zion Creek canyon of the north fork of the Virgin River. That canyon has now become a national monument, Zion by name; while the island on the coast of Maine which I had left some weeks before to seek that region has become, in its main mountain range, a national monument also, the Sieur de Monts. These two monuments, each in its own way a natural park of supreme landscape interest, exhibit remarkably in their difference the extraordinary range of natural scenery that the National Park Service, step by step, is reaching out to cover. What the Sieur de Monts Monu- ment is and stands for, other papers in this series tell; in contrast, it seems worth while to tell of its far-off companion whose surrounding is the desert, beautiful as the ocean in its way, and whose sculptor has been not ice and ocean, as the Sieur de Monts, but a stream, plunging steeply down to lose its waters in the western ocean. AN ARTIST IN ZION The immense solitudes of that region, heightened only in effect by their occasional life, dominate the impression 3 that it makes of wildness and primeval character. To the east and south, with an amazing exhibition of ancient volcanism in between, the Colorado River-seeming a mere thread in that vast landscape-lies sunk and inac- cessible in its mile-deep canyon. To the west lies Nevada, sterile for lack of moisture, robbed by the Sierras; to the north, that remarkable interior valley of the Utah Basin, whose waters, like those of the Jordan, never reach the sea. It is a region of strange contrasts of sterility and life in the plant world. The land that water reaches blossoms like a garden; what water fails to reach is desert. Soon after I and my companions on the journey left too Kanab well that August wisely afternoon we feasted-not but upon my part-at invitation of the owner on watermelons growing in an irrigated garden that our way led past; for we were "travellers in a thirsty land." Later we rode on, through dusk at first and then through a wonderful moonlight which lighted up long plumes of silver sage on either side our trail, to an old Mormon fort and place of springs, where we threw our bedding on the ground and slept. Soon after dawn we rode away again across the plains and on till noon, without meeting anyone or seeing any trace of human habitation. At noon we reached a wide, shallow pool, thirty or forty aeres in extent-a gathered run-off of the spring-time rains-one part of which as we rode down toward it appeared blood-red by reflection from the neighboring Vermilion Cliffs; the other, blue, in sharp contrast, from the sky. In this, wild range-cattle stood, knee-deep, drinking and cooling themselves. There we lunched in the shadow of the canvas-covered 'Prairie Schooner" which carried our supplies; then mounted and rode on. The way was long ahead, and the horses were urged on at a jog trot. Presently I dropped behind with what seemed at the moment but a touch of 5 indigestion, but which later proved the forerunner of a sharp and sudden illness, similar to ptomaine poisoning. The others, unaware, passed on and out of sight, and I remained alone-becoming presently quite desperately ill. Later, recovering and following their trail, I came to the cattle-trodden bottom of a dried-up pool in which, unknown to me, the trail divided, and I turned-wrongly for the point I aimed at-down between two mountain masses toward the setting sun. Daylight passed into starlit evening, and evening into moonlit night while still my horse and I wound down into the valley, spreading out-dim and mysterious- beyond. In it, far away, lights as of human habitation seemed to glimmer, then vanished to reappear again elsewhere-illusions of the night; and occasionally I NOON REST ON THE ANTELOPE PLAINS-SADDLES LIE ON THE GROUND heard the cry of some wild animal, a cougar once or THE HORSES ARE WATERING twice, and hunting coyotes with their wild pack-laughter. Huge rock shapes loomed spectrally against the sky to right or left as I descended; clusters of silver sage shone white in the moonlight here and there beside the trail, like marble ruins; and where the wet season or occasional cloudburst streams, whose waters gather with incredible speed, had made their way, darkly shadowed cuts were flung across the trail or followed down beside it. Late in the evening, reaching one of these, the trail divided, one branch crossing it and the other passing down its side. I took the one that crossed and later found that had it been the other, the desert only would have lain before me. Midnight came and neither my horse nor I had had food or water for a dozen hours; he grew exhausted, and I had finally to dismount and lead him. At length I came to the river, but sunk in a rocky bed too deep to reach. Gradually, as I followed it along, it rose to the trail level; and the trail soon after seemed to enter it. Crossing, WATERING AT NOON ON THE ANTELOPE PLAINS From Kodak Pictures Taken by the Writer in 1902 upon the chance it was a ford, I found myself suddenly, 7 at half past one at night, in a little sleeping village, lit by the moon but absolutely silent. Each house was set in a luxuriant garden, watered by an irrigating stream led down the village midst. Continuing on until I reached again the river at an upper bend without discovering any sign of life, I turned and approached a house, whose owner, being waked and told of a stranger who had lost his way, promptly double-barred his door and sent me on. But presently, through the kind offices of the post- master, whose residence I ascertained through the barred door, I found myself entertained with kindest hospi- tality, my horse turned loose in an enclosure to feed at will on stacked alfalfa hay, and I provided with a great bowl of bread and milk while my host and his whole family-risen for the occasion-sat round to hear of my adventure, and tell in turn of others who had lost their way in that wide wilderness. The next day, gladdened by a morning sight of those well cultivated gardens, filled with late summer fruits and vegetables, with grapes and the tall stalks of sugar- cane and corn, and set with apple-trees and fig-trees, peach-trees and thick-foliaged mulberries, I rode on up the river and joined my companions at another village, a dozen miles above; and then rode on with them into the canyon we had come to sec. It was well worth the coming; a great "intaglio," two thousand feet or more in depth, cut by the river into deep red sandstone that rose sheer from the level bot- tom of the valley in great rounded cliffs. Above, strangely contrasting with it, rose great cones of sand- stone of the weird gray color of the Austrian Dolomites, softer in texture and too steep and smooth to harbor vegetation. A sandy soil covered the valley bottom, de- posited by the river in its times of flood; trees grew over it, and open patches here and there had been planted to corn by people from the villages below. The color of the sandstone was extraordinarily rich and beautiful, 9 contrasting finely with the green foliage below, the pale gray cones and the blue sky above. The valley, too, had breadth enough to obviate the effect of sombre gloom that canyons often have, deep cuts where water in its swing has not had time to cut a wider swathe. Sunlight entered here abundantly, lighting its walls' rich tones and showing the beauty of their weathered faces. One memory I have always cherished. A spring of water, rare in that region and delightful always, issued- at some distance from the valley floor-from a long crack or crevice in the sandstone, and, rooted in the rock-face below, draping and hiding it, there grew a splendid cur- tain of Maidenhair fern with magnificent fronds and long wiry stems that allowed the fronds to freely over-lap, while the water dropped and trickled through the mass to gather at the cliff-foot finally and flow away. The rich color-contrast of the fronds and rock, the fresh green hue and splendid vigor of the fronds themselves, and the de- light of the water dripping quietly down made an im- pression on me in that arid region which is as fresh to- day as then. That night we slept on the sandy valley floor, where I remember the swift passage of the stars against the cliffs, then being waked at dawn by ants, tiny but innu- merable, whom I found attacking me in two apparently well organized and well directed columns, one on either side; and I remember, too, finding when I rose the tracks of a night-prowling coyote in the sand between me and my next sleeping neighbor, not half a dozen feet away. Where we slept that night and watched the breaking of the dawn, the canyon opened grandly out as if for the enthronement of some ancient god, and there, from its deep embayment, rose a dangerous and only trail connecting the canyon bottom with the plains above-a summer-grazing ground for cattle, whose bones marked, like vestiges of ancient sacrifice, the bases of the cliffs it climbed. 11 Beyond this amphitheater, the canyon narro quickly, keeping still its depth and perpendicular w till finally the river wholly filled its bottom, scarce tl feet in width, and the sky was hidden overhead in pl by the projecting cliffs. The rock is a superb deep-red Triassic sands capped by a softer gray Jurassic, and it is the gularly homogeneous character of these ancient V deposits that gives them such extraordinary massive of cliff and dome in wasting to the sea. For these are wind deposits, built up by the gales swept across a desert land ages ago and buried the 1 occan-litoral that bordered it beneath thousands of of clean, wind-sifted sand. There is nothing like elsewhere, in scale or clear-cut exhibition of the for wind. The gales that built them up must have blow millions of years across that desert land before th engulfed them, as it later did, to be again hove up later and form a portion of our present continent. The ancient litoral on which they lie, laid bare in 1 by the Virgin River and in these tributary canyons, isolated beds of salt and gypsum where once salt ma lay, sea shells, and over these, in beds of later dat merous remains of trees allied in type to the van Sequoia group now making its last stand along the ern slopes of the Sierra Mountains and on the co northern California. They are wonderful relies past that should be guarded at all cost. The Vermilion Cliffs-washed by the Colorado once, now sunk a mile below and forty-odd away in bed-and the red walls of Zion Creek are formed o wind-blown sands, impregnated with iron which c and tinges them; the gray rock above, seen from canyon, is formed of them also but without the in Zion Monument now is easy of approach. A motor ride across the desert, where the morni 13 the evening lights are beautiful and dust-whirls rise at noon in the hot sun to drift like dancing dervishes across the plain, takes one to it from the Lund Station on the Salt Lake route connecting Los Angeles with Salt Lake City. The West affords no single geological feature, save the Grand Canyon only, better worth a visit. SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS XV 0011 251056 Natural Bird Gardens on Mount Desert Island ISSUED BY THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA BAR HARBOR, MAINE SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS XV Natural Bird Gardens Mount Desert Island EDWARD HOWE FORBUSH Their Ornithologist, Author Legislature Birds and State; Massachusetts School Fowl." in the When was the Marvelous myriads the coast of Maine to us in of the their indeed abundance birds. of the wonderfully early down ground fitted and species. feeding it is for nesting indentations is so broken and water that from islands lying irregular of off of the the the at numerous the Canadian Bay to that along the than 2,500 presents to are broad of by inland flats shore. All day the which salt-marshes the great flood, rising twice it brings in region and or more in quantities and deposits floating on these recurring tide and marine and marshes grow In early days, accordingly, on and when in their every fertile tide went bottoms. animal out 3 great multitudes of birds of many species found a boun- teous repast spread for them along that vast stretch of coast. Yet, although food conditions are almost as favor- able as they were when Champlain first explored these shores, only a pitiable remnant of the birds remains. The continual hunting and shooting of birds through- out the Atlantic States and the Maritime Provinces, with the destruction of their nests, eggs, and young for food and for commercial purposes, has swept the coast like a destructive storm, annibilating far the greater part of the bird life that formerly existed there. The multi- tude of swans, snow geese, great auks, wild turkeys, and wild pigeons that were seen by the earlier explorers are gone, and with them are also gone the Labrador ducks, cranes, spruce partridges, and Eskimo eurlew, while many other shore birds and water fowl have become rare almost to disappearance, although prompt measures yet would bring them back. It now seems as though the tide were turning and that the destructive evils of the past may at last be stayed, but the enactment of laws alone will not secure results. All students of the subject now agree that no plan for the preservation of birds in any country can succeed unless adequate and well-selected bird refuges are provided-absolute sanctuaries where all shooting or disturbance is prevented, where the birds that breed locally can nest in safety, and where migratory birds that summer in the farther north can find shelter and protection on their long migrations. Every year's delay counts heavily against the birds. The forces of destruction are constantly increasing, and the need of sanctuaries where no shooting will ever be allowed has grown urgent to the last degree. The shape and geographical position of the continent of North America are such that during the migration sea- son, twice a year, bird-life goes crowding or down 4 his country's coasts, both east and west. This is due 0 the increased width and vast extent of the continent 0 the north of us and to the wonderful feeding ground nd natural line of travel offered by the shore to both and and water birds upon their flight. From the Bay of Fundy southward along the Atlantic loast this effect of concentration during the migration eason is particularly great, and must have rendered in the early days, when birds were plentiful, a mar- elous sight. Other great highways of migration lie along the Mis- ssippi Valley and the Pacific Coast, and along all three : these great natural routes it is essential that bird serves and sanctuaries be established. But extensive acts have been already set aside for this on the Pacific ast, and reservations too, on a great scale, are now process of establishment in the Mississippi region. It remains for us in the East, where the bird life was abundant formerly and the need came earliest, to do ke work; and nowhere is there work more urgent to be one, nowhere is the present need SO critical. The tendency of most migratory birds nesting on the stern third of the continent is to fly southeastward om their nesting grounds until they reach the coast d then to follow it on southward. Thus when the autumn frosts come, migratory birds om Greenland, from all the shores of Baflins Bay, m Labrador and Newfoundland and the wild interior ur their diminished legions down toward the Maine ast; in the springtime they return and spread out rthward from it. Mount Desert Island, accordingly, unique in being the ly mountainous tract thrust prominently out into the a and rich in meadow lands and valleys, offers an im- rtant landmark and admirable resting place for migra- 'y birds of every kind-birds of sea and shore, the eful insect-cating birds of cultivated lands and gar- 6 dens, the birds of inland waters, woods and marshes. The fauna and flora of the coast line at this point are largely of the Canadian type and its birds are repre- sented here with corresponding fullness. Nevertheless, a number of Hudsonian plants grow upon the Island also and form breeding places for certain birds charae- teristic of that northern area. This is one of the very few points on the Atlantic coast of the United States where portions of this far northern flora and fauna can be found at all, and it is the southernmost of all. Following the coast up from the West and South, a number of the birds of the Alleghenian and Transition zones reach the Island also, and we thus find at least four faumal areas represented in summer at this unique spot, while a number of Aretie and other northern birds fre- quent the region in winter, at which season the Alaskan eagle and the snowy owl appear. Remarkable opportunities exist here, accordingly, for inducing birds of many kinds to remain and nest upon the Island, where they can be fostered, studied, and pro- tected. For the birds of farm and garden it offers con- ditions that might readily be made ideal in certain sec- tions. The forest cover, with its under shrubs, provides admirable nesting places for all woodland species. For the birds of inland and of tidal waters the place is singu- larly favorable, while the vertical cliffs yet call to nest the raven and the eagle. No northern situation was ever better fitted to grow a great variety of fruiting plants for bird food. The remarkable horticultural qualities of the Island have long been recognized, and both wild and cultivated shrubs fruit there in extraordinary profusion. In the broad heath which extends from the Bar Harbor region south- ward to the mountains; in the wild gorge beyond with bottom tarn which makes it natural highway for men and birds alike between the Island's northern and southern shores; and around the old beaver-pool ground out by the 8 Ice-sheet at the northern foot of Newport Mountain, there country over, spend their summers, such work would are wonderful opportunities for natural bird gardens. have exceptional value. Here, in fertile soil washed down from the granite Nor would the presence of people in the reservation heights above and constantly renewed, open spaces may tend to drive out the birds, provided they were not readily be covered with the native food-providing shrubs molested. Some even of the wilder birds are learning and trees, such as the alternate-leaved cornel, the wild now to make their home in city parks where they receive service berry or shad blow which is so beautiful in its protection, and many birds might easily be attracted to springtime flowering, the red-berried ilexes and richly a region so favorable for their shelter, sustenance, and fruiting thorns that bring such glowing color into the nesting as Mount Desert Island. northern fall, interspersed with thick bushes suitable for nesting. Here, too, there are excellent opportunities for grow- ing along the banks of streams and ponds the seed-bearing herbaccous plants on which the marsh and water birds subsist SO largely, and an admirable chance for creating nesting islands upon flooded marshlands that would form ideal breeding places for meadow and aquatic birds. Water in every form is here abundant-in springs and streams and open pools-while the deep, rich soil of the adjoining swamp and swale already produces plants in plenty to entice the birds that haunt such places, and little more is needed than to give these plants a chance to make their best development. And here, of all places, an admirable opportunity pre- sents itself for the establishment of a bird-study station combined with bird protection, such as has revolutionized abroad in recent years the methods formerly in use for the encouragement and protection of bird life. At such a station the best methods of bird protection, food supply and propagation in a northern region would be studied out and given practical trial, and from such a station the results obtained would bc published widely for the benefit of the country. Work along this line is greatly needed in America, and carried out at Mount Desert, where SO strong a tide of summer travels sets each year and where SO many people of influence and education, drawn from the whole 10 NII, Pt. I SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS XVII The Sieur de Monts National Monument and its Historical Associations PUBLISHED BY THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FRANKLIN K. LANE, SECRETARY NATIONAL PARK SERVICE STEPHEN T. MATHER, DIRECTOR o 1917 SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT GEORGE BUCKNAM DORR. CUSTODIAN. The time is fast coming when National Parks and Forest Reservations, places of beauty and refreshment within occasion- al reach by all, will be recognized as fundamental needs, needs of the people, in our national life. The West, aided by the Government's great ownership of lands, has led the way in this and shown its foresight. In the East, where gifts of land or purchases by the Government were necessary, the need has been longer in obtaining recognition, the first step toward meeting it by the establishment of a purely recreative area under the National Park Service being taken by the Secretary of the Interior last July, in recommending to the President the acceptance of the Sieur de Monts National Monument. This area, not a purchase by the Government but a gift from citizens, includes the mountainous and finest landscape portion of Mount Desert Island on the coast of Maine, whose crowning glory in a resort and scenic sense that island is and has been for the last half century. Technically termed a Monument because created by the President and Secretary of the Interior under the authority given them by the so-called Monuments Act of 1906 and because of its historic interest, it is by nature, beauty, and resort importance a true National Park in every popular sense and destined when developed to become one of the most widely visited and recreationally useful park areas on the continent. It cannot long stand alone in the East; the human need for such areas of refreshment within reach of our great eastern cities and those of the fast-crowding lake and Mississippi regions is too serious for that. But it will in all likelihood remain unique forever as the one national park - using the 3 word in its true, popular sense - bordering on the sea; and it must remain always supreme in landscape interest and refreshing quality upon our eastern coast. Beautiful as it is in other ways, this is its unique possession, that it is the only tract of national park land in the country offering to its visitors the refreshment, the ever-varying interest and beauty and the limitless expanses of the ocean - in contrast to the magnifi- cent domains of mountain lands, western or eastern, that its companion parks may offer. Because of this and the great human value of the tract as a recreational area, guarded in beauty and made free to all, it is felt that its name should be made indicative of its charac- ter and tell more plainly what it offers. To this end a bill, approved by the National Park Service, is being introduced in Congress by Senator Hale of Portland, Maine, familiar from boyhood with the beauty and resort importance of the region, asking that the name be changed from the Sieur -de Monts National Monument to the Sieur de Monts National Park. A similar change is already planned in a conspicuous instance in the West, that of the Grand Canyon, a true park area in every popular sense, but technically termed till now a National Monument since created, like the Sieur de Monts, by act of the Administration. Physically, the Sieur de Monts National Monument is a bold range of seaward-facing granite hills, extraordinarily mountainous in character and wonderful in the variety, the interest and beauty of the climbs they offer. One only, but the highest, rising from the border of the ocean over fifteen hundred feet, offers opportunity for road construction. When, sooner or later, such a road - one by no means difficult to build - shall be constructed, restoring along a better route the old buckboard road which formerly led up to a hotel upon the summit, it will become at once, with modern motor travel, one of the great scenic features of the continent. As one ascends, superb views of land diversified by lakes and bays and stretching far away to distant hills, disclose themselves successively, and when one reaches the summit, the mas- nificent ocean view that opens suddenly before one is a sight few places in the world can parallel. The vastness of the ocean seen from such a height, its beauty both in calm and storm, and its appeal to the imagination yield nothing even to the boldest mountain landscape, while the presence of that cool northern sea, surging back and forth and deeply pene- trating the land with its great tidal flood, gives the air a stim- ulating and refreshing quality comparable only to that found elsewhere upon alpine heights. And as on alpine heights the herbaceous plants that shelter their life bencath the ground in winter bloom with a brilliancy and flourish with a vigor rarely found elsewhere, SO here the ocean presence and long northern days of summer sun combine with the keen air to make the gardens of the Island famous and the national park- lands singularly fitted to serve as a magnificent wild garden and plant sanctuary, at once preserving and exhibiting the native plants and wild flowers of the Acadian region which the Monument SO strikingly represents. This native quality of the place is noted, curiously, in Governor Winthrop's Journal, when he came sailing by one early summer day in 1630 on his way to Salem, bringing its Charter to the Massachusetts Colony whose Governor he was to be, and found "fair sunshine weather and SO pleasant a sweet air as did much refresh us; and there came a smell from off the shore like the smell of a garden." As a bird sanctuary, too, these parklands, placed as they are directly on the great natural migration route of the Atlantic shore and widely various in favorable character, need proper guardianship only to become a singularly useful instrument in bird life conservation, while adding not a little through the presence of the birds to their own interest and charm. Geologically, the Monument, with its adjacent coastal rocks and headlands, forms a wonderful exhibit. Essentially, it is a bold and rugged group of granite peaks, immensely old though far less ancient than the primeval sea-laid rocks - hard, bent and twisted sands and clays - up through which they are thrust. These peaks, geologists say, united into a single mass, once bore an alpine height upon their shoulders which looked across wide valley lands toward a distant sea. Time beyond count laid bare the mountain base, which the slow southward grinding of the ice-sheet later trenched into a dozen deeply isolated peaks. Between them, hollows, deeper than the present level of the sea in places, now contain a number of beautiful fresh-water lakes and one magnificent fjord which nearly cuts the island into two. Finally, owing to a general subsidence along the coast, the sca swept inland, flooding round the ice-croded remnant of the ancient moun- tain to form the largest rock-built island on the Atlantic shore from the St. Lawrence southward, and its highest elevation. In places on the island's southern shore, the granite comes down to the ocean front, forming the boldest headlands and thrusting out to meet the sea's attack the grandest storm- swept rocks upon our coast; in other places, the enclosing sedimentary rocks, hardened by the enormous heat and pres- sure caused by the granitic upburst, oppose the ocean with dark, furrowed cliffs of different character but equally mag- nificent, in shine or storm. The whole Acadian region of eastern Maine, which the Sieur de Monts National Monument represents with rare completeness in a single tract of concentrated interest, is rich in delightful features, in forests, lakes and streams, and the wild life of every kind - plant, animal and fish - that haunts them. Its value as a vast recreative area for the whole nation to the castward of the Rockies is even yet but little realized, although from the first opening of the fishing season in the spring to the close of hunting in the fall an immense tide of recreative travel streams continually through it. The new National Monument, and future Park as it will doubtless be, lies - with all the added beauty of the ocean and interest of historic association - close beside the main entrance to this region, where the Penobscot mingles its fresh water with the sea. From the Monument, delightful trips by train, by boat, by motor, may be made on every side up and down the coast; to New Brunswick, Cape Breton and Nova Scotia; or to the magnificent lake and forest regions of the interior. And to it, one may come, as to no other national park area on the continent, by boat as well as train or motor. The chapter of world history which the Sieur de Monts National Monument commemorates, that of the first founding of Acadia, in 1604 - half a generation before the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers on the Massachusetts shore, and of the long French occupation of the Acadian region, extending from the Kennebec to Cape Breton, which followed it, is full of human interest as told in the pages of Champlain and Les- carbot in quaint old French, and by numerous later writers. De Monts, a Huguenot of noble family in southwestern France, came out commissioned by Henry IV - Henry of Navarre - to occupy for France, and colonize, "the lands and territory called Acadia," extending, as it was then defined, from the 40th to the 46th degrees of latitude-those approxi- mately of Philadelphia and Montreal to-day; to establish friendly trade relations with its natives; to explore its coasts and rivers; to govern it, and represent in it and on its seas the person of the King; and to bring its people, "barbarous, and without faith in God," into knowledge and practice of the Christian religion. It was a great adventure, largely conceived and bravely carried out. De Monts planted the fleur-de-lis on the Amer- ican shore, and for more than a century and a half it stayed there. That it is not floating there to-day is due to forces greater than national, to the growth of the democratic spirit and democratic principles of government in the English colonies, which gave them an inherent power that mounted like a rising tide till it possessed and overflowed their continent, and is to-day profoundly influencing the world. De Monts himself, to say a word of him, was sprung from one of the most ancient families in France, distinguished in arms and military employments from the time of the First Cru- sade, when four brothers out of six journeyed "beyond the Sea" II and two remained there - killed in the storming of Jerusalem. True to the family traditions, his father, Jean de Monts, baron of Cabrairolles in Languedoc, near Béziers, served in the army "from his earliest youth," was successively Ensign or standard-bearer, Lieutenant, Captain of Arquebusiers, and finally "Mestre de Camp" in 1586, with five hundred standard- bearers under him. A Huguenot, he fought under Coligny in the defeat of Moncontour, then under Henry IV in the victories of Coutras and Ivry. He took part afterward in the capture of St. Denis and was wounded - for the second time severely - at the siege of Eperney, in 1592, dying two years later of his wounds. He was a typical soldier of his time and station, one of those of whom Sismondi wrote: "The King (Henry IV) counted in his cavalry five thousand men of birth ( gentilshommes) whose courage was sustained by a personal sense of honor, and who were superior to all other cavalry." He married, on the 20th day of May, 1572, Delphine de Latenay, daughter of the noble Antoine, "ancien Capitaine," and of Marguerite de la Mairie. His oldest son, Jean, suc- ceeded him as baron of Cabrairolles. Pierre, his second son, who came out to America, was seigneur of Guast and governor of Pons, one of the Huguenot places of security established by Henry IV, who, Champlain tells us, had "great confidence in him for his fidelity and the good services he had rendered him in the (recent) wars." And governor of Pons he still remains, apparently, when we catch our last glimpse of him in Champlain's pages, after Henry's death, though the tide had then set strongly against the Huguenots, and Pons was pres- ently to be dismantled of its protecting walls by Henry's son, Louis XIII. Pons itself, its relation to the Huguenots and de Monts apart, is an interesting old city of the feudal times whose powerful lords, the Sires de Pons, were sovereign princes in their region, descended from the dukes of Aquitaine. They made war, signed treaties, and received the King of France as "cousin," claiming the sword he wore that day whenever they paid hom- age to him, which they did in full armor with their vizors down. Their castle was stormed by Richard Coeur de Lion in 1179, and was surged around successively by French and English in the wars of Aquitaine. To-day the place is an attractive city still, with picturesque ruins of the old chateau and later buildings of the 15th and 16th centuries, now used as a Hotel de Ville, which were de Monts' official residence no doubt when not across the sea. Delightful gardens, overgrown with roses, occupy in part the ancient castle site, with a stern old 12th century "keep" beside them, while the castle chapel, of a later date, opens through a noble romanesque portal onto a lower garden. A clear river flows beneath, from whose vanished bridge of Roman empire date, the early city drew its name: Pons or "Bridge." It is an ancient land throughout, of ruins and rich pasturages and productive vineyards, to whose western bound- ary come the breezes, the salt air and breaking surf of the At- lantic, and from whose shore the waves stretch off unbroken- ly toward America and the Acadian coasts. De Monts brought out to America with him, as licutenant and cartographer, Samuel Champlain - his chronicler and fast friend thereafter - who, older than he by half a dozen years, was born in the little salt-gathering and exporting town of Brouage on the Bay of Biscay shore, not far from Pons and in a district subject to its lords. Near by was the mouth of the Charente-declared by Henry IV to be "the finest stream in the Kingdom" -with the ancient city of Saintes not far above, the capital of the Gallic Santones whose name it has brought down to us from Caesar's time. Of Brouage, an antiquarian neighbor of it wrote three quarters of a century ago: "On a plain that the waves COV- ered twice a day, and along the border of a canal which brought into its midst the highway of the ocean, salt evaporated from the sea was gathered and the vessels which came to carry it away left behind upon the bank the stones and gravel brought for ballast. Little by little a mound, not over 80 paces long, CRANITE UPLAND rose above the level of the marshland and on it there settled a colony of salters, fishermen and sailors. This was the origin of Brouage, later made by Richelieu one of the naval strong- holds of the west and then depopulated by deadly exhalations from the marshes till now grass grows in the courts of its abandoned houses and trees rise among their ruins, spread- ing over them branches twisted by the ocean gales." In 1568 - the year after Champlain was born - Brouage was seized and held for the Sire de Pons, who took the side of the Catholic party in the Civil War, although Saintonge itself was strongly Huguenot. Two years later-when Champlain was three years old - it was besieged and taken by the Huguenots, who held it then for half a dozen years, when it was again besieged by the Catholics, under the duke of May- enne, and taken after months of resolute defence - the Huguenots, exhausted by privation, capitulating but marching out with arms and baggage, with drums beating and flags flying. Such were the times and scenes amongst which Champlain grew up, and such, with the sea, the influences which took part in shaping him, but the influence of the sea was strongest; of that he writes, in the dedication of his book to the Queen- mother in 1613; "Among all most excellent and useful arts, that of navigating has always seemed to me to hold first place. For SO much the more that it is hazardous, and accompanied by a thousand wrecks and perils, SO much the more is it es- teemed beyond others, being in no way suited to those who lack courage or self-confidence. This art it is that from my earliest youth has drawn me to itself, and led me to expose myself during nearly my whole life to the impetuous waves of the ocean." Sailing from de Monts' first colony at the mouth of the St. Croix - our present national boundary - to explore the westward coast, Champlain made his first landing within this country's limits on Mount Desert Island, close to Bar Harbor probably, on its seaward side -wherever he first found safe beaching or good mooring for his damaged boat, stove on a hidden rock, he says, on entering Frenchman's Bay. Champlain describes the mountains of the Monument as he saw them then, with deep, dividing gorges and bare rocky summits, and named the island from them, giving it, in a French form, the name which it still bears, the "Isle des Monts deserts." SIEUR DE MONTS SPRING. THE ENTRANCE TO THE EMERY PATH, AND THE SWEET WATERS OF ACADIA - A MEMORIAL TO FRANCE Sieve de Monts XVII (1916-19). Pt.2 AIVA B4.F4 BM The Desert and the Wilderness shall rejoyce, and the waste ground be glad and flourish as the rose. -Isaiah xxxv: I. 1583 Edition. GARDEN APPROACHES TO THE NATIONAL MONUMENT Mount Desert Island is remarkable for the vigor with which the hardy herbaceous plants that make the beauty and delight of northern gardens grow in favorable locations on it, and for their brilliant bloom. There, too, bloom follows bloom unbrokenly from spring to fall, keeping fresh the sense with constant change. To establish in connection with the national park-using the word, as elsewhere in this paper, in its popular sense-a splendid permanent exhibit of these hardy plants, gathered for their beauty's sake from the whole temperate world, has been from the first, like the wild gardens and the wild life sanc- tuaries intended in the park itself, an essential feature of the plan from which the park resulted. Nothing could be devised that would be more useful in furthering the development of a true art of gardening and landscape gardening in this country than such an opportunity to observe and study at their best the hardy plant materials which it must use. And nowhere else upon the Continent could a wider or more representative public be found to appreciate and profit by it than comes each summer to the Island- public that will come henceforth in constantly increasing num- bers as the park, with its great waiting gifts of interest and beauty, is developed in accordance with the broadly formu- lated plans of the Secretary of the Interior and National Park Service. With this in view, an opportunity for such a hardy plant exhibit in the form of garden walks extending from the park, which occupies the Island's mountain range, towards Bar Harbor, its most general and famous point of entrance, has been secured, and plans for it are being now worked out. Two of the boldest mountain groups upon the Island bring the park within easy walking distance from the town. The eastern of these is that of Newport and Picket Mountains; the western, that of Dry Mountain and the Kebos. Against them both, facing abruptly to the north and east, the thrust of the arrested Ice Sheet in the Glacial period, as its huge mass moved slowly seaward past them, must have been tremendous. Evidence of it is not only visible in their rugged cliffs and precipices but in two deep basins ground out from the ancient Cambrian rock adjoining them. One of these, Beaverdam Pool, lics at the foot of Newport mountain; the other, the Spring Heath - once a considerable lake but now completely filled with glacial clays and gravel peat and granite sands - reaches broadly out towards Bar Harbor from the eastern foot of Dry Mountain, forming a splendid exhibit of one of the most characteristic features of the north. Portions of primeval forest, with massive trunks of ancient yellow birch and hemlock, border still these basins on their side towards the mountain; both make superb approaches to the Monument; and both are rich naturally in soil and water, in bird life and in plant life. The one under Newport Mountain, with its brook valley reaching to the public road, has been already deeded to The Wild Gardens of Acadia for a plant and bird sanctuary; the one beneath Dry Mountain, acquired by the Sieur de Monts Spring Company for protection of its waters and for its scenic beauty, has been placed beneath the same control, and offered freely to the Government to use as though its own in its ap- proaches and as a water source. The Heath basin especially is remarkable for a succession of deep-seated springs that rise apparently from a line of fracture between the granite and the more ancient sea-laid rock it shattered as it rose. Singularly pure, unvarying in tem- perature or volume, and brought down probably from far away by seaward tilting of an ancient coastal plain they make, with their free gift of water to the passer-by, a unique, delightful fea- ture in connection with the climbs that start or end along this base. These basins, of the Spring and Pool, with their interesting native life, their wild flowers, trees and ferns and the wild background of the mountains, are natural wild garden areas, and SO should stay. But leading to them three hardy gar- den walks are planned, approaches to the Monument. The one upon the bay, or eastward, side enters from the Old Post Road at Compass Harbor Pond, in the midst of Iris and other hardy gardens, and follows up Compass Harbor Brook through the ravine which it has cut from deep deposits of the Glacial period until the latter loses itself in the upland which divides this watershed from that of the Wild Gardens' basin under Newport Mountain. This land, from Compass Harbor Pond till the divide is reached, has formed part till now, when given for the path, of the Mount Desert Nurseries' hardy gardens, and the beauty of the flowers which they have grown upon it, familiar to all who have visited the Island during the last twenty years, is a good earnest for the future, establishing, as do the many private gardens on the Island now, the remarkable possibili- ties of the soil and climate for such an exhibition. Much work has been already done upon this path, which is the result of a long studied plan. The pond from which it starts is itself a natural water garden, around whose edge the native flags and cardinal flowers and superbum lilies mingle delightfully with English meadow-sweets, purple loosestrife and Siberian irises, while in its water the fragrant native pond lilies grow along with hardy species from abroad. Above, in the ravine, picturesquely wooded, moist and shady, ferns and all kinds of shelter-loving plants grow wonderfully, while over the upland which succeeds it an apple-shaded walk, a dozen feet in width between alternately-placed trees, leads on to a grove of native thorns which marks the entrance into the Wild Gardens' tract beneath the mountain. Here, along this upland portion of the walk - sheltered from the wind by shrubbery plantations - the beautiful old hardy plants of English and Colonial gardens-monkshoods, peonies and irises, larkspurs, phloxes, lilies, starworts, globe be flowers, and a host of others- - with their new companions can the grown in the deep soil with little care. Many of them, like day lilies and the Solomon's seal, the lily of the valley and the peach-leaved bell-flower, become completely naturalized and often hold their own successfully against invading native plants. A mile to the west of this, another path - named in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Morris K. Jesup of New York, to whom New Bar Harbor owes its beautiful Public Library and York City its magnificent Natural History Museum's great endowment-leads from the neighborhood of the Build- ing of Arts, placed directly facing the nearer mountains of the Monument in one of the most beautiful situations in the world, down past the golf links with a fifty-foot strip reserved level along its side for hardy garden planting; then drops to the shaded of the sheltered heath, which it crosses presently Wild by maple woods - and passes on, skirting the Delano - Path Gardens and the mountain base, to meet the Kane of and the entrance to Kurt Diederich's Climb at the outlet the Tarn. This path, until the heath is reached, lies south cultivated farmland of an earlier time, with a deep soil over and for exposure, and there is no better spot upon the Island planting of the kind intended, nor a course more interesting. Between these other two a third approach-the Cadillac- is planned, starting from the Bar Harbor Athletic Field and Park, brook where the Government office is, and following the Spring. Along this also remarkable opportunities exist for that comes down to it from the mountains and up the arboretum and experimental planting, while the wild fern and woodland will gardens, succeeding to the open heath, which it able enter as it nears the Spring, show under singularly favor- conditions the range and beauty of the native flora. long consideration and study of the plants intended to be The plan for these approaches has been adopted only after shown, as well as of the landscape opportunity and soil con- ditions. It has received the warm approval, not only of the Secretary of the Interior and National Park Service but, of architects and gardeners and botanists of international authority and reputation. Among them all, none has said a better word of hopeful- ness and encouragement regarding it than the writer of the letter-written in the earlier stages of the undertaking-with which this paper closes, Mr. C. Grant LaFarge of New York, a director of the American Institute of Architects, trustee and secretary of the American Academy at Rome, an architect of wide experience who has made a lifelong study also of our native flora and these garden plants. GEORGE B. DORR. Dear George:- The papers which you have asked me to examine, setting forth the project for developing a wild-life sanctuary and tree and plant exhibit and experiment station on Mount Desert Island, seem to me to describe a plan of comprehensive and striking interest. You ask me to tell you what I think of it. It appeals to me on SO many sides that I can hardly deal with them all. As one long concerned with the question of preserving our native fauna in the only effective ways, such as game refuges and laws protecting migratory species, there is much I should like to say on this phase of the scheme as well as on its splendid aspect as a permanent great natural pleasure ground for many people. But these I must pass by to emphasize a specific point which strikes me forcibly, in view of my professional convictions. Our community is aware but dimly, and in spots, of the tremendous strides being made in the art of architecture in America. Only those who, with open minds and trained eyes, contrast the body of our performance with its current equivalent in the Old World can appre- ciate it, and realize that it is cause, not for boasting but, for ardent hope and constantly greater effort. Many forces are at work, among them none stronger than the rapid and sure elevation and increase of our educational methods. Along with our architectural advance must go that of the sister art of landscape design. There is no need for me to point out to you the intimacy of the alliance or the urgent necessity that equipment for the practice of the latter be, both theoretically and practically, of the fullest. No constructive art can achieve its full development while those who practice it think in terms of its expression upon paper, and not in terms of the materials they have to use. There is only one way to gain the power to use these materials; that is, to have a close and comprehensive personal acquaintance with them. The more we survey the great triumphs of landscape art in the Old World, the clearer it becomes to us that those who designed and built and planted them worked with knowledge and in sympathetic understanding of the natural surroundings and resources, the native flora of the region and the trees and plants that could be grown in it successfully; that they were the very antithesis of paper performers, inspired by hazy views derived from the perusal of seductive catalogues. I have an invincible belief in our need for the completest study of past examples. I shall not rest until WC have added a Fellowship in Landscape Design to our American Academy in Rome. But I also am sure that the men who are to do great work in this country - and our vision hardly tells us yet how marvellous it may be - must know. to their fingertips, what this country offers of trees and shrubs and flowers and all growing things, and what may be done with them. When they know this, and use their knowledge, we shall have Ameri- can gardens. To acquire this knowledge under present conditions is well-nigh impossible. The country is too vast; its flora too scattered. Even the most superb examples of wild growth are but stimulating suggestions, not made available by opportunity for close study and by certainty of what transplanting, cultivation, care and breeding will accomplish. Your plan offers all this. ) If you succeed with it, I see all those who would equip themselves with what their art demands of them flocking to it from all quarters of the country. It would be a god- send, not only to those who live in approximately similar regions- there is none just like it-but to those others whose lives are cast in far less interesting places, of dull topography and limited flora. (I can think of no one thing that could be done in America, more greatly to contribute to and to advance the art and the practice of American landscape design. Good luck to you. Sincerely yours, (Signed) C. GRANT LAFARGE January 22, 1914. XVII , pt 3 SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICA'TION XVII The Sieur de Monts National Monumer and its Historical Associations PUBLISHED BY THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA DEPARTMEN'I OF THE INTERIOR FRANKLIN K. LANE, SECRETARY NATIONAL PARK SERVICE STEPHEN T. MATHER, DIRECTOR o 1917 The White Mountain THE WHITE MOUNTAIN NATIONAL FOREST National Forest HERBERT A. SMITH. FOREST SERVICE EDITOR. The Federal Government is building up a National For Crawford Notch in I 797 in the White Mountain region of New Hampshire by purchase of the necessary lands from private owners. the lands are bought they are put under administrati The first land was bought in 1913. By the close of 1916 t had been acquired to 205,289 acres, and arrangements 1 been completed for the purchase of 76,970 acres more. I total acquired or covered by approved contracts of sale at opening of the summer of 1917 is 375,000 acres. This is equal to about half of what may be called the m mass of the White Mountains - the region stretching fr the southern base of the Sandwich range on the south to Ammonusuc and Moose River Valleys on the north, and cluding the Presidential, Carter, and Franconia Ranges. U mately the Forest will probably reach a size of something 1 a million acres. This is about the average size of the Natio Forests which the Government has established in the mo tain regions of the West, out of the public lands. It will ca the Forest northward over the mountains beyond the Amm usuc and Moose Rivers as far as and including the P1 Range. Some of the land already bought lies in this north extension of the White Mountain region. The Government is buying up these forested mounta in order that all the interests of the public in their right and protection may be fully safeguarded through order intelligent development of their value. The Nation is tak over in the White Mountains a productive resource, in or that it may continue to be productive, and productive of the public benefits which can be realized with skillful mana PUBLISHED BY ment. These benefits are chiefly the regulation of wa THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA supplies, the sustained yield of wood, and the enjoyment the people of the rare recreative and scenic value of 3 de llauts for XUII region. To adjust and harmonize these diversified forms use SO that all may go on at once without needless sacrif of one to another, and with preference for that of high public value where interests conflict, is the task which t Government has undertaken. Unrestricted private ownership of mountainous for land risks the sacrifice of important public interests to in vidual interests, waste and impairment of the resources, a1 in the end, widespread devastation. In the White Mounta recognition of the public loss began nearly forty years a The cutting of the virgin forests by lumbermen and the rava wrought by fire aroused inquiry for some method of protect the interests of the public. But it was not until 1911 t legislation authorizing protective measures was secured. that year Congress provided for the acquisition by the G ernment of lands whose control would "promote or protect navigation of streams on whose watersheds they lie" - so-called Weeks Law. In accordance with this law, the Nat is now purchasing the White Mountain land, but much o without the original stand of timber, and some of it SO desola by fire that the restoration of timber growth can take pl only after the lapse of many years. Nevertheless, action came not too late to save the gl of New England's finest mountains, for the present general and for all time. Scarred though their sides and sumr are by occasional disfiguring breaks in the forest mantlo living green, dark-hued where the spruce and fir wrap upper slopes, emerald and vivid below the evergreen where the hardwoods crowd into the conifers, they are to the eye much what they were a hundred years ago. Even then visitors had begun to pilgrimage into almost unbroken wilderness that stretched from the lands of the Connecticut Valley to the Maine border from Winnipesaukee to Canada, to look upon the rug "White Hills" in their lonely grandeur. These first pilgr forerunners of the tens of thousands who each summer make the easy journey from point to point in luxury, fc rude accommodation in the occasional cabins of pioncer sett 5 Yale College rode on horseback up the Connecticut Valley In 1797, and again in 1803, President Timothy Dwight through the Crawford Notch. An account of what he a lished given in his "Travels in New York and New England," saw in 1823. Settlement of the country back from the vall p1 houses towns was at an early stage; the roads were of the worst, t "When we entered upon this farm in 1803," he wrote, "af few and scattered. Yet the ravages of fire had begu which not long before had been kindled in its skirts had and over an extensive portion of the mountain on the northea spre consumed all the vegetation, and most of the soil, whi was chiefly vegetable mould, in its progress. The who and tract, from the base to the summit, was alternately wh: dappled; while the melancholy remains of half-bur trees, which hung here and there on the sides of the immer steeps, finished the picture of barrenness and death." Thomas Starr King refers in his admirable work, "The Whi Hills; tion Their Legends, Landscape, and Poetry," to the devast "old of Mount Crawford by a great fire which, according Mr. Crawford," occurred about 1815. "The time mischiefs, of which destroy in their progress the very vitali arrive," he writes, "when careful records of these irreparat may W shelter our mountains, and leave nothing but crumbling rocks, tl was ruins of nature - shall possess a mournful value." - But the of a strange and spurious vegetation, nothing b to not until a much later day, when the lumbermen operate extensively in the pure spruce forests of the bega slopes, that the fire menace reached a point at which upp sentiment became sufficiently aroused to demand with publ i: sistence some efficient remedy. It was the arrival of the era of the railroad which real first opened the White Mountains to the public. Through th a half of the nineteenth century their spreading fame dre spite slowly increasing number of travelers into the region, i tions and lack of transportation facilities. of the obstacles presented by indifferent accommoda In 1819 Abel Crawford opened a footway to Mount Wash 7 in 1837, King tells us, the White Mountains were still a seclu district where the inns offered "only the homely cheer of cour fare, and the paths to Mount Washington were rarely trod by any one who did not prize the very way, rough as it m be, too much to search for casier ones." In 1840 the first horse was ridden to the summit. The ade which followed was that in which railroads began to 1 a part in the economic development of the State. From middle of the century on, the popularity of the White Mc tains grew fast. In 1846 there was published in Boston "The White Mc tain and Lake Winnepissiogee Guide Book"; and from 184 1859 there was an average of a new guide book a year White Mountain travelers. One published in Concord, N. in 1850 makes mention of the Mount Washington House, 1 by Horace Fabyan, as containing about 100 rooms, "I light, and airy, the majority erected during the last two yea At Littleton, the White Mountain House, "one of the n pleasant and convenient stopping places to be found a where on the route," is "fitted up in the most modern S regardless of expense, and everything desirable or usua hotels is there found." Between such points of resort sti ran regularly for the tourists. Even though the encomi of the guide books are liberally discounted, they show the summer visitors were coming in. In the period of prosperity and expansion which C in the seventies the number of persons in the East seel summer recreation increased apace. The vacation habit forming. By 1880 the commercial value to the State of yearly influx of visitors and tourists had become fully re nized as of very great importance. At the same time, development of private lumbering operations and the rav of forest fires after lumbering were producing results called forth vigorous protests against the despoliation of forests and the marring of scenic beauty. 9 In 1881 conditions had reached a point which brought abc action by the State. A commission was created by the leg lature to inquire into the extent to which the forests were 1 ing destroyed, and into the wisdom or necessity for the adopti of forest laws. The report of this commission pointed out that at least h the State was most valuable for permanent timber production that the great waterpowers within and without the St demanded forest preservation, and that the scenic and recr tion value of the region was much too important as a St asset to be recklessly sacrificed. Thus the reasons for p venting the evils inevitable under private ownership a unrestricted exploitation of the forests were even at that ti recognized. That nevertheless it took a full generation secure a remedy was not for lack of knowledge of the need do something, but because a course of action which would I a stop to the admitted evils and which public sentiment WO1 support had not been found. In the meantime, destruction of the forest was advanci at a rapidly accelerating pace. In 1850 the reported value New Hampshire's lumber cut was a little over one mill dollars; in 1870, over four and a quarter million; in 1890, O five and a half million; and in 1900, nearly nine and a quar million. And this progressive drain upon the forest resour of the State was accompanied by a change in the meth used, which made the lumbering more and more destructi First the white pine was cut out. Then the spruce of lower slopes bore the brunt of the attack. As the dema for lumber increased it paid to cut smaller and smaller tre with the result that lumbering grew steadily more intensi In the earlier stages, the cutting was to a large extent a F liminary to agricultural development. Since the forest in lower and less rugged portions of the region was typica mixed hardwoods and conifers, or "softwoods," and since was chiefly the latter which the lumbermen sought, the lu bering in this form of growth did not as a rule strip the la But as the century advanced towards its close, the logg II began to reach the pure spruce timber which protected tr upper slopes. A rapidly developing pulp industry for the manufa ture of newsprint paper opened a market for material tc small for the lumber manufacturer. Moreover, when th scene of operations was the thin-soiled upper slopes covere with conifers it did not pay to leave anything behind whic had a sale value, for whatever remained was likely to 1 blown down by the wind. The debris in the wake of the logg became a fire-trap of the most formidable character. Pr tection against fire was not worth its cost to the private owne whose interest was limited to getting all that he could from tl existing stand. Left to itself, therefore, natural econom development could have but one result - the sweeping O1 of existence of the timber resource and the final desolation the entire region above the hardwoods. It was the growing perception of this fact that brought t] awakening of the public to a sense of what it had at stak But how to apply a remedy was a difficult question. T State commissión appointed in 1881 made its report in 188 but proposed no constructive program beyond a plan for t inauguration of a system of fire protection of a primitive a1 inadequate character. A second commission, appointed 1889, reported in 1891 that the cost of State forest ownersh on an extensive scale was too great to make this course pra ticable. It did, however, recommend purchases by the Sta of "carefully selected sections of the mountain region, small extent, to be held perpetually and SO cared for and pr teeted that their natural wild attractiveness shall be p manently maintained." An outcome of the report of this commission was t creation, in 1893, of a permanent State Forest Commissic Partly through purchase and partly through gift, the Sta has come into possession of a number of small tracts contai ing in all about 9,000 acres. But by the beginning of t present century the logic of the situation was beginning make clear that if the large problem was to be solved it mi 13 be solved quickly, and on broader lines than those alo which State action could be looked for. Organized effort for Federal ownership began in 1901. was set on foot partly by residents of Massachusetts, W realized that the interests affected were not limited to N Hampshire. Two years later, the first bills providing for t purchase of lands in the White Mountains were introduc in Congress. But the plan at first found small fav Forestry as a national undertaking was still in its ea infancy, if indeed it could fairly be said to have been bo Some sixty-two million acres of "forest reserves" had be created in the West, but plans for putting their resources good use had not been devised and only the most rudimenta administrative provision for their care had been ma In short, they were reserves in every sense of the word Government property metaphorically placarded "Keep Ou and locally unpopular as obstacles in the path of econor progress. The expenditure of Federal funds to buy east forest lands was regarded askance, as a proposal to emba on a new and dangerous policy involving both the use of pub funds for local and uncertain benefits and the extension government into a field of activity which it should not ent Political orthodoxy was shocked at the thought of what mig happen if national ownership and management of this fo of property were to begin. Year after year the legislation was brought forward O: to be defeated. It was soon combined, however, with proposal for similar legislation in the southern Appalachia which had arisen independently still earlier. As the moveme for Federal action gained strength, opposition was based larg on the ground that the bills were unconstitutional. But in end the rising tide of public sentiment carried the law throt the so-called Weeks Law. By limiting the purchases lands necessary to the regulation of the flow of naviga streams and providing for a determination of the fact tl national control of the lands to be purchased would prom or protect navigation, the question of constitutionality T successfully met. I5 It was the interstate importance of the White Mounta region which from the outset furnished the main reason f Federal ownership. While the interstate character of t benefits aimed at was conspicuously in evidence in the matt of stream protection, it was by no means confined to th form of public benefit. As a recreational region, the White Mountains, it W pointed out, have a large value for all the Northeastern at many of the Central States, forming as they do a resort f great numbers of visitors from Boston, New York, Pittsburg Cincinnati, Cleveland, Chicago, and other cities and towns the populous territory east of the Mississippi. Similarly, t forests of the White Mountains are industrially importa as sources of timber supply for manufacturing establishmen in the States surrounding New Hampshire, whose produ go into all parts of the country. But of outstanding signi cance was the influence of the White Mountain region up the industrial and economic life of the New England Stat through its peculiar relation to their rivers, which are bc arteries of commerce and sources of energy through wat power development. Back from the ocean, for myriads of years, the streams ha been cutting, in their age-long task of remaking the face of 1 earth, towards this central elevation from which the wat drain east, west, north, and south. Upon the mountain flar their tentacles rest like a network of shining threads, deepen their channels and bearing slowly seaward what short-vision man sometimes calls the everlasting hills. The White Mo1 tain uplift is a central citadel into which the drainage syst of northern New England is pressing from all sides. Mai Massachusetts, and Connecticut use the waters which N Hampshire feeds into the Androscoggin, the Saco, the Me mac, and the Connecticut. All four have their principal portance and use beyond the borders of New Hampshire. F tection of these streams against irregular flows and silt through erosion was manifestly a matter of interstate C cern. 17 These reasons for national action were reinforced 1 tain special considerations. New Hampshire, a State W great cities or extensive manufacturing districts, lack wealth which would have permittted it to assume W heavy sacrifice the burden involved in acquiring pro and protecting adequately the White Mountain lands. ditions had, however, reached a point which made i that if the forests were to be saved immediate actic necessary. The lumbering of the higher and steeper was beginning, with spectacularly ruinous results. O slopes, which were generally covered by pure stands of the almost inevitable fires after lumbering left little i wake but bare rock; for the slash was both heavy and mable, and the soil itself SO largely made up of vegetab ter that neither living trees nor seed on or in the grou anything in which trees could grow was likely to be left 1 The beginning of the remedial action was delayed time after the enactment of the Weeks Law by the safeguards embodied in the Law itself, to prevent sidered purchases. Under these safeguards the Gove has proved a good buyer, and it is believed that th could undoubtedly be sold again for more than they COS it desired to dispose of them. Thus the fears forme pressed in some quarters that a purchase law would private owners to unload on the Government on term advantageous to themselves than to the public have unfounded. The first purchases in the White Mo were made in 1913. As soon as the Government b take title, plans for administration became necessary. public ownership entered upon its final stage - that ganization and development on constructive lines. The first requisite was fire protection. Organiza the territory into districts, each in charge of a forest provides the necessary leadership. Fire fighting in th is a matter in which the men of the Forest Service have proficient through long experience. It was a simple to adapt to local conditions the methods which ha 19 worked out in the National Forests of the West. An eli protective force is expanded to its maximum in the da season, when a vigilant watch is kept by lookouts and pa men. The protective force of the State forester assists in work. Trails and telephone lines have been built W existing means of communication were most inadequate the need; in the White Mountains, however, there is urgent necessity for the Government to equip the Forest such improvements than there is in the National Forest the West and South. Sales of timber are being made for primary purpose of cleaning up the forest and securing a be growth of timber. Incidentally, the returns from such S are already reimbursing a large part of the cost of adminis tion and protection, and are likely soon to equal the en operating cost. All in all, though the work is SO lately begun it is alre effecting a very considerable change in the conditions. only has the progress of the forces of destruction been hal there is in evidence a marked gain. The protection given the past four years has prevented any considerable dam from fire, and some of the slopes which five years ago sho bald rock are now green with on-coming forest growth. Perhaps even more important in the long run than tl tangible and material benefits of public ownership has been stimulus to a larger and clearer realization of the value of region which Government leadership in its protection development is bringing about. The mere fact that a 1 manent public enterprise has been entered upon through creation of the White Mountain National Forest has increa the number of visitors, and has reacted upon local sentim regarding the responsibility of private landowners to public for a certain measure of co-operation as a part of g citizenship. Fire protection is now general and heartily ai by all classes of local residents. It is easier to secure la needed by the Government on terms not dictated solely b spirit of narrow self-interest. The organizations which actively working for improved conditions and better facili 21 for enjoyment of the recreational and esthetic values of the At first the timber was an incumbrance, valueless bec region, of which the chief are the Appalachian Club and the of its abundance, and blocking development. Fires were sta Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, have to aid in clearing the land, and even when they swept far a been greatly heartened and strengthened by the creation and and laid waste the mountain slopes, the destruction which administration of the National Forest. In short, community wrought was lightly regarded. With advance in econ participation in the project is a growing reality, and promises development and the knitting together of the country thr much for the welfare of the region. a network of railroads came a period in which exploitatic The influence of the enterprise is felt far afield. Late in the virgin forest became vigorous, extensive, and of a 1916 the various trail-building organizations of New England gressively devastating character. Then a few far-sighted met in conference and decided to correlate their efforts with a sons, at first regarded as impractical visionaries, bega view to developing a trail system under a general plan of wide urge the need for conservation of the forest resource for scope. It is proposed to link up in this way the lake region sake of future timber supplies, for its influence upon V of Maine, the White Mountains, the Green Mountains, and supplies, and for its value to the public in connection even the Adirondacks and the Palisade Park and New York recreation and scenic protection. City. Thus the pedestrian, whose simple pleasure in explor- Gradually public sentiment groped to a realization of ing the shady by-ways of rural New England has been largely fact that private ownership of mountainous forest lands i taken away by the march of progress in the form of road im- compatible with the best public interest. With hesitancy provement and whirring automobiles, may once again come in the face of many misgivings as to the possibility of effi into his own. management of public property through public officials The fish and game resources of the White Mountains will quiring, if it is to be successful, a high degree of intellige under national management undoubtedly be markedly aug- probity, and stability of policy, public ownership was un mented. The streams are already stocked to some extent with taken. What the full measure of its results will be it is as trout, and deer and grouse are fairly abundant in certain too soon to say. That depends on the ability of the Amer localities. But the control of hunting and fishing is at present people to maintain permanently, as a Government acti inadequate, governed as it is solely by the general game laws administration of a public resource, of increasing money Vi of the State. Development of the wild life of the Forest as an without allowing it to be infected by politics or placed in integral part of its value to the public calls for carefully planned hands of men lacking in competence and foresight. Never and close co-operation between the State and the Federal less, it is scarcely possible that national ownership and I Government, to the end that the woods and streams may agement of forests like those in the White Mountains can again abound in their natural denizens. fail to do better for the protection of the public welfare The history of what has taken place in the forests of the private ownership and management, without public regula White Mountains epitomizes in a broad way the history of The strength of the situation lies in the fact that there the movement for forest preservation in the United States. exists, and is certain to continue, an alert and powerful pu Beginning with the first appearance of white men and the sentiment which will not tolerate the handling of the reso contact of civilization with the primeval wilderness, there in ways that are seen to threaten the impairment of was begun a struggle for subjugation of the forest in order value and its beauty. to make room for settlement and community life. 22 23 NOTCH OF THE WHITE MOUNTAINS, VISITED IN 1797. TIMOTHY DWIGHT, PRESIDENT OF YALE COLLEGE. On the morning of Tuesday, October 3, we pursued C journey. For some time before we set out, the wind bl with great strength from the northwest, in this region the dinary harbinger of rain. The clouds, rapidly descendir embosomed the mountains almost to their base. The S suddenly became dark; the clouds were tossed in wild a fantastical forms, and poured down the deep channels betwe the mountains with a torrent-like violence; and the wh heavens were overspread with a more gloomy and forbiddi aspect than I had ever before seen. The scenery in 1 Notch of the White Mountains, commencing at the distar of five miles from Rosebrook's, was one of the principal obje which had allured us into this region. A gentleman fr Lancaster, perfectly acquainted with this part of the count had joined us at Rosebrook's, and proposed to be our CO panion and guide through this day's journey, and to give us the necessary information concerning the objects of which were in quest. If we stayed in Rosebrook's, we should 1 his company and information. If we proceeded on ( journey, as the weather was, we should lose our prospec many of the objects being at such a season invisible, a others seen with the greatest disadvantage. Happily for our storm vanished as suddenly as it came on; the W ceased almost in a moment; the clouds began to rise a separate; and we commenced our journey in the best spir From Rosebrook's our road lay for about two miles alo the Ammonoosus, on an interval. We then began to ascend easy slope, which is the base of these mountains. After F ceeding along the slope two miles farther, we crossed a sn brook, one of the head waters of the Ammonoosuc; and wit 25 be Hails Pub. XVII the distance of a furlong we crossed another, which is t head water of the Saco. The latter stream, turning to t east, speedily enters a pond, about thirty rods in diamet lying at a small distance on the northern side of the road; a: thence, crossing the road again and winding along the marg of a meadow formed by a beaver dam, enters the Notc The northeastern cluster of mountains begins to ascend fro the pond. The diameter of the meadow is about a furlon The beaver dam was erected just below the Notch, in a pla happily selected for this purpose. The mountains we scarcely visible at all until we came upon them. The weather had now become perfectly fine. The cloud assuming a fleecy aspect, rose to a great height, and floated a thin dispersion. The wind was a mere zephyr; and the sk exhibited the clear and beautiful blue of autumn. The Notch of the White Mountains is a phrase appr priated to a very narrow defile extending two miles in lengt between two huge cliffs, apparently rent asunder by some va: convulsion of nature. This convulsion was, in my OW view, unquestionably that of the Deluge. There are here, an throughout New England, no eminent proofs of volcani violence; nor any strong exhibitions of the power of earth quakes. Nor has history recorded any earthquake or VO cano in other countries of sufficient efficacy to produce th phenomena of this place. The objects rent asunder are to great, the ruin is too vast and too complete, to have been ac complished by these agents. The change appears to hav been effectuated when the surface of the earth extensively sub sided; when countries and continents assumed a new face an a general commotion of the elements produced the disruptio of some mountains, and merged others beneath the common level of desolation. Nothing less than this will account fo the sundering of a long range of great rocks, or rather of vas mountains; or for the existing evidences of the immense force by which the rupture was effected. The entrance of the chasm is formed by two rocks, stand- ing perpendicularly at the distance of twenty-two feet from 27 each other: one about twenty feet in height, the other twelve. Half of the space is occupied by the brook tioned as the head stream of the Saco; the other half b road. The stream is lost and invisible beneath a ma fragments, partly blown out of the road and partly t down by some great convulsion. When we entered the Notch, we were struck wit wild and solemn appearance of everything before us. scale on which all the objects in view were formed wa scale of grandeur only. The rocks, rude and ragged manner rarely paralleled, were fashioned and piled on regular mo other by a hand operating only in the boldest and manner. As we advanced, these appearance creased rapidly. Huge masses of granite, of every ab form and hoary with a moss which seemed the produ ages, recalling to the mind the "Saxum vetustum" of V speedily rose to a mountainous height. Before us the closed almost instantaneously and presented nothing to eye but an impassable barrier of mountains. About half a mile from the entrance of the chasm we in full view the most beautiful cascade, perhaps, in the W It issued from a mountain on the right, about eight hun feet above the subjacent valley, and at the distance of al two miles from us. The stream ran over a series of ro almost perpendicular, with a course SO little broken as to serve the appearance of an uniform current, and yet SO disturbed as to be perfectly white. The sun shone with clearest splendour from a station in the heavens the n advantageous to our prospect; and the cascade glitte down the vast steep, like a stream of burnished silver. At the distance of three-quarters of a mile from the trance, we passed a brook, known in this region by the na of the Flume from the strong resemblance to that obj exhibited by the channel which it has worn for a considera length in a bed of rocks, the sides being perpendicular to 1 bottom. This elegant piece of water we determined to ( amine further, and, alighting from our horses, walked up t 29 acclivity, perhaps a furlong. The stream fell from a of 240 or 250 feet over three precipices: the second r a small distance from the front of the first, and the thi that of the second. Down the first and second, it a single current; and down the third in three, which their streams at the bottom in a fine basin, formed by tl of nature in the rocks immediately beneath us. It is sible for a brook of this size to be modelled into more fied or more delightful forms; or for a cascade to descer precipices more happily fitted to finish its beauty. Th together with a level at their foot, furnished a consi opening, surrounded by the forest. The sunbeams, trating through the trees, painted here a great variety images of light, and edged an equally numerous and dive collection of shadows; both dancing on the waters, and nately silvering and obscuring their course. Purer was never seen. Exclusively of its murmurs, the world a us was solemn and silent. Everything assumed the cha of enchantment; and had I been educated in the G mythology, I should scarcely have been surprised to fi assemblage of Dryads, Naiads, and Oreads sporting o little plain below our feet. The purity of this water discernible, not only by its limpid appearance, and its but from several other circumstances. Its course is W over hard granite; and the rocks and the stones in its bed at its side, instead of being covered with adventitious stances, were washed perfectly clean; and by their nea pearance added not a little to the beauty of the scene From this spot the mountains speedily began to open increased majesty; and in several instances rose to a pendicular height, a little less than a mile. The boso1 both ranges was overspread, in all the inferior regions, mixture of evergreens with trees whose leaves are decidu The annual foliage had been already changed by the frost. the effects of this change it is, perhaps, impossible for an habitant of Great Britain, as I have been assured by sev foreigners, to form an adequate conception, without visi GLEN ELLIS CASCADE 31 an American forest. When I was a youth, I remarked t. Thomson had entirely omitted, in his Seasons, this fine p of autumnal imagery. Upon inquiring of an English geni man the probable cause of the omission, he informed me, t] no such scenery existed in Great Britain. In this coun it is often among the most splendid beauties of nature. the leaves of trees, which are not evergreens, are by the fi severe frost changed from their verdure towards the perf tion of that colour which they are capable of ultimately assu ing, through yellow, orange, and red, to a pretty deep brow As the frost affects different trees, and the different leaves the same tree, in very different degrees, a vast multitude tinctures are commonly found on those of a single tree, a always on those of a grove or forest. These colours, also, all their varieties are generally full; and in many instances a among the most exquisite which are found in the regions nature. Different sorts of trees are susceptible of differe degrees of this beauty. Among them the maple is pre-eminent distinguishd by the prodigious varieties, the finished beaut and the intense lustre of its hues; varying through all t dyes, between a rich green and the most perfect crimson, ( more definitely, the red of the prismatic image. I have remarked that the annual foliage on these mountai had been already changed by the frost. Of course, the dar ness of the evergreens was finely illumined by the brillia yellow of the birch, the beech, and the cherry, and the mo brilliant orange and crimson of the maple. The effect of th universal diffusion of gay and splendid light was to render t preponderating deep green more solemn. The dark was tl gloom of evening, approximating to night. Over the whol the azure of the sky cast a deep, misty blue, blending towa the summits every other hue, and predominating over all. As the eye ascended these steeps, the light decayed, an gradually ceased. On the inferior summits rose crowns conical firs and spruces. On the superior eminences, th trees, growing less and less, yielded to the chilling atmospher and marked the limit of forest vegetation. Above, the su CHERRY MOUNTAIN 33 was covered with a mass of shrubs, terminating at a still higher elevation in a shroud of dark-coloured moss. As we passed onward through this singular valley, occasion- al torrents, formed by the rains and dissolving snows at the Sieur de Monts Publications close of winter, had left behind them, in many places, perpet- ual monuments of their progress, in perpendicular, narrow, I. Announcement by the Government of the cre- ation of the Sieur de Monts National Monu- and irregular paths, of immense length, where they had washed ment by Presidential Proclamation on July 8, 1916. the precipices naked and white from the summit of the moun- II. Addresses at Meeting held at Bar Harbor on tain to the base. August 22, 1916, to commemorate the estab- lishment of the Sieur de Monts National Wide and deep chasms, also, at times met the eye, both on Monument. the summits and the sides, and strongly impressed the imagi- III. The Sieur de Monts National Monument as a Bird Sanctuary. nation with the thought, that a hand, of immeasurable power, IV. The Coastal Setting, Rocks and Woods of the had rent asunder the solid rocks, and tumbled them into Sieur de Monts National Monument. V. An Acadian Plant Sanctuary. the subjacent valley. Over all, hoary cliffs, rising with VI. Wild Life and Nature Conservation in the East- ern States. proud supremacy, frowned lawfully on the world below, and VII. Man and Nature. Our Duty to the Future. finished the landscape. VIII. The Acadian Forest. By our side the Saco was alternately visible and lost, and IX. The Sieur de Monts National Monument as commemorating Acadia and early French increased, almost at every step, by the junction of tributary influences of Race and Settlement in the United States. streams. Its course was a perpetual cascade, and with its X. Acadia: the Closing Scene. sprightly murmurs furnished the only contrast to the majestic XI. Purchas translation of de Monts' Commission. De Monts: an Appreciation. scenery around us. XII. The de Monts Ancestry in France. XIII. The District of Maine and the Character of the People of Boston at end of the 18th century. XIV. Two National Monuments: the Desert and the Ocean Front. XV. Natural Bird Gardens on Mount Desert Island. XVI. The Blueberry and other characteristic plants of the Acadian Region. XVII. The Sieur de Monts National Monument and its Historical Associations. Garden Approaches to the National Monument. The White Mountain National Forest. Crawford Notch in 1797. XVIII. An Old Account of Mt. Washington. A Word upon its Insect Life. A Word on Mt. Katahdin. XIX. National Parks and Monuments. XX. Early Cod and Haddock Fishery in Acadian Waters. XXI. The Birds of Oldfarm: an intimate study of an Acadian Bird Sanctuary. These Publications may be obtained by writing to THE CUSTODIAN, Sieur de Monta National Monument, Bar Harbor, Maine, JML. SDM.25 Sieur de Monts Publications SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS I. Announcement the cre- ation Monu- ment on II. Addresses at on Aug- ust establishment of Monument. Bird Coastal the 22, Sanctuary. of by de Sieur 1916, at de the Monts proclamation, Meeting Setting, Monts to de by Sieur commemorate Monts National the held de Rocks National Government National Monts Monument. July Bar and the National Harbor 8, Woods 1916. of XVIII III. The Sieur Monument as a IV. The of the Sieur V. An Acadian Plant Sanctuary. An Old Account of Mt. Washington VI. Wild Life and Nature Conservation in the East- ern States. VII. Man and Nature. Our Duty to the Future. A Word upon its Insect Life VIII. The Acadian Forest. IX. The Sieur de Mc National Monument as A Word on Mt. Katahdin commemorating Acedia and early French influences of Race and Settlement in the United States. X. Acadia: the Closing Scene. XI. Purchas translation of de Monts' Commission. De Monts: an'Appreciation. XII. The de Monts Ancestry in France. XIII. The District of Maine and the Character of the People of Boston at the end of the 18th century. XIV. Two National Monuments: the Desert and the Ocean Front. XV. Natural Bird Gardens on Mount Desert Island. XVI. The Blueberry and other characteristic plants of the Acadian Region. XVII. The Sieur de Monts National Monument and its Historical Associations. Garden Approaches to the National Monument. The White Mountain National Forest. Crawford Notch in 1797. XVIII. An Old Account of Mt. Washington. A Word upon its Insect Life. A Word on Mt. Katahdin. XIX. National Parks and Monuments. XX. Early Cod and Haddock Fishery in Acadian Waters. XXI. The Birds of Oldfarm: an intimate study of an Acadian Bird Sanctuary. XXII. The Sieur de Monts National Monument and The Wild Gardens of Acadia. XXIII. The Sieur de Monts National Monument as a Huguenot Memorial. These Publications may be obtained by writing to PUBLISHED BY THE CUSTODIAN, THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA Sieur de Monts National Monument, Bar Harbor, Maine. BAR HARBOR, MAINE Jesup Memorial Library 34 Mt. Desert St. Bar Harbor ME 04609 The Wild Gardens of Acadia were incorporated under the conviction that absolute sanctuaries in which the wild life of a region - plant, bird or animal - can dwell securely and perpetuate itself under its original conditions, are the only means by which such life can be preserved to-day with any approximation to its natural wealth and fullness. Such a sanctuary, though in its early stages yet, has now been es- tablished on the coast of Maine by the creation of the Sieur de Monts National Monument upon Mount Desert Island. Lying in the midst of one of the most interesting and naturally prolific life-provinces in the world, that of eastern Maine and early French Acadia, it is singularly fitted by its mountainous character and ocean-tempered air to shelter- in the broadest way a single area can-its region's life, while its position on the great bird-migration route of the Atlantic shore gives it unique importance in relation to any compre- hensive scheme for bird protection. To the west of this, a distant landmark to the men who sailed between Acadia and Boston in the 17th and early 18th centuries, lie the White Mountains, now included in a National Forest. These two are linked together now as forming the only National possessions of biologic interest-marine biology apart - or landscape interest yet created to the east of the Mississippi and the north of Washington. The earliest account of the White Mountains next to those of the Rev. Jeremy Belknap and the Rev. Manasseh Cutler (1784), and of Dr. Timothy Dwight, President of Yale (1797), the latter elsewhere quoted, is that of Dr. Jacob Bigelow of Boston - a distinguished botanist as well as one of the leading physicians of his time - which follows. THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA CHARLES W. ELIOT, GEORGE B. DORR, President Secretary 3 JML SDM.27 AN OLD ACCOUNT OF THE WHITE MOUNTAINS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE JACOB BIGELOW, 1816 President American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1846 to 1863 In the United States, exclusive, or possibly inclusive, of Louisiana, the highest point or ridge of land is undoubtedly that of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. From the earliest settlement of the country, these mountains have at- tracted the notice of the inhabitants and of mariners along the coast, by the distance at which they are visible and the whiteness of their appearance during three-quarters of the year. They were for a long time the subject of fabulous rep- resentations; the Indians had a superstitious dread of them, and travelers who occasionally ascended their summits re- turned with exaggerated reports of the difficulty and distance, as well as of the strange productions found on the more ele- vated parts of their surface. The earliest account of an ascent of the White Mountains is given in Governor Winthrop's Journal, and appears to have taken place in the year 1642. This account is curious, at least for its antiquity. "One Darby Field, an Irishman, living about Piscat, being accom- panied with two Indians, went to the top of the White Hill. He made his journey in eighteen days. His relation at his return was, that it was about 160 miles from Saco, that after 40 miles travel, he did for the most part ascend; and within 12 miles of the top, was neither tree nor grass, but low savins, which they went upon the top of sometimes, but a con- tinual ascent upon rocks, on a ridge between two vallies filled with snow, out of which came two branches of the Saco river, which met at the foot of the hill where was an Indian town of some 200 people. Some of them ac- companied him within 8 miles of the top, but durst go no further, telling him that no Indian ever dared to go higher, and that he would die if he went. So they staid there till his return, and his two Indians took courage by his example and went with him. They went divers times through the thick clouds for a good space, and within 4 miles of the top they had no clouds but very cold. The top of all was plain, about 60 feet square. On the north side was such a precipice as they could scarcely discern the bottom. DIXVILLE NOTCH FROM TABLE ROCK See Note A, page 33. 5 SDM. 28 They had neither cloud nor wind on the top, and moderate heat. All the country about him seemed a level, except here and there a hill rising above the rest, and far beneath them. He saw to the north, a great water which he judged to be 100 miles broad, but could see no land beyond it. The sea by Saco seemed as if it had been within 20 miles. He saw also a sea to the eastward which he judged to be the gulph of Canada; he saw some great waters in parts to the westward, which he judged to be the great lake Canada river comes out of. He found there much Muscovy glass, they could rive out pieces 40 feet long, and 7 or 8 broad. When he came back to the Indians, he found them drying themselves by the fire, for they had a great tempest of wind and rain. About a month after, he went again with five or six of his company, then they had some wind on the top, and some clouds above them, which hid the sun. They brought some stones which they supposed had been diamonds, but they were most chrystal. -Winthrop's Journal, p. 247. The relation of Darby Field may be considered as in the main correct, after making reasonable deductions for the dis- tance, the length of the Muscovy glass, and the quantity of water in view, which it may be suspected has not been seen by any visitor since his time. Within the last forty years the White Mountains have been repeatedly ascended and accounts of their productions and phenomena published. The object of this paper is to detail such observations as were made by a party from Boston who visited them in the beginning of July of the last summer. These mountains are situated in latitude about 44.15 north and are distant about 150 miles from Boston. Their Indian name according to Dr. Belknap, was Agiocochook. Our approach to them was made from the northwest, com- mencing at the town of Lancaster, a village situated on the Connecticut river, 25 miles from their base. From this town a road has been cut through a gap of the mountains to Port- land, constituting the principal outlet of the Coos country. This road takes the course of the Israel's river, a branch of the Connecticut, passing between the Pliny Mountains on the left and the Pondicherry mountain on the right. From Lancaster the road passes through Jefferson (for- merly Dartmouth) and Bretton Woods to the Notch, running over the foot of the Pondicherry mountain in its course. 7 JMC. SDM. 29 It lies for most of the way through thick woods, but rarely enlivened with the appearance of cultivation. At Playstead's house, 13 miles from their base, the White Hills presented the appearance of a continued waving range of summits, of which it was difficult to select the highest. At Rosebrooks, 4 1/2 miles from the Notch, the view of them was very distinct and satisfactory. We could now clearly discern the character of the summits, five or six of which were entirely bald and presented the appearance of a grey and ragged mass of stones, towering above the woods with which the sides and base were clothed. Between Rosebrooks and the Notch is a plain, or rather a swamp, the waters of which pass off in different directions, partly to the Ammonoosuck, a branch of the Connecticut, and partly by an opposite course to the Saco. After crossing sever- al brooks running toward the former, we came to another stream, the water of which was SO sluggish that it required some time to become satisfied that it was actually flowing in the opposite direction. This stream has its origin in a pond of one or two acres, situated near the road, and having no other inlet or outlet. This pond appears to be the principal source of the Saco river. The waters of this stream being collected from several sources proceed directly toward the side of the mountain. At the point where to all appearances they must be inter- cepted in their course, there occurs one of the most extraor- dinary features of the place, well known by the name of the Notch. The whole mountain, which otherwise forms a con- tinued range, is here cloven down quite to its base, affording a free opening to the waters of the Saco, which pass off with a gradual descent toward the sea. This gap is SO narrow that space has with difficulty been obtained for the road, which follows the course of the Saco through the Notch eastward. In one place the river disappears, being lost in the caves and crevices of the rocks, and under the shelves of the adjoining precipice, at length reappearing at the distance of some rods below. The Notch gradually widens into a long narrow val- 9 ley, in the lower part of which is situated the town of Bartlett. There is no part of the mountain more calculated to excite interest and wonder than the scenery of this natural gap. The crags and precipices on both sides rise at an angle of great steepness, forming a support or basement for the lofty and irregular ridges above. One of the most picturesque objects in our view was a cliff presenting a perpendicular face of great height and crowned at its inaccessible summit with a pro- fusion of flowering shrubs. For many miles below the commencement of the Notch the eye meets on both sides a succession of steep and precipitous mountains, rising to the height of some thousands of feet, and utterly inaccessible from the valley below. Several brooks, the tributaries of the Saco, fall down the abrupt declivities, forming a succession of beautiful cascades in sight of the road. The White Hills have been ascended by various routes, from their different sides. The course which is usually con- sidered as attended with the least difficulties is that which commences at the plain of Pigwacket, at present the town of Conway, and follows the course of the Ellis River, a northern branch of the Saco having its origin high in the mountain. The place of leaving the road, to follow the track of this stream, is in the town of Adams, about 20 miles from the sum- mit of the highest part of the mountain. Of this distance seven or eight miles may be rode over on horseback; the rest must be performed on foot. After leaving the borders of culti- vation, our course lay through thick woods, on a level or with a gentle ascent, not much encumbered with an undergrowth of bushes, for six miles. The walking was tolerably good, except the circumstance of being obliged once or twice to ford the streams. Our encampment for the night was made at the mouth of New river, a principal branch of the Ellis. This river takes its name from the recency of its origin, which happened in October, 1775. At this time, during a great flood, *Rhodora Canadensis in full flower June 20. II ML. SDM. 31 that took place in consequence of heavy rains, a large body of waters, which had formerly descended by other channels, found their way over the eastern brink of the mountains and fell down toward the Ellis, carrying the rocks and trees before them in their course, and inundating the adjacent country. By this freshet the banks of the Saco were overflowed, cattle were drowned, and fields of corn were swept away and de- stroyed. Since that period, the New river has remained a con- stant stream, and at the place where it descends the last preci- pice, forms a splendid cascade of 100 feet in height. From this encampment, which was seven miles from the top of the mountain, we proceeded the next day, (July 2) two or three miles by the side of Ellis River, on a gradual ascent, occasionally encumbered by the trunks of fallen trees. We now left the Ellis for one of its principal branches, called Cutler's river, leading directly towards the principal summit. After climbing by the side of this stream for a considerable distance, the trees of the forest around us began to diminish in height, and we found ourselves at the second zone or region of the mountain. This region is entirely covered with a thick low growth of evergreens, principally the black spruce, and silver fir, which rise to about the height of a man's head, and put out numerous, strong, horizontal branches, which are closely interwoven with each other, and surround the mountain with a formidable hedge a quarter of a mile in thickness. This zone of evergreens has always constituted one of the most serious difficulties in the ascent of the White Hills. The passage through them is now much facilitated by a path cut by the direction of Colonel Gibbs, who ascended the mountain some years since. On emerging from this thicket, the barometer stood at 25, 93, giving our elevation above the sea, at 4, 443 feet. We were now above all woods, and at the foot of what is called the bald part of the mountain. It rose before us with a steepness surpassing that of any ground we had passed, and presented to view a huge, irregular pile of dark, naked rocks. We crossed a plain or gentle slope, of a quarter of a mile, and 13 m.31 began to climb upon the side. There was here a continued and laborious ascent of half a mile, which must be performed by cautiously stepping from one rock to another as they present themselves like irregular stairs winding on the broken surface of the mountain. In the interstices of these rocks were OC- casional patches of dwarfish fir and spruce, and beautiful tufts of small alpine shrubs, then in full flower. Having surmounted this height we found ourselves on a second plain. This, like the first, was covered with withered grass, and a few tufts of flowers. Its continuity is interrupted by several declivities, one of which we descended to our left, to reach a brook that crosses it here from the rocks above. There remained now to be ascended only the principal peak, the one designated in Winthrop's Journal, by the name of the Sugar Loaf, and in Belknap's New Hampshire, by the name of Mount Washington. This we accomplished in half an hour, by climbing the ridge to the north of it, and walking on this ridge to the summit. The day of our visit was uncommonly fine, yet the atmo- sphere was hazy, and our view of remote objects indistinct. The Moosehillock, one of the highest mountains of New Hampshire, situated in Coventry, near the Connecticut, was visible on the south. The Kyarsarge, double-headed Moun- tain, and several others were in full view at the east. The country around in almost every direction, is uneven and mountainous. Its appearance is described by Josselyn in his "Rarities of New England," published in 1672, who says that the country beyond the mountains to the northward, "is daunting terrible, being full of rocky hills, as thick as mole hills in a meadow; and clothed with infinite thick woods." Our anticipations were not realized in regard to several phenomena we had been taught to expect at the summit. The state of the air was mild and temperate, SO that the over- coats which we carried up in expectation of extreme cold, were left at the foot of the last ascent The thermometer stood at 57° Fahr. on the summit at I2 o'clock, and on the same day at Conway, 25 miles distant, on the plain below, it was at 80°. 15 The snow lay in patches of an acre in extent upon the sides, but appeared to be rapidly dissolving. We were not conscious of any material alteration in the density of the atmosphere, as neither sound nor respiration were perceptibly impeded. Instead of an absence from these barren regions of animal and vegetation life, we found a multitude of insects, buzzing around the highest rocks; every stone was covered with lichens, and some plants were in flower in the crevices within a few feet of the summit. The ascent from our encampment at the mouth of New river, including stops, had employed us six hours and a half. The descent from the summit to the same place occupied about five hours. We left on the mountain our names and the date, inclosed in a bottle and cemented to the highest rock. Parce, viator, Cui fulmina parcent Hoc fragile monumentum Lemuel Shaw, Nathaniel Tucker, Jacob Bigelow, Franciscus C. Gray, Franciscus Boott, Bostonienses, Die Julii 2do. A. D. 1816, Monte Agiocochook superato, Hic reliquerunt. 17 JML SDM 33 THE VEGETATION OF THE WHITE HILLS JACOB BIGELOW, 1816 The vegetation of the White Hills has been divided with propriety, into three zones. That of the common forest trees; that of dwarf evergreens; and that of alpine plants. The woods, which extend from the base up the sides to the height of about 4,000 feet from the sea, consist of the Rock-maple (Acer saccharinum), which is the most abun- dant tree, the Red maple (Acer rubrum), the Silver-fir (Pinus balsamea), the Hemlock (Pinus Canadensis), the Black and White-spruce (Picea nigra and alba), the White-pine (Pinus strobus), the Beech (Fagus ferruginea), the Black, Yellow and White-birch (Betula lenta, lutea, and papyracea). The undergrowth was composed principally of the Viburnum lantanoides, the Acer montanum and striatum, and Sorbus Americana. Under our feet was the Oxalis acetosella beyond every other species of plant; Dracena borealis; Cornus Can- adensis; Gaultheria hispidula, etc. Where the common forest trees terminate, the second zone of the mountain immediately commences, the line between them being very distinctly drawn. This region consists of a belt of the Black-spruce and Silver-fir, rising to the height of seven or eight feet and putting out long, firm, horizontal or depending branches, SO that each tree covers a considerable extent of ground. This mode of growths may be ascribed to two causes: ist, The great length of time that the snow rests upon them, weighing down their branches, and confining them in an horizontal direction. 2nd, The extreme cold which probably prevails here in winter, and which is destructive to all vegetation that is not secured by being buried under the snow. Upon the ground under these evergreen trees, there were but few other vegetables. The only plants which I recollect in flower were the Houstonia coerulea, uncommonly large, and Cornus Canadensis. 19 Above the zone of firs, which terminates as abruptly as it ANIMALS begins, is a third or bald region wholly destitute of any growth The unsettled state of the country for some distance of wood. The predominance of rocks on this portion leaves around these mountains and the many recesses and solitudes but a scanty surface covered with soil capable of giving root which they possess that are rarely visited by man render them to vegetation; yet to the botanist this is by far the most inter- still a resort for many of the original animals of the conti- esting part of the mountain. Many of the plants of this nent whose species have nearly disappeared from the more region are rare, and not to be found in the region below. inhabited parts. The moose (cervus alces) still resides here, They are for the most part natives of cold climates and situa- and we were told that upon the Pliny mountains, about tions, such as are found in high latitudes, or at great elevations. twenty miles to the northwest, some of these animals are Among them are natives of Siberia, of Lapland, of Greenland killed in the course of every winter. The bear (ursus Amer- and Labrador. Vegetables of this race, usually known by icanus) inhabits the woods about the base and sides of the the name of Alpine plants, have always been found difficult of mountain, where he is not unfrequently met with. The cultivation. They are impatient of drought, and of both the wolves (canis lupus), being gregarious, move in troops and are extremes of heat and cold. During the severity of the winter said to visit this part of the country once in three or four years. in their native situations they are preserved from injury by Several of them were killed last winter in Eaton, a town the great depth of snow under which they are covered, which adjoining the mountains. The wolverene (ursus luscus), secures them from the inclemency of the air, while they par- racoon (ursus lotor), porcupine (hystrix dorsata), and sable, take the temperature of the earth below them. When the the two latter in considerable numbers-are found in various snow leaves them, which frequently does not happen till the parts of the forests; the wild-cat (felis montana) is occasion- middle of summer, they instantly shoot up with a vigor pro- ally killed here; the catamount (felis concolor, S. couguar), is portionate to the length of time they have been dormant, at the present day seldom heard of. rapidly unfold their flowers and mature their fruits; and, Of birds, we saw but few. Most of our migratory land having run through the whole course of their vegetation in a birds, choosing to share with man the fruits of his cultivation, few weeks, are again ready to be entombed for the rest of the are more frequently found about the abodes of civilization year under their accustomed covering of snow. These plants, than in the solitude of the forest. In Bretton woods several notwithstanding the high and barren elevations at which wood-peckers were shot by our party, all of them very beauti- they frequently grow, do not suffer for want of moisture, ful species, and among the rest picus tridactylus, remarkably being constantly irrigated by the clouds which embrace them, distinguished from the rest of his family by the number of his and by the trickling of water over their roots from the emi- toes. The partridge (tetrao umbellus), we frequently scared. nences above. This bird, as well as a species of plover or tringa, have been The vegetation, in spots, extended quite to the top of the seen in the upper or bald part of the mountain. mountain. Diapensia Lapponica and Lycopodium lucidulum, The insects which we observed at the top of the mountain the former in full flower, were growing within six feet of the were as numerous and various as in any place below. Among summit. All the rocks were incrusted with Lichens, among them were species of Phaloena, Cerambyx, Coccinella, Bu- which L. velleus is the one which predominates, and con- prestis, Cimex and Tenthredo. The most splendid of our tributes essentially to the dark grey appearance of the moun- native butterflies, Papilio Turnus, was fluttering near us while tain. we remained on the summit. 21 20 A GLANCE AT THE INSECTS OF MT. WASHINGTON AND MOUNT DESERT CHARLES W. JOHNSON. Curator of the Museum, Boston Society of Natural History. Mt. Washington has long been a favorite collecting ground for entomologists. Here, in a limited area, one can study the many conditions governing distribution. Traveling from the base to the summit one passes in a short time through surroundings representative of the temperate, boreal and arctic climates. The vegetation on and around the mountain is practically undisturbed, presenting admirable facilities for studying the natural conditions governing the relative abundance of injurious and beneficial insects. We find the forests as a whole in a splendid condition, with no serious destruction by insects. The collecting that has been already done shows that here "nature's balance" has not been dis- turbed by the inroads of civilization. Moths, saw-flies, wood- borers and other injurious species, while fairly abundant, are apparently kept within bounds by the great host of ichneumon and tachinid flies and other parasitic and predaceous insects. In fact, the abundance of beneficial species in proportion to 7 the injurious ones is very noticeable, contrasted with other localities. Will not these large reservations in the near future furnish a most favorable place to study more fully the great economic problems of parasitism? The upper portion of Mt. Washington is divided into two zones or areas, the alpine comprising the summit and parts above 5000 ft., and the sub-alpine, that from the timber line (about 4000 ft.) to the 5000 ft. contour. In the alpine area is found the White Mountain butterfly (Oeneis semidea) described by Thomas Say in 1828. This interesting butterfly belongs to a genus confined exclusively to the arctic and alpine regions. 10 22 11 JML SDM.36 The under side of the wings SO closely resembles the moss- 3 2 I Metanema determinata covered rocks that when the insects are at rest they are Argynnis atlantis Nepytia canosaria Mt. Desert Mt. Washington scarcely discernible. Two little moths, Anartas melanopa and Mt. Desert A. schoenherri, which frequent the rocky area, are also inter- esting examples of protective coloration. Under stones is found the large predaceous ground beetle, Carabus chamis- sonis. This species has also been captured on Mt. Desert. In the sub-alpine area are found the White Mountain Fritil- lary (Brenthis montinus) and the wingless grasshopper (Podis- 6 4 Brenthis montinus ma glacialis). Generally distributed, but really living below (Eneis semideu Mt. Washington Mt. Washington the timber line, are numerous butterflies, including The Mountain Silver-spot (Argynnis atlantis), the Faun Angle- wing (Polygonia faunus) and the rare P. gracilis, Milbert's Tortoise-shell (Aglais milberti), and the Banded Purple (Basil- 5 Caripeta divisata archia arthemis.) A full account of these is given in Scudder's Mt. Desert "Butterflies of the Eastern United States." On warm days, when a strong breeze is blowing up the sides of the mountain, numbers of insects are carried to the summit, making it a most interesting collecting ground. It was here that Mrs. Annie T. Slosson made a remarkable collection of over 2000 species. A revised list of the insects 9 8 7 of Mt. Washington is in course of preparation by the writer. Diastictis anataria Basilarchia arthemis Eustroma explanata The insect fauna of Mt. Desert has been only partially Mt. Desert Mt. Washington Mt. Desert studied, but the list contains many species common to Mt. Washington. The late Dr. Charles Sedgwick Minot made a most interesting collection of over IOO species of moths at Northeast Harbor during his last summer there. The collec- tion contained several new Geometrids (Span-worms) and a number of species not recorded from the eastern United States since Packard published his monograph in 1876. There were 12 IO also many rare and interesting Noctuids (Owlet moths.) Aglais milberti Polygonia faunus This collection and the interesting flora of the island would Mt. Washington Mt. Washington indicate a rich and varied insect fauna, deserving careful and systematic study. II Alcis sulphurariu Mt. Desert 25 JML SDM. 37 MT. KATAHDIN AS A FOREST RESERVATION GEORGE BUCKNAM DORR Northern New England, with Maine the greater part, is a natural forest region, rich in lakes and streams, rugged, mountainous and beautiful. In it and the immediately adjoining portions of New York and Canada the Appalachian forest attains at once its greatest density and northern bound. Three centuries ago, when the first Acadian and Plymouth settlements were made, this forest was the most extensive, the richest in species, and probably the most ancient temperate zone forest in the world. The earliest fossil records-leaf and branch - of the broad-leaved, deciduous trees, such as the Sassafras and Fig, the Tulip tree, Magnolia, Willow, Oak and Maple, are found - washed down - in the Potomac forma- tions of Maryland and Virginia and the New Jersey clays. Andalready they resemble modern forms, showing long previous development in some related region whence they spread - that lying to the north and east most probably, deeply eroded since and partly sunk beneath the sea. Europe, swept bare to the Alps of all but arctic vegetation by the great Ice- invasions of the Glacial Epoch, retained at the beginning of the historic period scarce half the wealth of woodland forms in genera and species which the Appalachian forest still preserves in direct inheritance from those early times. NOTE: The most important advance, in its consequences, ever made perhaps in the development of life since the first gathering of cells into organic form is that of the rise of the Angiosperms or Flowering Plants, which, by the new food supply they brought, made possible in turn the development of the higher Animals. This took place-the evidence strongly indicates-along the northeastern coast of North America, the region of New York, New England and early French Acadia, an ancient land al- A BOLD CLIMB ready, with a temperate climate and a vast temperate region to its north which sent down into it new forms of plants and animals, while it was isolated by the ocean then upon its western side as well as on its eastern. There, apparently, in long seclusion while earlier types of vegetation still prevailed and giant saurians and other reptiles roamed the world, the new plant forms which were to revolutionize its life developed through their early stages, although all trace of them has vanished since with the surface which they dwelt on. 27 DM. 38 In this forest, stretching broadly down the mountain ranges of the Appalachian system from Northern Maine to Georgia, the United States has an inexhaustible resource, of permanent economic value, if only the tree-species that produce it, turning the passing rains and sunshine of the season into structural, heat-and-energy conserving form, be protected in their self-renewal. Once let a break occur, however, through excessive depletion of a species' ranks or sudden sweeping tree-disease, such as has recently assailed the Chestnut and is assailing now the Pine, and this great economic gift of Nature, this magic spell by which the Pine, the Chestnut, the Hemlock or the Spruce is built from air and water and a pinch of dust, is lost to us and to the world for- ever. And with it, too, an infinite source of beauty and delight. Three dangers threaten now this old and rich inheritance: forest fires in annually recurrent periods of draught; exploita- tion by private interests with vision centered on immediate ON KATAHDIN'S SUMMIT gain; and introduction by the new carrier systems of the world of insect and fungal tree diseases against which age-long evolution has not given the American species immunity or capacity for resistance. Between us and such destruction stands, representing the Nation and its abiding interest in preventing it, the National Forest Service. It is splendidly equipped and organized for such a task, and is already doing a magnificent work of conservation in the West. In the East, where early relinquishment of public rights in the land made re-acquisition of it for such purpose necessary, the work has only just begun, with the establishment of the White Mountain and the Southern Appalachian Forests. From these it should extend until each great forest district in the East is adequately represented in it. Two such-those of New Hampshire and the South-are represented in it now, thanks to the broad statesmanship and energy of Senator Weeks and his associates; a third should A KATAHDIN STREAM unquestionably be that of the great coastal State of Maine- 29 TML SDM 39 the homeland of the Eastern Pine and Spruce - with its vast forest tracts and valuable timber that has been of untold bene- fit to every other Eastern State in its upbuilding. In it, one tract stands out beyond all others as suited to such purpose, that of the grandest mountain group throughout the East, Katahdin-a vast block of ice-worn, boldly sculptured granite rising above a forest land extensive enough to form a separate State* and climatically distinct from any other, with its own forest needs and problems. Around it on either side flow the East and West Branches of the Penobscot River, upon which its great tributaries of water are utilized for power and trans- port. No National Forest could be better placed to represent and dominate a forest land, nor is there any forest in the East of greater national concern than that which it would represent. There is no more valuable Forest Service work to do, apart from the study and prevention of invading tree dis- leases, than guarding from fire such rocky, humus-covered slopes as these and those of the White Mountains, whose waters feed industrial and navigable streams. And no more important biologic work could be accomplished than the establishment under Government protection of such a vast and splendid Bird and Wild Life Breeding Ground and Sanc- tuary at the heart of the greatest, the wildest, and the most shot-over, game land in the East. The most valuable source of energy in sight to replace coal and oil, whose fast diminishing supplies can now be looked upon as temporary only, is water power. Centuries have clothed our rocky mountain sides, such as those of the White Mountains and Katahdin, with a humus covering that centuries only can replace. This humus, formed from vegetable matter, holds water like a sponge but burns like fuel. A sweeping forest fire will consume in a few hours what has been ages gathering. When it is gone, the rain that came gradually down the mountain slopes and maintained the streams beneath in even flow will descend in torrents, wasting their water to the sea, and leave dry beds behind. This, too, should be held in mind, that the rain-fall on such mountain heights as these is far greater than below - on Mt. Washington, in a drier climate than Katahdin, 83 1/2 inches annual average - and that these are lands, accordingly, whose power-producing waters it is doubly important to conserve. *See Note B, page 33. 3I JML.SOM 40 NOTE A LOUISIANA IN 1816 Louisiana in 1816, when Dr. Bigelow wrote, was not the present State but a vast, wild territory recently acquired from France - for the sum of fifteen million dollars and comprising all that lay to the westward of the Mississippi and the north of Texas. When first explored and claimed for France by Robert Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle, who entered it from the north in 1682 and named it for his sovereign, Louis XIV, it meant the whole great Mississippi Valley, on both sides. Later it passed to Spain, then back again to France, now limited by the river eastward. Napoleon's needs led finally, in 1803, to its sale to the United States, who owe their present continental greatness to the chance thus offered and the statesmanship that took it. In 1713, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, lord and first owner of Mount Desert Island and founder of Detroit, was made its Governor, thus linking together in his roving and adventurous life the three great provinces of ancient France-Acadia, Canada, and Louisiana- since shared between the United States and England. NOTE B DESCENDING FROM KATAHDIN H. D. THOREAU, 1846 I found my companions where I had left them, on the side of the peak, gathering the mountain cranberries, which filled every crevice between the rocks, together with blue- berries, which had a spicier flavor the higher up they grew, but were not the less agree- able to our palates. From this elevation, just on the skirts of the clouds, we could overlook the country, west and south, for a hundred miles. There it was, the State of Maine which we had seen on the map, but not much like that, - immeasurable forest for the sun to shine on. No clearing, no house. It did not look as if a solitary traveler had cut so much as a walking-stick there. Countless lakes, Moosehead in the southwest, forty miles long by ten wide, like a gleaming silver platter; Chesuncook, eighteen long by three wide, without an island; Millinocket, on the south, with its hundred islands; and a hundred others without a name; and moun- tains, also, whose names, for the most part, are known only to the Indians. The forest looked like a firm grass sward, and the effect of these lakes in its midst has been well compared, by one who has since visited this same spot, to that of a "mirror broken into a thousand fragments and wildly scattered over the grass, reflecting the full blaze of the sun." It was a large farm for somebody, when cleared. According to the Gazetter, which was printed before the boundary question was settled, this single Penobscot County in which we were was larger than the whole State of Vermont, with its fourteen counties; and this was only a part of the wild lands of Maine. 33 ANPA. B6F6 15 (SGD) Teahelle F. Story File Dorr SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS XIX National Parks and Monuments DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FRANKLIN K. LANE, SECRETARY NATIONAL PARK SERVICE STEPHEN T. MATHER, DIRECTOR THE GREAT HARBOR OF MOUNT DESERT FROM ACADIA MOUNTAIN SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT NATIONAL PARKS AND MONUMENTS GEORGE BUCKNAM DORR. CUSTODIAN SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT. The National Park Service is the instrument which the United States has created to conserve the beauty and freedom of its landscape in unique or typical exhibits, and to protect features of exceptional scientific or historic interest. National Parks and Monuments are the areas set aside for the purpose of such conservation. Parks are created by act of Congress; Monuments by the Administration, acting through the President and Secretary of the Interior. Save in this, there is no essential difference between them, except that Parks are primarily landscape areas, preserving the beauty of scenery for the inspiration and enjoyment of the people, while Monu- ments look primarily to the preservation in the public interest of scientific or historic features worthy of the Nation's guarding. In certain cases both elements are present, and in high degree. The Yellowstone National Park contains features of extraordinary scientific interest in addition to its striking landscape. The Grand Canyon National Monument is the most stupendous exhibit in the world of stream erosion, but it is less of this than of its beauty that one thinks when one is there. The Yosemite and the Sieur de Monts, the one created as a Park, the other as a Monument, are both recre- ation areas of national importance, stimulating as no duller landscape can the tired worker; but both are rich besides in scientific and historic features. Such parks as these are more than playgrounds; they represent the wholesome and invigorating influence of Nature on the lives of men. They should represent her finally in every interesting phase - the storm-swept, rocky coast of Maine; the Indiana sand-dunes; the limestone caverns of 3 6. F6.17 Kentucky; the deep-cut canyons of Utah, Idaho, and Arizona; the volcanic peaks of Washington and Oregon; the glaciers and snow-fields of Montana; the giant Sequoias and grand Sierra scenery of eastern California. It is not a question of extent. The Grand Canyon of Arizona, the vastest single landscape feature on the Continent, and the Muir Woods in California, a noble grove of the Coast Redwoods not over three hundred acres in extent, were set aside alike as National possessions by the President and Secretary of the Interior under the authority given them by the Monument Act. And Congress has acted similarly in regard to Parks. Rightly chosen, lesser areas are richer proportionally than greater ones. This was long since pointed out by Wallace, the great English naturalist, with reference to preserving the wild native life - plant, bird or animal - in the English Colonies. He urged establishing in them, before it was too late, chains of relatively small but carefully selected sanctuaries extending through a province or a region and exhibiting in their sum its life and landscape with a com- pleteness that no single area could, however great. Such individually lesser tracts have the advantage, too, of being able to co-exist with man in inhabited regions; round them the tides of future life can rise without invading them, but only adding to their human usefulness. This, on a continental scale, is the opportunity which lies before us in the East. Lands no greater in total than a single National Forest or one of several of the larger western Parks, linked by a nationally planned road system, reasonably pro- tected from disfigurement and served by inns at motoring distances, would yield, if well selected, a return beyond esti- mate in interest and beauty, in wild life conservation and in recreational value. In one part or another and at one time or another, a vast proportion of the people of the Nation dwelling in the Eastern and Central States would traverse them and take delight in them. The conditions East and West are radically different, OW- ing to the mountain chains and rainfall. This difference the 5 IN THE GRAND CANYON NATIONAL MONUMENT 36.F6.18 National Park Service, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, is seeking to recognize in a plan for eastern park development embodying a thought akin to Wallace's. Of it the Sieur de Monts National Monument on the coast of Maine is the first expression. With an ultimate area of some twenty-eight square miles, it places in the Nation's hands the noblest and most beautiful scenic tract, and one of the richest biologically, upon our Eastern Coast. A second area of similar extent might well be that of the remarkable Sand Dunes bordering on Lake Michigan in Indiana. Unique in landscape character and the habitat of a unique and interesting wild flower vegetation, they should be preserved forever in their native wildness as a national possession. Such conservation is not a State affair; its bene- fits are National, shared by the inhabitants of many States. In the East, we have a vast industrial population spread- ing over the whole land with giant strides. Its successful continuance in the world-struggle for existence involves the keenest kind of brain activity upon the part not of a few leaders only but of multitudes. No relief from its fatigues and strain is SO wholly beneficial, no influence SO helpful to change and uplift the current of a jaded mental worker's thought, from the clerk to the Cabinet officer or Congressman, from the teacher to the College president, from the sten- ographer to the business manager, as that of Nature in her grander or more intimately arresting aspects. None other leaves such pleasant, restful memories behind, or SO awakens the spirit to new resources in the world of beauty. How great the influence of such things may be, expressed in limited areas of concentrated interest, in ancient woods, in springs with a pure gift of water, in mountains rising from a level plain of land or sea and touched by clouds, the history of the world reveals on every page. The two most sacred spots in Greece, or bordering upon it, Delphi and Dodona, places whose influence we unconsciously still feel to-day, were founded upon scenery - rock crags, oak woods, and springs. Mount Olympus, an outstanding coastal peak in Thessaly, VERNAL FALLS-YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK 7 B6.F6.19 made an impression on the Greeks' imagination that entered deeply into their religion; Mount Sinai entered still more deeply into the religion of the Hebrews. The oak forests of the north were linked inseparably with the Druid faith. We look upon the world with greater knowledge now than did the Greeks and Latins, the ancient Hebrews or the Druids, but the nature and the natural features that meant SO much to them, and played SO great a part in awakening in them the spiritual and imaginative energies on which our civilization largely rests to-day, cannot vanish from our young national life, growing into new phases now where every stimulating and higher influence will be required, without incalculable loss. In early times men set certain areas aside as sacred, devoted to their God, because of the impression of lawfulness or holi- ness these made on them; something divine, they felt, hung over them. For us - wrongly perhaps - the divine has re- ceded into greater distances of thought and space, but the same quality in nature that moved them moves us, although we no longer embody it, as they, in personal form. This quality certain spots in the great Western parks possess re- markably; they move men, who seek them in a receptive mood, as with the felt presence of an unseen power. Such presence haunts the Sequoia groves and grand coniferous forests of the Pacific slope. It haunts extraordinarily the glorious deep canyons of the Yosemite and the Mukuntuweap. It haunts the snow-clad, cloud-compelling peak of Mount Rainier. And it haunts no less the ancient granite rocks of Mount Desert, with the blue ocean plain on which they look and the breaking of the sea against them. Years ago the United States led the way among the na- tions of the earth in recognizing by action the importance of landscape conservation for the people's benefit. Beginning with the Yellowstone, with its remarkable geysers and its posi- tion at the parting of the waters east and west, step by step it has included in the Park system which it then established representative features of the great western landscapes. The A GIANT SEQUOIA IN THE HIGH SIERRAS 9 B6.F6.20 Falls of the Yellowstone, the Vernal and Nevada Falls of the Yosemite are among the few supremely beautiful waterfalls on the Continent, both in their setting and owing to their height, which turns the spray of the descending waters into exquisite wreaths of mist. The Grand Canyon and the Mukuntuweap Monuments, with the Snake River Canyon of Idaho perhaps a third, have few if any equals in the world for sheer magnificence of rock exhibit. The ice and snow of northern Alpine heights, with the characteristic Alpine vege- tation that accompanies them, are shown on a grand scale in Glacier Park. A magnificent specimen of an extinct volcanic cone is shown in Mt. Rainier, and the ruins of an ex- ploded cone in Crater Lake, while the most splendid park of all, perhaps, in its wonderful evergreen forest, deep valleys and high mountain peaks will be the future Sequoia Park of eastern California, when it shall be complete. To guard such area's of inspiring landscape, East and West, and make them accessible not only to the wealthy, who can travel widely, but to the multitude of workers in our towns and cities who need the uplift, the splendid change of scenery, the brief or longer contact with Nature in her beauty and intrinsic freedom as a relief from responsibility and daily toil, is the task of the Secretary of the Interior and the National Park Service. To fulfil it rightly and develop that great asset of the Nation, the scenic beauty of its land, as a means to health and happiness and to a larger life, the active interest and cooperation of the People and their chosen representatives in Congress is urgently desired. II IN THE MUKUNTUWEAP NATIONAL MONUMENT THE BIRDS OF OLD FARM. Adjoining the northeastern boundary of the new Sieur de Monts National Park on Mount Desert Island, the lands of Old Farm stretch south and weet from the high rocky shore of Frenchman's Bay towards the bold granite mountain chain whose easternmost peak, "Newport", rises precipitously a short half mile away. Inshore from the house lie wood-encircled gardens, the nearest of which, deeply sheltered with a riotous tangle of old-fashioned bloom and high hedges, is the favored resort of all creatures who love sunshine and flowers. Bo- yond this garden a broad grassy swale flows gently down between tall evergreen forests from a rooky knoll to a small COVE bordered by steep and lofty cliffs; to the north, spruces and pines shut out the cold autumn wind and the distant vil- lago; while still further away, to the south, lie the culti- vated fields and copses of the nurseries, rolling to the wild, heavily timbered mountain lands of the Park itself. Here, therefore, within the brief compass of a few aores, are found all the varied conditions of ocean shore, upland glade, and steep hillside with their rocky dells and anoient forests. More broadly, also, Mount Desert Island, as a whole, is singularly fortunate in its geographical location. Near the borderline of two great faunal areas, the Canadian -3- and Alleghanian, and with its prominent mountains rising oon- spicuously from the sea, "L'isle des Monts Deserts," - as Champlain 80 picturesquely named it, now more than three hundred years ago, - is a preeminent rallying point for the migrating myriads which stream along our eastern coast upon their spring and autumn Journeys, as well as marking a boundary beyond which many of the more southern species are scaroely to be found, or south of which many northern varieties rarely stray. Yet, although upon the low lying grassy meadows at the northern end of the island, many of our familiar New England birds may be found, at Old Farm itself, with its high- cliffed shore, and forest covered ledges, the wild life is characteristically Canadian. In the warmer open fields, a few miles away towards the mainland, one sees, regularly enough, Blackbirds, Swallows, Sparrows, and Bluebirds; but, here, in the rough country that borders the sub-arotic waters at the entrance to the Bay of Fundy, both the flora and fauna are typical of the regions much further to the north. The Brown-headed Acadian Chicadee lisps his harsh note among the spruces, Olive-backed, and Hermit Thrushes frequent the thickets, and an occasional Northern Raven flaps heavily along the sheer rooky sides of Newport Mountain. To the bird loving visitor from further south -3- the immediate impression is of suddenly dropping back into the months of early spring : of finding again, among the full foliage of midsummer, SO many of the familiar early migrants which filled the woods and orchards of the Middle States. Juncos, Purple Finches and White-throated Sparrows hop about the shrubs, the lazy rasping of the Black-throated Green Warbler is heard on every side, as well as the loud trilling of the Nashville and the cheery call of the Magnolia. Black- poll, Myrtle, Parula, and Chestnut-sided Warblers are common, and the melancholy. Wood Thrush is wholly replaced by the silver- voiced Hermit. He, of course, is easily first tenor, his voice ringing clear and sweet above the chorus of Robins, Song Sparrows, and Red-eyed Vireos. Yet, 80 much has been written about his incomparable song that one hesitates to add further praise. I know, however, of no forest sound that possesses the same haunting, mysterious, yet joyful and etherial quality as the Hermit's liquid notes - especially when heard at even- ing as the sun sinks behind the purple mountains, and the bay is turned to a shimmering lake of crimson and gold. The Purple Finch also is one of our most charm- ing singers here at Old Farm, and he, too, is heard, at dusk, his melodious custained warble floating down from the topmost branch of some somber fir or hemlock. He is a vain fellow, quite different from the elusive Hermit, and it is amusing to see him raise his crest and exhibit, with so much evident pleasure, his lovely rose-pink plumage before his modestly at- tired mate, strutting about like a miniature Ruffed Grouse. Small as the place is, the different sections constitute quite distinot habitats for the various forms of bird life. Sparrows, Swallows, Maryland Yellow Throats, and the infrequent Hawks are largely confined to the open fields inshore; Woodpeckers, Fly Catchers, Vireos, and most of the Warblers cling to the upland woods, while Goldfinches, Siskins, and Chioadees frequent the garden and its surrounding thickets. Here also, a pair of Hummingbirds have nested for several years, the malo of which diminutive family puzzled me sorely for some time. His throat and chin are jet black, his bill slightly curved, and the ruby patch only visible at near range when his feathers are much ruffled. So a-typical is he, indeed, that for Bome time I thought that he might have been one of the Blacked Chined species strayed strangely from his normal haunts in California. The common Warblers about the place in Summer are the Redstart, Maryland Yellow Throat, Myrtle, Magnolia, Black-throated Green, Parula, and Nashville. The Yellow, Blackpoll, Chestnut-sided, Black and White, and Ovenbird are less usual, but still fairly abundant, and this family, aside from the Robins and Sparrows, constitute the bulk of the bird population. The Redstarts with their brilliant black and flame coloured plumage dart about everywhere, and, with the lovely blue and yellow Magnolia, are decidedly the handsomest of their clan; although a pair of Chestnut-sided Warblers nest- ing in a low spruce, with their brilliant yellow crowns, rich ohestnut markings, and an altogether fascinating triplet of fluffy gray babies no larger than giant bumble bees, seemed Boaroely loss beautiful. Fly Catchers are very unusual on the place, for some reason which I have been unable to discover, for there is plenty of water and appropriate food; while the almost ex- clusively Canadian charaoter of the bird life is clearly shown from the fact that I have never seen here a Blackbird, Bobo- link, Oriole or Meadowlark. Strolling down the grassy swale to the shore, the change to even more northern conditions is, for the naturalist, almost theatrical - a.B though a curtain were suddenly raised upon an entirely new setting. A cold breeze from the sub-arotic surge rises from the rocky beaches. Herring Gulls, and, not infrequently, Arotic Terns, wheel above the waves and plunge in the icy waters. Double-crested Cormorants flap ungracefully by. A pair of splendid Bold-headed Eagles, which nest near- by on Newport Mountain, as well as many Ospreys, are frequent visitors; and the harsh croak of the Northern Raven is often heard. There seems to be an unchained hatred between the Gulls and the Eagles, the Gulls viciously chasing away their kingly rivals upon every occasion. I have never, however, seen the Eagles interfere with the Ospreys, in the picturesque manner which our youthful natural histories have taught us. on the contrary the larger birds appear shy, sluggish, and quite content to be left alone. But the autumn is the most exoiting time to loiter on the beaom. with the first frosty nights come the sea fowl from their remote breeding places on the shore of Greenland or other uninhabited arotic fastnesses - Loons, from the high inland lakes, Kittiwake, Ring-billed, Bonaparte's, and great Black-backed Gulls; as well as Ducks innumerable of many varieties; while now and again the dark bullet-head of a seal, with his dog-like pathetic eyes, may be soen forging slowly through the oalm oold waters. The Bhore birds, too, are now returning - Solitary and Semi-palmated Sandpipers, and Yellowlegs, with an occasional rarer sojourner. As in the spring, although in even more concentrated fashion - with the intervals less spread apart - successive waves of migration sweep down the coast, lured by the mountain landmarks of the island as by a mighty beacon, near which they assemble and from which they take their departure for the long southward journey. Upon moonlight nights the wild cry of the Great Northern Diver, or the grating oall of his smaller oousin, the Red-throated Loon, drifts weirdly from the bay. The caokling and splashing of hundreds of Scottre is heard in the offing, mingled with the yelping of Old-Squaws and the quacking of Black Ducks and Mergansors. Various species of the small Grobes bob up and down close to the rocky shores; long strings of gloomy looking Cormorants trail to their roosting places on the steep cliffs of the nearby islands; Great Blue Horons flap majostically across the waters; and more rarely, a splendid wedge of Wild Geese goes hurtling across the sky. The sea, even in its mildest aspects, always possesses something of fascination and mystery, but upon a clear autumn day, upon this rocky northern coast, it has a populous wildness that brings vividly to mind the wonderful natural conditions which must have existed during the long centuries before the white man, like a destroying angel, had set foot upon this virgin shore. What, alas, would the naturalist not give for some ocoult retrospective olairvoyance like Peter Ibbetson's - to call up, in actual vision, the wild splendour of those bygone years! Birds by the thousand, where now there are .but scores! wild Turkeys, Passenger Pigeons, and Pinnated Grouse flooking through the forests; The Great Auk, the early Murres, Tuffins, Guyllemots, and Rasor-billed Auks, upon the rooks; Eiders, Labrador Ducks, and Canvas Backs floating in the bay. Inshore, too, the autumn is, in many ways, the most interesting time for observation. At this season, bird life is not only abundant and concentrated, but - brought as by counter currents - stray individuals occasionally wander far from their nativo haunts in South or West. Last September a Blue-gray Gnat-oatcher, with his long tail and quaint call, flitted about the birches for several days, although he is a rare bird even aB far south as New Jersey; and, in the fall of '13 I saw a pair of White-eyed Vireos - a bird of whose range Massachusetts is considered the northern limit. In September, also, come the Gray-cheeked and Bioknell Thrushes, restless and quiet, keeping to the dense undergrowth or deep woods; the Yellow Palm and Wilson's Warblers. Chicadoos, Nuthatcher and Creepers which have seemed BO Boarce during the warmer weeks, seem suddenly to be everywhere; Hawks of various kinds circle high against the glittering northwest- wind sky, and Nature's compass points South again. By October the great rush is over, and the strict- ly warm weather birds linger only in rare groups or couples, tempted by the gentle spell of early Indian Summer. Towards the end of the month, however, the vanguard of the hardy winter migrants drifts in, usually upon a frosty morning, bringing with it one knows not what of strange northern atmosphere. They come quietly enough, these sturdy visitors - Redpolls, White-crowned Sparrows, Crossbills, and Pine Grosboaks with their tame, parrot-like ways - but upon their ooming the whole background of the countryside changes. The mountains take on a storner outline, the heavens grow more remote, the -9- stars at night have a steely glitter, and the distant Arotic with its everlasting snows Beems suddenly to grow menacingly near. These great seasonal changes, BO succinotly epito- mised by their charaoteristic bird life, always fill me with fresh awe, and it should Boaroely be a source of wonder that the ancients doified them, and payed reverence with appropriate and solemn ceremonial. They are the by-yearly systole and diastole of Earth's mighty heart, and have always something of the splendour possessed by Nature's major sythms. The winter birds, too, are unquestionably more sociable. in every way than the summer residents, and conse- quently more easy and interesting to observe. They are scarcer, appeal more to the primordial hunting instinot, and show up. more among the evergreens and bare branches than the multitudes that were so lately busied with the absorbing cares of nest building and infant feeding. They seem more human, and the individual differences among them stand out more clearly. One gets intimate with certain bird personal- ities, peculiarities of voice or plumage, quaint tricks of manner, and fancies that a sufficient number of birds possess- ing these peouliarities - sequestered in some way from the rost of the species - would result, after no long period, in starting a fresh variety with quite new charaoteristics. A few score of individuals like my Black-throated Hummingbir breeding every Summer in this 0001 and cloudy northeastern corner of their range, and conceivably wintering in some sim- ilarly temporate corner of Central America, might well in time lose the already restricted tropical brilliance of their ruby feathering, and become really "black-throated" altogether. It may be pure fancy, also, but the Song Sparrows here seem larger, darker, and fuller voiced than their representatives in the Central States, If there really be an Aoadian variety, the moister, less sunny climate might well account for it, especially as the birds which brood 80 far north presunably winter also further north than the majority of their species, and are thus subjected to less marked conditions of heat and dryness throughout the year. A perpetually puzzling question to the bird lover is the notable difference in the abundance of certain species from year to year. Last season the Red-eyed Vireos were as common and noisy as the Robins; this Bummer they are scarce. On the other hand, Nashville Warblers may be found upon almost every bush whereas a year ago they were decidedly infrequent, yet both of these birds are listed as "common summer residents" in this vioinity. Have some of the many undiscoverable vicissitudes which boset our migrants actually decreased the numbers of the one species, while augmenting the ranks of the other? Still another pussling faot is the persistent tarrying of certain individuals long after their companions -11- have left. There are always a few Robins who linger into early winter, and a handful oven pass the whole cold-weather season near the coast. An occasional Song Sparrow or Myrtle Warbler is sometimes found in the midwinter months, and three years ago a brave Phoebe stayed until the - end of October. What keeps these rare stragglers BO late and makes them seem entirely contented in their unseasonable surroundings? IS it that here again we are confronted with a problem of in- dividual differences, and that the real explanation is possibly psychological? Do oertain of these bird personalities actually prefer oold weather or localities to which they have become attached even at the cost of soanty food supply and other physical discomforts? It is easily to be seen how many problems lie waiting to be solved even among the species of birds which congregate within the narrow boundaries of 80 limited an area as Old Farm. Well as we seem to know our feathered friends, yet their arrivals and departures, the peculiarities and life histories of individuals, the real motives which determine their varied activities - of all these we possess, as yet, but the most superficial knowledge; and even more than the winds of heaven now, their ooming and going is still veiled in mystery. And this mystery, typified so picturesquely by the birds with their charming ways and marked personalities, yet conspicuously shared by all that grows and dies - the -12- short-lived summer bloom, the age-long forest giant, the ophemeral May Fly and the slowly wasting hills - all this seems conoretely and especially to brood over Old Farm. It all Beems concentrated in this single corper of the illimit- able universe, the past, in its unimaginably anoient rooks; the present, in its varied environment of hill and shore and ocean; and all that is yet to oome, symbolized in the promise of its abundant and diversified organio life, The mountains and the sea, the upper air, the meadow and the forest, and the man-made garden, with their charaoteristic inhabitants; the beauty, the interest, and the tragody of life, all are here. And although all may equally be found elsewhere, yet somehow it stands here more clearly out in its profound contrasts, in the fathomless purple shadows on the mountain slopes, the burmished steel of the sky, the slow surge of the 868 upon a Bummer night. - Henry bano Eno. BAR HARBOR, MAINE SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS Nots: The Wild gardens of XXII Acadia appears in Several different The Sieur de Monts National Monument and expressions: The Wild Gardens of Acadia: A Reprint (a) Steur de Monts from the Journal of the International Arboretion and Garden Club Wild gardens; (b) Delano wild Gardens; (c) garden Approaches to Lafayette N.P. (d' the Acadian Plant Sanctuary (e) Wild gardens of Acadia Corporation. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Reprinted from J.I.G . I, # I (August 1917 Pn. 507-52 The Sieur de Monts National Monument and the Wild The Purpose Gardens of Acadia A deeper purpose has lain behind the formation of the Sieur de Monts National Monument and The Wild Gardens of Acadia: To quicken interest By George B. Dorr in the preservation of the beauty and freedom to the people of our great national landscapes from the Mississippi Valley eastward, where human HE Sieur de Monts National Monument is the occupation is so rapidly extending; to lead the way in providing, in inspir- first National Park, other than military, to be ing scenery nationally guarded, means within general reach for the whole- established in the East. In its historic asso- some enjoyment of nature and an out-door life; and to aid, in a critical ciations it is the oldest in the country, ante- period when opportunities that cannot come again are swiftly passing, in dating by some years the landing of the Pil- the conservation of the Continent's native life through the establishment grim Fathers on the Plymouth Shore. It is of Wild Garden sanctuaries wherein it may be handed down to future gen- also the only National Park bordering upon the sea and exhib- erations in undiminished wealth of genera and species. iting the beauty and the grandeur of the ocean. To all of us National Parks and Monuments, wherever situated in regard to human who come from eastern stock, that frontage on the sea, that centers or on whatever scale, are intended by the Government to represent broad outlook on the North Atlantic, has peculiar interest. what is supreme in their own type, and of national interest. Ultimately, That sea it was which brought its founders to America, through no great expression of the Country's native life or landscape should fail of representation in them. The time has passed when matters of such kind danger and hardship, and gave their race the spirit of indepen- can be regarded sectionally. But beyond such action by the Nation, States dence and adventure from which our Nation sprang. This and communities and men of leading should extend the movement until Park, also, rising from the ocean front, links itself as none other America becomes, as it has so strikingly the opportunity to be, a land can, not placed as it upon a harbored coast, with the Nation's where beauty and landscape freedom and the charm of living things shall greatest possession, the navigable waters that border on its coast lie within the reach of all-both rich and poor-who crave them and are within the three mile limit and which in Maine, whose coast- responsive to their presence. No greater safeguard for national sanity or line is formed by the flooding of an old land surface worn by more wholesome influence upon the national character can be secured than streams, are fronted by twenty-five hundred miles of picturesque through a wide-spread love of Nature among the Nation's people, men and and broken shore from Portland to St. Croix. These National women in whatever station. And the time is coming when such a stabilizing waters of the ocean border, commercial use apart, constitute the influence, nation wide, and opportunity given the intellectual workers of the greatest public recreative area on the continent in the summer Country, on whom the burden of its business rests, to find occasional relief season, and the most democratic, for on them a man, if he SO in Nature and draw fresh inspiration from her unfailing interest and charm will be of priceless value. choose, can, single handed, sail his own boat from port to port along a many-harbored shore, anchoring where no private rights exist and drawing from the sea such food as money cannot buy except along the coast. Between this recreative area with its 3 ANPA. B6. B6 F6.30 boundless freedom and the National park system stands, sole link as yet, the Sieur de Monts National Monument, accessible by sea from every eastern port and fronting on it with a boldness and a beauty unapproached on our Atlantic Coast and rarely equalled in the world. De Monts was the founder of Acadia, one of the three great provinces into which France divided its possessions in America, the others being the River of Canada-the lands bordering on, the St. Lawrence-and, of later foundation, Louisiana, the whole great territory lying to the westward of the Mississippi and draining into it. Acadia, like Canada, was a word of Indian origin apparently, used by the early fishermen and traders, which appears for the first time in the Commissions issued to De Monts by Henry of Navarre and his Lord High Admiral, Charles de Montmorenci, in December, 1603. Acadia then included, by the Commissions' terms, the whole vast territory lying between the latitudes of Philadelphia and Montreal to-day, and stretching indefinitely westward. Later it became restricted, by English and Dutch occupations westward, to the country draining to the ocean between the Kennebec and the St. Lawrence-Eastern Maine and Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Cape Breton. These bounds it held, through constant border warfare, for a century and over, and it is this long possession of its coast by a great friendly nation without whose aid our independence never would have been achieved that the Sieur de Monts National Monument commemorates in its historic aspect. In this aspect three figures stand out beyond others: De Monts, the soldier of ancient noble family, the follower of King Henry in the Huguenot Wars and governor of Pons, a city of refuge for Huguenots in southwestern France; Champlain, the gallant sailor and discoverer to whom Mount Desert Island owes its first description and its name; and-two generations later- Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the founder of Detroit and first owner of Mount Desert Island, by a royal grant from Louis XIV still on record at Quebec. On it-upon its eastern side- 4 he lived, he and his wife, sole occupants worthy at that time of 5 mention, according to a census of the people dwelling on the October 7. Went up the river, a fine channel having several openings Acadian Coast which Sir Edmund Andros, governor of New and bays of different breadths from a mile to a quarter of a mile. In England, had prepared in 1688, with intent of conquest. For a some places the rocks were almost perpendicular to a great height. The like purpose, a hostile expedition against Boston and New York, general course of this river is north, 5 degrees east, and it is not less than Cadillac himself four years later drew up a "Memoire" for eight miles long in a straight line. At the end of it we turned into a bay, the French Court describing the coast between the St. Croix and there saw a settlement in a lesser bay. We went on shore and into and the Hudson, and in it thus describes the harbor at the en- Abraham Somes' log house, found it neat and convenient, though not quite trance to Somes Sound. furnished, and in it a notable woman with four pretty girls, clean and orderly. Near it were many fish drying. From there we went to a beaver pond where The harbor of Monts Deserts or Monts Coupés is very good and very we had an opportunity to observe the artificialness of their dams and their beautiful. There is no sea inside, and vessels lie, as it were, in a box. manner of cutting down trees to make them. We returned to our sloop There are four entrances. The northeast one is the best; it has nine fathoms about four o'clock. The gunners brought in plenty of ducks and partridges. of water. In the eastern one, there are fourteen or fifteen; in the southeast October 8. We observed sunrising but could not take its amplitude by one, there are three and a half, but in the channel there is a rock which is reason of clouds near the horizon. I went through the woods to the creek sometimes covered by the tide. In the western entrance there are three of Bass Bay. We went about a mile on the salt meadows, found it fine, fathoms and a half, but to enter safely you must steer west or southwest. the hay remaining there good, and the creek a pretty rivulet capable of re- Good masts may be got here, and the English formerly used to come here ceiving considerable vessels. In the evening I received several persons for them. on board proposing to be settlers, and it was resolved to sail the next morning if the wind would permit. Years afterward, when engaged in the founding of Detroit, Ca- Governor Bernard's possession of the Island was but tempor- dillac still signed himself in his deeds, the lord of Mount Desert seigneur des Monts Deserts, but presently both it and all of east- ary, for he was a zealous champion of the Crown in the struggle between it and the American colonies and when the break came ern Maine were lost to France on the battlefields of Europe and his American possessions, his mansion house beside Jamaica the next owner of Mount Desert Island was an Englishman, Pond-where he had received, coming out from Boston in a pro- Francis Bernard, governor of the province of Massachusetts, to cession of eleven chaises, a "rebellious" committee that included whom it was given by the province in reward for "extraordinary John Hancock, Joseph Warren, James Otis, Samuel Adams and services," of a legal nature. Josiah Quincy-and his wild island on the coast of Maine, were Governor Bernard made a voyage, in stately fashion with a confiscated by the State of Massachusetts. Later, however, considerable suite, down the coast from Boston in October, when the war was over, the State gave back to his son, John 1762, to view his new possession, and kept a journal, still ex- Bernard, an undivided half-interest in the Island, granting tant, which brings the Island and whole coast before us very shortly afterward, in a generous impulse, the remaining half- vividly. He entered the harbor described by Cadillac and ex- interest to the grand-daughter of Cadillac, Madame de Gre- plored the Southwest Harbor shore, finding a path already goire, with her husband-French refugees-on receiving a peti- trodden to the Bass Harbor Marshes and many haycocks tion from them supported by letters from Lafayette. Finally, stacked there. Four families were then already settled on one in 1794, the Island was divided between them by the Massachu- of the Cranberry Islands, and two at the head of Somes Sound, setts Court, the western portion including the Southwest and a true glacial fiord which he calls a river: Bass Harbors region and all else to the westward of Somes Sound, being assigned to John Bernard and those holding 6 7 Life, 32 nder him; the eastern portion, which includes Bar Harbor, Seal and Northeast Harbors, and the greater portion of the Park, to the de Gregoires, who made their home on it at Hulls Cove, and died there. Thus not only does the Park :ommemorate the founding of Acadia and early occupation of its region by the French but the titles by which its lands are held tell their own story, too, of Colonial governors and of the new-born State of Massachusetts' gratitude to France, expressed in the de Gregoire gift, for aid rendered in a time of urgent need, an aid that the United States are now re- turning in a need yet greater. The Park's historic aspect is but one, however; another to which special importance was given in the Park's founda- tion, is that of the value it may be made to have in wild life conservation. In this, the opportunity it offers is extraordi- nary. The Island's situation midway between sea and land, sharing in both climates; the boldness and variety of its mountain landscape, broken by intervening lakes and meadows and deep wooded valleys; and its position on a great coastal bird-migration route, with a widening continent beyond it to the north, combine to make it a wonderful place for shel- tering, preserving, and exhibiting the native life-plant, bird and animal-of the Acadian region, rich in species and repre- senting the whole great eastern section of the continent to the north of Portland. To coöperate with the Government in this, a corporation has been formed entitled The Wild Gardens of Acadia, to be gov- erned when its organization shall have been completed by a small body of trustees appointed triennially by a few of the leading Universities of the country, by a few Natural History Museums and Biological Associations, by the American Insti- tute of Architects and certain others interested in landscape architectural and gardening education, and by the Secretary of the Interior, head of the National Park System. The purpose of the Wild Gardens corporation is to pro- vide sanctuaries for the plant and animal life-the flora and fauna-of the Acadian region, places of special fitness where 9 8 B6. that life in every valuable or interesting form may dwell securely and perpetuate itself in its natural environment; and to make those sanctuaries useful not only in conservation but as an opportunity for study, a source of pleasure and a means of information. The Sieur de Monts National Monument is to be looked upon in this respect as its accomplishment, and nowhere in the world perhaps is there an area of like extent better fitted for such pur- pose. It is the summer heat and winter cold in their extremes that limit, northward and southward, the distribution of plant and animal species, and both are profoundly influenced in the Park by the surrounding ocean with its great sweeping tides. In it, accordingly, plants of the sub-arctic zone grow along with others living in the mountainous portions of Virginia and the Carolinas; and coastal species with those of the interior. The Park itself is a remarkable piece of topography. Aonce solid granite mass some fifteen miles in length, facing the sea, has been carved by the greatest of all terrestrial erosive forces, ice and ocean-attacking it from opposite sides-into a dozen mountain groups, separated by deep lakes and valleys and an ocean fiord. Firm in its resistance as no sea-laid rock-limestone, slate 01 sandstone-can be, splitting into giant fragments piled like masonry and making wonderful foregrounds to the blue ocean plain beyond, it is an Alpine chain in small, while every frost- rent crack and crevice on it, bottomed with sand and humus from the slow weathering of the surface and the dropping leaves, becomes a miniature rock garden filled with northern plants-blueberries and mountain cranberries, the trailing ar- butus, mountain holly, and host besides, while the bearberry with its shining foliage and brilliant, deep-red berries spreads out great carpets over the rock itself. At the mountains' northern foot, where the ice-sheet's way was checked, and occupying the dividing valleys, through which it ground its way with concentrated force, there are deep basins, excavated glacial-fashion from the rock. These are partly filled with water, making a series of lakes and mountain tarns; 10 11 partly with peat and washed-in glacial sands and clays, the fer- tile detritus from a sea-laid rock more ancient than the granite which is the bed-rock of the country. In them deep-seated springs well up, unfailing, clear and cold, keeping the basins full through summer droughts and creating ideal heaths and meadows for the growth of bog and meadow plants-the rho- dora, the northern kalmias, Labrador tea, the native lilies in their different species, the native iris, meadow sweet and meadow rue, the brilliant cardinal flower, wild roses, and a number of wild orchids. The woods in the Monument are exceedingly interesting, in- cluding as they do what are now perhaps the only fragments of primeval forest-untouched but for the early loss of their great pines-along the eastern coast, plundered elsewhere for its ease of transport. There is no forest in the world that has a more delightful floor, rich in the underplants whose home is in its shade and whose soil is the leaf-mould-the accumulation of centuries perhaps in the slow-wasting north-which carpets it. Here a different group of plants displays its beauty: the Clin- tonia, making great beds beneath the oaks and other hard- wood trees, with splendid leaves and the most beautiful blue- berries in the world; the Twin Flower, beloved of Linnaeus; the Dwarf Cornel, covering sun-penetrated spaces with its white flowers and red, clustered berries; the Rattlesnake Plantain, quaintest of northern orchids, which forms delightful clumps of mottled foliage spread flat upon the ground; the Fringed Orchid and the Lady's Slippers; the Painted Trillium or Wake Robin, one of the most beautiful of woodland flowers; the Twisted Stalk with its drooping, brick-red berries; the Winter-Green and Partridge Berry; the Ground Yew that haunts the forest depths; the Ferns, the Mosses and the brilliant Fungi. In shrubs, too, Acadia and the Park are rich. The Blueberry grows SO abundantly and fruits SO freely on the mountains in the Park that the Government has taken it for its emblem. The Wild Roses form great clumps along the roadsides and the banks of streams, flowering with a grace and beauty scarce any cultivated plant can equal. The Blackberry throws out long, 12 13 F6.35 graceful stems of bloom. The Sumach takes on a habit of singular luxuriance in this northern land and is an object of delight from its first leafing in the spring until it drops its flam- ing, red and yellow foliage with the late autumn frosts. It is a home of the Viburnums, and the most beautiful species in the world-and the most difficult to cultivate-V. lantanoides, grows in it in wild profusion, lighting in June the shade of wood- land valleys with its pure white bloom. At no time, from the blossoming of the Amelanchier or Wild Pear in spring, along with that of the first Wild Strawberries and Violets, to the strange October flowering of the Witch Hazel and the clus- tered fruiting of the native Rowan Tree or Mountain Ash, is there a period when flowers or brilliant fruits are lacking to make the wayside beautiful. Each period has its own beauty, too: the awakening of spring with its swift northern progress and rapidly succeeding blossoms; the midsummer period of the Wild Roses' bloom; the autumn beauty of the Goldenrods and Asters, of fruiting Thorns and brilliant Ilex berries and the Wild Rose hips. Nor is there any place upon the Continent where the autumnal change of leaf is of richer color or more strikingly set off. The red clumps of Blueberry are glorious then upon the granite ledges, contrasted by the grey rocks and mosses and the dark rich green of the Pitch Pine. The Oaks upon the rocky slopes below, turned to glowing crimson, are splendid against White Pines and Spruces: The Beech leaves' golden brown, the golden yellow of the Birch and Poplar, the warm- toned red of the Swamp Maple and nameless wealth of color in the heaths it borders make wonderful, illuminated fore- grounds to the blue sea, the lakes or the enclosing bays as one looks down on them from the mountain paths. Viewed in this aspect, the Park is like a great Rock Garden set by nature on the ocean verge and needing only to be made accessible by entrance roads and paths; to have its woodlands cared for and protected against disease or fire; to have such injury as men have done repaired, rank growths give place to finer ones, and every spot within its bounds of special interest A TYPICAL ACADIAN SCENE MOUNT DESERT ISLAND or beauty given its full value. And to be made, besides, as nature has singularly fitted it to be, a safe refuge for the region's 14 15 native life-plant or animal-as ehuman tide sweeps over, pre- and many other Animals of the fur kind, all kinds of wild fowl, Hares, serving it in every finer form and handing it down-self-per- Partridges brown and black. But the most valuable part of this Island petuated in its natural environment-to future generations for is the extraordinary fine Harbour in it, which is formed by the Islands as their delight and profit. described on the annext Sketch of it. Codfish is ever taken in any Quan- The needs are clear, but the adaptation of a great coastal titys with very convenient Beaches for drying and curing them. Shellfish landscape to the annual refreshment of a multitude of men and of all sorts except the oyster, none of which we saw, fine Prawns and Shrimps. women seeking happiness and health and energy-physical and There lies from it a rock above Water, about 8 Leagues from the foot of mental uplift-after the confinements and fatigues of city life the great Islands, and 5 leagues from the Duck Islands, which is the nearest is a matter calling for the best intelligence and skill that can Land to it; this rock is dangerous from its being deep Water both within be given it. Rightly done, the benefit-not only to those who and without it, SO that sounding is no warning; you will have 40, 45, and come but to the work they do elsewhere and the communities 50 fathom within half a mile of it; it is steep to all sides except to the East they serve-multiplied by the years, will be immeasurable; Point of it, where it runs off foul about Pistol Shot, but dries at low water, wrongly done, a great opportunity will have been lost, perhaps the Tide near this rock setts strong in and out the Bay of Funday; its to be forever. seen about 3 Leagues, and appears white from being covered with gannetts which breed and roost there. Its length is 500 fathoms from the N. E. The area is unique; there is no other like it. The problem is Point to the S. W. Point, and by an observation we took on it is in the to preserve in the midst of a great annual flood of summer visit- Latitude 44, 08N. I shall say no more of it, than that a good look out is ors the wild, primeval beauty and untamed, elemental charac- necessary, and without you strike itself, there is little or no danger of being ter which make it SO and combine with the cool summer climate very near it; and the night is the most dangerous time to see it. A Beacon and the presence of the sea to draw men to it. built of Stone of which the rock itself will furnish, about 50 or 60 feet high, would render it of little danger. The Harbour (of Mount Desert) is very convenient for naval Equip- An early description of Mount Desert Island found among ments from the Number of fine anchoring places and Islands, a very fine the Bernard papers in the Harvard College Library. rendezvous for fleets and Transports in case of an expedition to the West Mount Desert is a large mountainous island lying 10 leagues west from Indies, as each division of men of war and Transports may have different the Island of Grand Mannan in the mouth of the Bay of Funday; it is in places to wood and water in, and Islands enough for encampment and Re- the Latitude 44, 35 North, and Longitude 67, 20 West. It appears as the freshments of men, without any danger of desertion or Irregularity. The continent from the Sea, but is divided from it by an arm running between King's Dock yards might be supplied for many years with Sparrs from 27 it and the Main, but at low water may be crossed by a narrow neck near inches and downwards to about hook span, Docks may be easily made for the West end as the Inhabitants report. Its natural Productions are Oak, Ships of the greatest Draught of Water. The above Island is about 30 Beech, Maple, and all sorts of Spruce and Pines to a large Dimention, viz: miles coastways, and 90 miles Circumference, not including all its lesser 34 inches diameter. Ash, Poplar, birch of all sorts, white Cedar of a large Islands within a League of its Shores, which are supposed to be included in size, Sasafrass, and many other sorts of wood; we know no name for a very the grant of it to Governor Bernard of Massachusetts Bay by that Colony. N. B. There are great Quantitys of Pease sufficient to feed innumerable great variety of Shrübbs, among which is the Filbert. Fruits, such as Ras- berrys, Strawberrys, Cranberrys of two sots, Gooseberrys and Currents. It Number of Herds and Cattle, a great Quantity of Cherries, both which are natural to the Islands. has all sots of soil, suchas dry, wet, rich, poor and barren; with great Quan- titys of Marsh, a number of Ponds, with runs fit for mills. Quantitys of It ebbs and flows in these Harbours 21 feet at Spring Tides, and about Marble, and its generally thought from the appearance of many Parts of 15 to 16 feet at common tides, which never runs SO strong but a boat may the Land there are Iron and Copper Ore. Its Inhabitants of the Brute be sculled against it. Water is ever to be had in the dryest Seasons con- Creation are Moose, Deer, fox, Wolf, Otter, Beaver, martin, Wild Cat, veniently; the best anchoring ground in the world. 17 16 ANPA. B6.F6 03.F9.18 SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS [Important References] I. Announcement by the Government of the creation of the Sieur de Monts National Monument by Presidential Proclamation on July 8, 1916. First announcement of plan by the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, in 1913. Offer of lands to the Secretary of the Interior. II. Addresses at Meeting held at Bar Harbor on August 22, 1916, to commemorate the establishment of the Sieur de Monts The opportunities and purpose of The Wild Gardens of Acadia National Monument. are variously set forth in the Sieur de Monts Publications issued III. The Sieur de Monts National Monument as a Bird Sanctuary. by it jointly with the National Park Service. IV. The Coastal Setting, Rocks and Woods of the Sieur de Monts One such paper, No. V, written by Professor Fernald, chairman National Monument. V. An Acadian Plant Sanctuary. of the Department of Botany at Harvard University, tells of the VI. Wild Life and Nature Conservation in the Eastern States. value of the undertaking from the botanical standpoint. Another, VII. Man and Nature. Our Duty to the Future. No. XV, by Mr. Forbush, the Massachusetts State ornithologist and VIII. The Acadian Forest. one of the leading authorities upon bird life in the country, deals IX. The Sieur de Monts National Monument as commemorating Acadia and early French influences of Race and Settle- with its importance in relation to bird life. A third, No. II, includes ment in the United States. a report by Dr. Mayer, Marine Biological Expert of the Carnegie X. Acadia: the Closing Scene. Institution, on the value of the opportunity it offers for marine bio- XI. Purchas Pilgrimes translation of de Monts' Commission. De logical research. A letter, separately printed, from Mr. Graves, Monts: an Appreciation. XII. The de Monts Ancestry in France. director of the Forest Service, tells of the value of the opportunity XIII. The District of Maine and the Character of the People of it offers in the line of forestry; and one, contained in No. XVII, from Boston at the end of the 18th century. Mr. Grant LaFarge, vice-president of the American Institute of XIV. Two National Monuments: The Desert and the Ocean Front. XV. Natural Bird Gardens on Mount Desert Island. Architects, tells similarly of the value it may be made to have in XVI. The Blueberry and other characteristic plants of the Acadian relation to landscape architectural education. A statement on Region. Mount Katahdin, endorsed by the National Forest Service, is made XVII. The Sieur de Monts National Monument and its Historical in No. XVIII. Associations. Garden Approaches to the National Monu- ment. [G.B.DORR] The White Mountain National Forest. Crawford Notch in 1797. XVIII. An Old Account of Mt. Washington. A Word upon its Insect Life. A full list of the Sieur de Monts publications to date is printed on page 7. A Word on Mt. Katahdin. XIX. National Parks and Monuments. XX. Early Cod and Haddock Fishery in Acadian Waters. XXI. The Birds of Oldfarm: an intimate study of an Acadian Bird Sanctuary. XXII. The Sieur de Monts National Monument and The Wild Gar- dens of Acadia. These Publications may be obtained by writing to THE CUSTODIAN, Sieur de Monts National Monument Bar Harbor, Maine. 4/25/15 "The Sierer de Monts National llanement ad the will Garden, of Acadia." G.B.Dom Journal of the International garden Club I, #1 (August 1917): 506-523. Opposite title pac is page photoof CWE in Jescent Field c temporay cross in bachground." (p. 506) Otherwise Somes narrature +photo content except acticle concluds c list of SMP list of publications XXI. Atead of issue are adverti sements one from Mt-Desert Nurseries, anrancine Publication editors state that "We are fortunate Publication of a "little buschers "tiked Mount Deserts Review in having llr. George B.Porr to represent llaine through our chairman for Maine, llrs. gardiner Sharman. He has provessed us an article which we hope will appear in our reaxt issue Indeed, he represents all that part of the country called Acade 'Arcadia' [sic] and much that is historical adds to the interest of his work, Professor Sargent wehope to have for llassachusetts and to have his contubution for subsequent i sfees. Mr. John Hoir was our correspondent for California and one of our first needes of the Club, and love deeply regret his loss." Gpg 273). Original in UMess, Amberst International garden Club incorporated 5/29/14, honorary K. plesident Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, 500 members. Mrs llooris Jesup had an of affiliation. NATURAL HISTORY L ARY ACADIA NATIONAL PARK BAR HARBOR, MAINE Sieur de Monts Publications SIEUR DE MONTS PUBLICATIONS I. Announcement by the Government of the creation of the Sieur de Monts National Monument by proclamation, on July 8, 1916. II. Addresses at Meeting held at Bar Harbor on August 22, 1916, to commemorate the establishment of the Sieur de Monts National XXIII Monument. III. The Sieur de Monts National Monument as a Bird Sanctuary. IV.. The Coastal Setting, Rocks and Woods of the Sieur de Monts National Monument. The Sieur de Monts National Monument V. An Acadian Plant Sanctuary. VI. Wild Life and Nature Conservation in the Eastern States. as a Huguenot Memorial VII. Man and Nature. Our Duty to the Future. VIII. The Acadian Forest. IX. The Sieur de Monts National Monument as commemorating Acadia and early French influences of Race and Settlement in the United States. X. Acadia: the Closing Scene. XI. Purchas translation of de Monts' Commission. De Monts: an Appreciation. XII. The de Monts Ancestry in France. XIII. The District of Maine and the Character of the People of Boston at the end of the 18th century. XIV. Two National Monuments: the Desert and the Ocean Front. XV. Natural Bird Gardens on Mount Desert Island. XVI. The Blueberry and other characteristic plants of the Acadian Region. XVII. The Sieur de Monts National Monument and its Historical Asso- ciations. Garden Approaches to the National Monument. The White Mountain National Forest. Crawford Notch in 1797. XVIII. An Old Account of Mt. Washington. A Word upon its Insect Life. A Word on Mt. Katahdin. XIX. National Parks and Monuments. XX. Early Cod and Haddock Fishery in Acadian Waters. XXI. The Birds of Oldfarm: an intimate study of an Acadian Bird Sanctuary. XXII. The Sieur de Monts National Monument and The Wild Gardens of Acadia. PUBLISHED BY These Publications may be obtained by writing to THE WILD GARDENS OF ACADIA THE CUSTODIAN Sieur de Monts National Monument Bar Harbor, Maine BAR HARBOR, MAINE THE SIEUR DE MONTS NATIONAL MONUMENT AS A HUGUENOT MEMORIAL. GEORGE BUCKNAM DORR De Monts was a Huguenot and the governor of a Huguenot city of refuge in southwestern France. He sprang from a Huguenot family and his father had fought by King Henry's side through the Religious Wars, as had De Monts himself in their later course. In commemorating him and the develop- ment that sprang from his initiative upon these shores, the Sieur de Monts National Monument commemorates as well the great movement for religious freedom of the 16th and 17th centuries in France. The founding of Acadia took place during the one brief period of religious toleration France knew in centuries. After it, there came a time of reaction, of intolerance and brutal persecution, that drove from France by tens and ultimately hundreds of thousands the Huguenots, men who dared to think for themselves in religious matters and to assert their right to worship in accordance with their conscience. Forbidden to leave the country, they fled as they could, to the Lowlands, to England and America. The coming of these Huguenot families to unite their for- tunes with those of the English colonists on our Atlantic shore became a most important factor in the early development of America, enriching its people with some of the best blood in The Sieur de Monts National Monument on the coast of Maine forms the first and as yet the only National park, other than military, to the east of the Mississippi or bordering upon the ocean. A gift to the Nation, accepted by the President and Secretary of the Interior under the powers given them by the Monument Act of 1906, it occupies the grand range of seaward-facing mountains which gave Mount Desert Island its original name - Isle des Monts deserts-and has made it a beacon to mariners from the time of Champlain on. This whole region lay in the French province of Acadia founded by De Monts in 1604, and held by France thereafter until lost to England on the battlefields of Europe in the 18th century. France and with men of exceptional courage, enterprise, and readiness to sacrifice to high ideals. The energy, moral and intellectual, of that inheritance still makes itself felt in America to-day. An astonishing number of those sharing in it have been leaders in the Nation at one time or another, in social ways, in business, in the world of statesmanship and thought. In this, different though it was in many ways, the Hugue- not stock resembles the old Puritan stock of New England, brought out to America by a like cause, the quest after freedom to worship according to their faith. That these two elements, tried and selected out by persecution, should have had SO great a part in molding the development of a mixed and multi- tudinous people like the American, in which numerically they now form SO relatively small a part, is tremendously striking and significant. We are passing into new religious phases now, seeking to adjust our convictions to a wider view and better knowledge of material fact, but now as then, religious conviction in some sort must ultimately prove the touchstone of character and the molding force of the new world that presently will issue from our racial and social strifes. The form changes but the issue remains the same; individual freedom with the superior moral fibre and personal initiative it breeds against the greater efficiency of autocratic State control. Often successful, as one looks back over the pages of his- tory, rarely has anything constructive or enduring been founded by the latter; but all that stands out as marking progress and the high attainments of national character has been associated with individual freedom and ruling by the people. It is for this above all that the Huguenot immigra- tion to America stands. The religious tenets fought for and suffered for no longer retain their old importance, but the great principle of human freedom, the freedom of the individual soul, which lay behind, is a living issue still, and on it hangs the future of humanity.