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6. Thomas Reynolds, John Nolen, and Legislation to Establish the Park
- University of Wisconsin Press
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Wisconsin was one of the first states to create a state park system. A national movement for state parks had begun in , when the federal government ceded Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove to the State of California. The indomitable Increase Lapham, sometimes referred to as the father of Wisconsin’s conservation movement, fostered early interest in conservation in Wisconsin. Lapham, who arrived at Milwaukee from Ohio in , studied portions of the state as an archaeologist, botanist, cartographer, geologist, and meteorologist. Alarmed at the rapid destruction of Wisconsin’s vast forests, in he wrote a seminal report entitled The Disastrous Effects of the Destruction of Forest Trees in Wisconsin. His work resulted in legislation that established Wisconsin’s first Forestry Commission. In , the Wisconsin Legislature set aside a fifty-thousand-acre tract of land in Iron and Vilas counties as the state park. In part, this initial interest in parks was spurred by the designation of Yellowstone National Park (our nation’s first national park) six years earlier. Unfortunately, in , due to powerful lobbying interests, the legislature placed the land on the market. Commenting on this travesty, the Racine Daily Times wrote, “Who are the lumbermen behind the scheme? [This] . . . territory known as park lands . . . contains the most valuable standing pine in the state.” The editorial concluded with the charge that “the state school fund has been robbed of millions of dollars by the timber wolves who ought to be in the penitentiary, but are in other places of public trust. And what little pine land there is left should be carefully guarded from the lumber thieves.”1 Unfortunately, about thirty-two thousand acres were sold to lumber companies for approximately eight dollars per acre.2 It is interesting to note that the state later repurchased the land homas Reynolds, ohn olen, and egislation to stablish the ark for a forest reserve, paying about one-third of the original price, but with the timber cut.3 A milestone in establishing state reserves of public land occurred in , when the State of New York acquired portions of Niagara Falls and the vast Adirondack Forest. Michigan obtained federally owned Mackinac Island that same year and, in , Minnesota began purchasing lands that became Lake Itasca State Park. Four years later, in , the Wisconsin Legislature authorized the acquisition of acres in the St. Croix River area of Polk County, but the necessary funding was not appropriated. By the end of the century, interest in state parks was growing throughout the United States. At its meeting in Minneapolis, the American Park and Outdoor Art Association passed a resolution urging that a forest reserve be established at the Dalles of the St. Croix River. It also recommended purchasing additional land “to preserve the reservation and its views from the introduction of inharmonious objects.”4 In initial funds were approved and by joint legislative action Wisconsin and Minnesota established Interstate State Park at the Dalles of the St. Croix River. This park sparked renewed action for a system of state parks in Wisconsin. Shortly after the turn of the century, interest in creating a state park at Devils Lake was growing among Baraboo residents. In , Sauk County Assemblyman Franklin Johnson introduced a bill authorizing the governor to appoint a three-member commission to consider the matter. It was to report to the governor on “the advisability of purchasing lands about, upon and surrounding Devil’s Lake . . . for the purpose of establishing a state park thereon.”5 In the next session of the legislature, another bill relating to “establishing state parks about Devil’s Lake . . . and the Dells of Wisconsin” was introduced.6 This initiative received growing support in , when William H. McFetridge, a prominent Baraboo industrialist, headed a group of citizens attempting to establish the Devils Lake area as a state park. To garner public support, McFetridge distributed two thousand copies of his pamphlet “An Appeal for the Preservation of the Devil’s Lake Region.”7 Legislators and their friends took a special train to visit the area for a festive outing and examination of the area on May Day in , but efforts to establish Devils Lake State Park floundered for two more years. In response to increasing public awareness of the need to save places of great natural beauty for future generations, legislation was passed to set up the State Park Board.8 The law went into effect on July , . The assignment of the board was to investigate, and report to...
