APRIL 1917 PRICE VOL.LXI NATIONAL MILITARY TRAINING 25 NO.4 ARTICLES BY FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT AND HENRY L.STIMSON CENTS SCRIBNERS MAGAZINE

CHARLES SCRIBNERS SONS NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER. -PRESIDENT Arthur H. SCRIBNER- Treasurer GRD Schieffelin SECRETARY 597-599 FIFTH AVE. NEW YORK CONSTABLE & COMPANY LIMITED LONDON THE NATIONAL PARK ON MOUNT DESERT ISLAND

By Beatrix Farrand

Illustrations from photographs by George R. King

ORE than three centuries lowed Champlain and started a settle- ago Champlain wrote: ment at the mouth of Somes Sound, and "The same day we passed to-day the deep, cool spring, which still also near to an island about bears their name, flows down the grassy four or five leagues long, southern slope near where the huts of in the neighborhood of their short-lived colony are said to have which we just escaped being lost on a stood. little rock on a level with the water, A chain of round-topped mountains which made an opening in our barque crosses the island from east to west, and near the keel. ... It is very high, and the new national park includes the whole notched in places, so that there is the ap- eastern part of the range. These high pearance to one at sea, as of seven or granite hills are the ice-worn survivors eight mountains extending along near of a giant mountain thrust through the each other. The summit of most of them sea-laid rocks of the beginning of the is destitute of trees. ... I named it Isle geologic era. They are among the old- des Monts Deserts." est rocks of the world and they still sur- This description of the bold and grand- vive in places here and there along the ly outlined mountains of the new reserva- shore; the strata are either twisted or tion was written after Champlain's voy- level and bear witness to a time so in- age of exploration down our eastern coast finitely remote that our minds are be- in 1604, under the orders of his friend and wildered, and we fail to realize how 'many patron the Sieur de Monts, whose charter millions of years have passed since this and grant had been given him by that gray-fissured stone was soft, clayey mud. picturesque and gallant gentleman, King Glacial fiords, deep cut into the granite Henry of Navarre. He was told to sail mountain ranges, are the finest we have down the coast of Acadia, since in those outside Alaska, and, unlike as the two early days the name of " Acadie " was giv- places really are in almost every partic- en to the whole eastern coast of Maine, a ular, there are points of view on the island tract of land vast in comparison with the which flash an instantaneous picture to little Nova Scotia district of Evangeline's one's memory of certain deep-sea and day. forest-grown inlets of our northwestern Champlain first saw the island after territory. It may be a certain mystery the fog had lifted on a morning in early of clear water, deep forests and remote- September, and he refers more than once ness, a virginal freshness of the northern to its high mountains, then, as now, land- landscape in the silvery sunlight of the marks to every coastwise traveller by sea brief summer. or land. He headed his boat up the broad The ten mountains in the park are the sheet of water now called Frenchman's highest land on our Atlantic coast-line, Bay, landed in a little cove near where and known to every one who sails our the town of Bar Harbor now stands, and eastern waters as they were long ago to after talking to the friendly Indians, Champlain. Their ice-modelling has whom he found cooking their dinner, he been on such noble lines that they seem fared farther westward under their gui- larger than their actual height, and the dance through the islands into Penobscot cliffs and rock formations are also on a Bay. After some years the Jesuits, those big scale. The lakes in the heart of the courageous frontiersmen of the Faith, fol- reservation are deep and clear, and in one 484 The National Park on Mount Desert Island 485 or two instances their beds have been swept heights, clefts of the bare granite gouged out lower than the present sea- rocks give just the scanty soil needed for level by the tearing and grinding of the some of the species of far-northern plants, ice. Those who have had the good for- These settlers from the arctic come to tune to be familiar with the hills year their most southerly colonies on the

The high mountains are landmarks to every coastwise traveller by sea or land. —Page 484.

after year and who have clambered over Mount Desert hills and on a few of the their desert tops, know their charm. The higher tops of the White Mountains. The endless ocean lies to the southward; and pale flowers of the Greenland sandwort are westward is an intricate glistening design found in the glacial scores and cracks of of sea meeting shore, with shining lakes the granite summits, waving agitatedly on and far-away blue mountains fading into their thin, wiry stems, which bend and a pale golden haze on the horizon. twist in a wind that makes one shiver In this fortunate place of mountains, even in midsummer. Mats of the black sea, and forest, ' plant lovers have un- crowberry grow on the hillsides and along equalled chances for study. On the wind- the shore within reach of the spray, and Vol. LXI.— 50 486 2 'o

487 488 The National Park on Mount Desert Island this small plant seems as much at home their own. They have neither the maj- in Maine, under conditions that would esty of the great forests of the Pacific blast most green things, as it does in Si- slope, where great columnar boles spring beria, Alaska, or Hudson's Bay. a hundred feet skyward before the first The mountain tarns are surrounded by limb breaks the upsoaring lines, nor have thickets of leather-leaf, and here and they the quiet charm of the English there a plant of Labrador tea shows its groves of oak and beech; but these north-

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The forest ground cover—Shin leaf, twisted stalk and fern.

soft, white flowers among woolly-backed ern woods have flashes of birch gleaming leaves, and one cannot help wondering if against dark spruce and wind-driven pine, the tea which the early colonists are sup- and are carpeted with a ground cover of posed to have brewed from them was unrivalled beauty. Patches of the lus- not somewhat outlandish in flavor. The trous and pervasively flavored winter- island is a meeting-ground for the black green yield to tangled mats of Linnaeus's spruces from the northern muskeg favorite twinflower, and long, pale run- swamps and the pitch-pines from the ners of partridgeberry, with symmetri- sand barrens to the south, while the scrub- cally paired and accurately spaced leaves, oaks reach their northern limit in the make prim sylvan processions toward United States, mingled with a flora that sheets of scarlet bunchberries. The the jargon of the botanists calls subarctic. harsh leathery leaves of Mayflower hud- The forests on the island are unusually dle in tight clusters under the shelter of varied in their leafage; they are really rocks, and in the aromatic depths en- only comparable to the forests of Japan chanter's nightshade and goldthread cov- in complexity of texture, but a certain er the ground at the roots of tropically radiance and beauty of coloring is all robust clumps of cinnamon-fern. There The aromatic depths of the pine and hemlock woods near Beachcroft path.

are acres of rhodora growing in the deep, one of its most useful purposes as a refuge peaty soil of the low-lying, moist meadows for birds. It is already known to be most which now fill some of the preglacial lake favorably placed as a breeding-place for basins. In earliest spring sheets of the many of the arctic species which come to pale reddish flowers, mingled with spray- the island in their southernmost flights, like tufts of shadbush, are framed in rims and in the coming years the sanctuary of of blackish evergreens, and although the the reservation will shelter more and more much-praised flowers are dull in color birds safely within its limits. Sea and compared with other azaleas, the very lake shores, high cliffs, deep forests, wide masses of them give the austere wintry marshes and meadows give a variety of landscape a flush of color as welcome as nesting-places which already draw more the song of the first robin. than a hundred and forty different species The new government land will serve to the island. Ornithologists have long 489 pq

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490 The National Park on Mount Desert Island 491 known it as one of the best places in the the beaver ponds still remain, and it is Eastern States in which to study both sea hoped before long to start a colony of and land birds, and as a favorite resting- them in one of the wild-life and plant place on the migrations. Many shy and sanctuaries which are to be established, rare species are found frequently, often in It is not surprising that the island

View from the pines of Huguenot Head across the gorge to Newport Mountain. the near neighborhood of houses, while should have been known and loved for in most gardens humming-birds dart and many years by the thousands of people chatter and play all through the summer who have come to find refreshment in days. For a long time an eyrie has been its quickening air, blended from sea and perched high above a cliff overlooking forest. After winters spent in cities, men the sea, and not infrequently the great and women go to Mount Desert to play birds are seen sweeping over the valley and work and roam in its forests or sail hundreds of feet below. its waters, and live in its beauty till it be- Game used to be plentiful on the island comes a part of their lives. The opales- and is again increasing; deer are multi- cent light which often covers the bay and plying and becoming quite tame, and the islands in the early summer mornings ap- startling whirr of the ruffed grouse as he pealed to John La Farge, whose sketches rises is heard on many an autumn walk. show his appreciation of its tenderness Mink were found until recently, and now and charm, and he also delighted in the and again a fine fox pelt was brought in dark pines, holding fast to the granite by a trapper. In Champlain's time the rocks, above the deep-blue foam-streaked Indians came to the island to hunt beaver, sea. Marion Crawford laid the scene of and although they and the beaver have one of his shorter novels on the island, both disappeared, here and there some of and was always interested in comparing A forest pool at the foot of the Diedrich path.

its northern sea and shore with the Italian a new trail swept his fellow workers along coast, which he knew so thoroughly. with him, and day after day he would go Mount Desert had another sympathetic back to some particularly baffling cliff admirer in Doctor Weir Mitchell, who till he had found a way around or over or loved it both wisely and well. He was through it. He started the path system often seen walking on the mountain trails, which has made the hills accessible to with springy step and eyes alert, keenly many a walker who would otherwise have interested in all he saw and delighted to found the dense forest growth a hopeless discover far-away recesses in the forests barrier. He gave much of his too-short and hills. He eagerly spoke of possibili- life to studying the island and linking to- ties for paths to give access either to the gether mountains, shore, and hitherto un- unknown canyon of a ferny brook or to a known districts in a continuous series of bluff headland from which a new point of trails which make it possible to tramp view might be seen. His unfailing enthu- from one side of the island to the other siasm and wise counsel were of incalcu- on ways either level or steep, according lable use in helping the development of to the walker's mood or choice.

the system of paths begun and carried on In 1 901, at the suggestion of President with unflagging energy by Waldron Bates. Eliot, whose son Charles Eliot, the dis- For many years Mr. Bates devoted a tinguished landscape-architect, had con- large part of his summers to indefatigable ceived a like scheme for Massachusetts, exploration of the hills and valleys. A Mr. George Bucknam Dorr assembled a tireless walker and fearless climber, he group of people who saw clearly and acted enjoyed nothing so much as working out wisely in organizing themselves into the a good path up an incredibly steep crag Hancock County Trustees of Public Res- or finding a way between rock ledges to ervations. Two years later the legisla- some quiet grove hidden in a fold of the ture of Maine confirmed the incorporation mountain. His boyish excitement over of the organization. Its purposes were 492 The National Park on Mount Desert Island 493

" to receive, hold, and improve for public he therefore realized that in order to keep use the lands in Hancock County, which it for the use of the people at large it by reason of historic interest, scenic beau- should become one of the national parks ty, or any other cause were suitable for under federal control. He, accordingly, such an object." Seven years later the went to Washington to consult Mr. trustees received their first gift of land, Franklin K. Lane, the Secretary of the a tract on Newport Mountain, including Interior, with regard to the acceptance the Bowl and the Beehive, from Mrs. of the tract by the government, under the Charles D. Homans of Boston, one of the Monuments Act, which allows the ad- earliest of the summer settlers on the ministration to set aside by presidential island. Later in the same year Mr. John proclamation lands of "historic, prehis- Stewart Kennedy of New York bought toric, or scientific interest," as national the top of Green Mountain, the highest parks, either when previously owned by summit on our Atlantic coast, and gave the government or when freely given it it to the trustees to hold for the use of the from some private source. Two more nation. As the years passed, Dry Moun- years' work on Mr. Dorr's part were spent tain, the whole of Newport, Pemetic in enlarging the boundaries of the park Mountain (the only one still bearing its still farther, and in searching and perfect- Indian name), Sargent, Jordan, and the ing the land titles of the reservation ac- Bubbles were given to the trustees, and cording to the high standard which the they held an undivided tract, including government requires. Mr. Dorr then re- all the highest land and the high-lying turned to Washington in June, 191 6, with lakes of the eastern part of the island. the deeds of the property prepared for ac- Mr. Dorr had given nearly twenty years ceptance by the government, and with of unswerving and far-sighted devotion to Mr. Lane's effective help and co-operation the ultimate usefulness of the island, and he was successful in obtaining the Presi-

The Kane path skirting the glacial basin of the Sieur de Monts Tain. 494 The National Park on Mount Desert Island dent's signature to the proclamation on will show water-lilies and arrowleaf and the 8th of July. sheets of blue pickerel-weed, with are- The new federal land was named the thusa and pitcher-plants growing along- Sieur de Monts National Monument in side sundew in the bog near by. memory of Champlain's friend and com- Every one interested in any of the pro- panion whose courage and hope for the tean forms of gardening knows the ex- future made the voyage possible. The traordinary delight in the co-operation of French expedition to Acadia failed after the island climate. The cool nights fol- a gallant struggle, but the names of the lowed by clear, sunny days give herba- Sieur de Monts and his associates will be ceous plants a brilliance of color and vigor kept in remembrance for all time in the of growth which cannot be found except name of the first national park on the At- in the high Alpine meadows. As the wild- lantic coast. garden idea is developed everybody who Although Mr. Dorr has given years of wishes to see the northern plant and bird patient work to the creation of the new life at its best will come to study on the reservation, he feels that the future holds island. Already a fund for one wild gar- many chances for its further development. den has been given in memory of a mem- He looks forward confidently not only to ber of a family who cared much for Mount the maintenance of the present system of Desert, and paths, now included in the paths, but to joining distant points by reservation, have been made and named further communications. There are after others who spent many happy sum- giant-rock slides and wide ocean views, mers there. bold cliffs and quiet meadows which can The Sieur de Monts Park is the first to now be seen only after a painful struggle be set aside in the crowded Eastern States, with matted underbrush. Roads should and it should be the forerunner of a long be built in the park which will be un- series of reservations, to preserve for the equalled in their beauty of combined sea public use their most interesting and va- and mountain horizons, and while its wild ried types of scenery. Those who love charm should in no way be lessened, it is Mount Desert call it affectionately "The possible to make the different parts of Island," and they are happy in the knowl- the government land more accessible. edge that its hills are safe, that the forests The approaches to the Sieur de Monts will be protected from fire and mutilation, Park and its surroundings are being and that in the time to come generations studied under the wise guidance of Mr. will follow them in search of the peace Dorr, who is its first custodian. At his and refreshment they have themselves instance an offshoot corporation from the found in the cool bracing air and sweet- Hancock County Trustees of Public Res- scented woods. The great gray hills be- ervations has recently been formed and long to the nation, and each year, as the named the "Wild Gardens of Acadia," winter snows yield and the brooks are re- and under its direction plans are being leased, the birds will come back to their made to establish wild gardens and bird sanctuaries, the flowers will begin an- sanctuaries on lands adjacent to the reser- other summer, and men and women will vation as well as elsewhere in the State return to the reservation again and again and in Canada. The shady valley of a to seek and to find rest and new strength brook will be used to grow the great os- in its beauty. And every one who comes, mundas, trilliums, and other forest and either now or in the future, should re- moisture-loving plants; or a collection of member that he owes a large share of his rock-plants will be established on a slope enjoyment to the clear vision, the wise where saxifrages and their tiny fellows development, and the self-sacrificing en- will root deeply and bask in the sunshine, thusiasm of the first custodian of the or a water garden at the edge of a pond park.