OCR Text |
Show BEAR RIVER VALLEY LEADER GEORGEOUS EVENING GOWNS AND OTHERS WANT P NATIONAL PARK 4? 1 JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN Photodrajs & FRANCES LA FOLLETTE " Pi am - Wtt iS TO "' in Indiana on Iff Should Be Saved for the .vlmm People ANTED : The Dunes National parkin the sand dunes of Indiana on the shore of Lake Michigan between Gary and Michigan City! The middle West has visited the playgrounds of the people in the scenic. West the national parks of the Rockies, Sierras and Cascades. It has found thein good. It has fallen in love with the national park Idea. Now It is asking: "Why not a national park right here, instead of half way across the continent?" For there is not a scenic national park worthy of the name between Rocky Mountain in Colorado and Lafalyette on the coast of Maine. So Indiana, Illinois and Michigan want a national park, and they have picked out the dunes as the right place for it. How they are going to bring about Its establishment Is a big question. The proposed park area is all under private ownership and is held at speculative prices on the chance of a second Gary being built at the head of Lake Michigan. Even at actual values it would cost about $2,500,000 to buy the 13,000 acres most desirable for park purposes. The scenic parks of the West were taken fiym the national forests and the public domain by congress. To date there is no precedent for the appropriation by congress of funds to purchase a national park area. Lafayette was presented to the government for national park purposes by the owners of the property. Congress has no national park policy. It dillydallies with national parks as It does with most other things. It is now generous with" appropriations and again niggardly; for instance, it gave Yellowstone $334,000 and Yosemite $255,000 in 1919 and kept Rocky Mountain, with twice as many visitors as both parks, down to $10,000. Politics enters largely into all national park legiscongress the interior lation. In the Sixty-fourt- h department supported the bill to enlarge Yellowstone and the bill to add to Sequoia and change its name to Roosevelt. The agricultural department, because the proposed additions would be taken from national forests, and therefore from its control, opposed both bills, beating the former In the senate and the latter in the house. So there Is no telling what congress will or will not do in the matter of national park legislation. Can congress be induced to appropriate money for the- purchase of private holdings for national park purposes? This question has been put squarely up to congress by two bills introduced at this session. One calls for the appropriation of a million dollars or so for the purchase of Mammoth cave, Kentucky, and its environs for a national park, The other provides for the establishment of the Mississippi Valley National park on both sides of the Mississippi in southwestern Wisconsin and northeastern Iowa. Here the two states own the land under the river, the federal government controls its navigation, part of the proposed area is a Wisconsin state park, some of the land will be donated and the land to be purchased by the government has been appraised at a very moderate price Can congress condemn private holdings for national park purposes? Nobody seems to know. Most lawyers would d that the state of Indiana can consay demn the dunes for state park purposes. And presumably the state of Indiana could transfer the land to the federal government. The national park service has been looking into the question of condemnation. It Is advised that the government can condemn private holdings inside of national park boundaries In fact, a bill is pending to condemn 160 acres In General Grant National park which the owner will not sell for a reasonable price. As to the condemnation of patented land outside of a national park the national park service Is yet undecided. Condemnation of the dunes has been advocated by private Individuals and by the press. The creation of Lafayette National park has established this precedent: The federal government will accept suitable land presented to It for national park purposes. So, while other questions are being thrashed out, the Indiana, Illinois nnd Michigan federations of the General Federation of Women's Clubs ore engaged In n campaign to raise sufficient money by subscription to purchase the dunes and present them to the government for ' . H national park, LAKE MICHIGAN , '.oceneoe I i ill c!Si,SWi iJlK. CtTV rocks and stones and quicksands, sloping very water. There Is probably no Kradualjtjjjjeen "nner-fresr- i water Bathing beach in the world. Don't think of the dunes as heaps of bare sand In a desert. They are exactly the reverse. They have water, trees, shrubs, vines, flowers, grass, birds and small wild animal life. The truth is that the dunes are a great natural propagating garden with a most astonishing array of trees and plants and flpwers. . This garden" Is packed full of flora from the Lake Superior region, the Atlantic coast, the middle South and the western prairie. It seems to have almost everything In the plant line from cactus to cranberries and from pines to tulip trees. A list of only the most characteristic and T important plant species nunibers 208. To the ordinary visitor probably the spectacle of. the "walking dunes" is the most interesting. Here he "sees land in the making. Here today is a with flowers and plants towering and trees; tomorrow it Is' gone and where It was is of glistening sand, with its steep a great blow-ou- t sides strewn with dead trunks exhumed from an ancient graveyard of a previous forest. Today there is a deep gash in. the bluff ; tomorrow its place is taken by a very lofty heap of white sand that has come up, grain by grain, out of the lake, on which grasses and plants and f.hrubs and treelets are already struggling for a foothold. Today stands a forest on the edge of a shallow pond; tomorrow it is a cemetery, with even the tree-top- s covered by sand marching in from the beach. The accompanying map"" and diagram shows where the material that, builds the dunes is coming from and how It gets there. Lake Michigan has been taking material 'from the west shore and depositing it at the dunes for a period reckoned at' about 5,000 years. Previous to this period the level of the lake was 50 or 60 feet higher than now and the discharge was toward the Mississippi at a point near where now are the dunes. When the or glacer which prevented the discharge of water into the St. Lawrence was removed and the lake drained into the Atlantic Instead of the gulf, .the level dropped, the present lake currents set In and the building of the dunes wax begun. Public land surveys made In 1835 and soundings of Lake Michigan furnish the data for these estimates : During the last 5,000 years the waters of the lake have washed away about 600 square miles of land from the shore extending from the Indiana state line northward Into Wisconsin. Where this land was Is now water from 30 to 60 feet deep. The old shore line extends out from three to nine miles 1 then there Is an abrupt drop of several hundred feet. This Is an unparalleled erosion ; it Is accounted for by (he softness of the shore, which Is largely composed of material that was ground very fine ' Is estimated by the glaciers that deposited' It. It taken is soil of yenrly by the tons that 7,000,000 lake from the shore north of Chicago. So there Is plenty of material for building operations at the dunes. ' These facts suggest this Interesting question: What will happen to the dunes when the supply of building material stops? And stop it will, and that comparatively soon. For the shore north of Chicago will In a few years be pretty solidly settled by people who Imvo money to spend ,to prevent furl hep erosion of the shore. In 'fact, erosion hns already been stopped over long stretches, nnd In many places the shore has been built nut.' The time Is coming whe.i the west shore will be protected from erosion by piers and breakwaters. The supply of building ninterlnl for the duties will presumably stop. Perhnpi then the dunes will stop "wnlklng." Let ns hope thnt long before that time the Dunes Nntionnl park will be n people's playground, dedicated to public recreation forever. . ; - There is do question that the Indiana dunes are worthy of national park honors. October 30, 1916, a public hearing was held in by the interior department in pursuance Chicago of a senate resolution. In September, 1917, a printed report by Director Stephen T. Mather of the national park service was issued. This report eliminated from consideration all of the dune country except a strip along the shore of Lake Michigan about a mile deep between Miller's in Lake county and Michigan City. After describing the dunes with considerable enthusiasm, Director Mather says: "Assuming, without further description of actual conditions in this dune country, that the sand dunes of Indiana are equal to those in any other section of the country ; that they are the most accessible dunes ; that they possess extremely interesting flora and fauna ; that they offer unparalleled opportunities to observe the action of the wind and its influence on the sand and plant life; that the Lake Michigan beach is beautiful and offers bathing facilities for a multitude ; that the recreational uses of the region are myriad, should they, or a large section of them, be preserved for present and future generations? If they should he pre" served, are they worthy of inclusion in a national park? And if they are worthy of consideration as a possible national park, would it be practicable to establish them as such a park for the benefit and enjoyment of the people?" He answers the first two questions emphatically In the affirmative. He says this region should be preserved to the people for all time and that It Is worthy of national park honors. As to the third question, he thinks it one of legislative policy to be determined by congress, Inasmuch as the dunes are not public lands, and private lands have never been purchased for national park purposes. He thinks the park should contain from 9,000 to 13,000 acres, extending 15 or 20 miles along the lake. He finds that options secured by speculators vary betv een $350 and $600 an acre, with one tract of 2,300 acres held at $1,000 an acre. "Manifestly," says Mr. Mather, "none of these lands are actually worth $350 an acre at this time. A figure less than $200 an acre probably represents the actual value of the average tract of land, not under the influence of urban values, due to proximity to cities. Practically all of the larger holdings must be purchased in their entirety. I believe that 9,000 to 13,000 acres of dune lands can probably be secured for park purposes for approximately $200 an acre. The purchnse price of a park of the size suggested would therefore be between $1,800,000 and $2,600,000."' The proposed Dune National park Is really a wonderful place. In the first place, the dunes are an uninhabited wilderness. The fact that there is an uninhabited wilderness within a few miles of the center of population In 1910 at Bloomington, Ind. and at the very doors of Chicago, ihe second ' city of the nation and the fourth city of the world, Is In Itself a marvel. Incidentally, the dunes are within a few hours by rail and automobile of 20,. 000,000 people. This makes them unique as u public playground.. Again: the dunes are n different world from the monotonous flatness of the Chicago plain. They are a country of hills nnd bluffs, gullies nnd valleys. There nre nil sorts of Interesting variations: Little lakes, streams, .bog, meadows. The bluffs nbove the beach lire Imposlifg. The bench Itself Is a wonder brond, smooth, clean, free from . off-han- ' , Heavy satin cloth of silver and rich faille are the materials that are In de--' tnand for formal evening gowns. These materials are gorgeous in themselves and therefore adapted to the present styles in evening dress, which depends upon graceful draping of the figure and not .upon embellishments for interest. It is beauty of fabric and beauty of lines that must hold the attention. Sometimes, in the simpler models the drapery suggests the ease and flowing lines of the classic Greek .garments, and sometimes a single piece of material appears to .be wrapped about the figure, with a long loose end forming a train. But an artist in draping may use material more freely than is indicated In either of these Styles so long as he knows how to use drapery to glorify the figure. The corsage is usu ally plain and flat at the front and held In place by narrow shoulder straps. It follows the lines of the corsetless figure very closely here and does not concern Itself with covering much of the back. Gowns of this kind, cut Iri- - step lengtn or a little shorter, in p(-coc- k shades or jade green and in th regulation evening shades, worn witl satin slippers and silk hose to matclu. e are likely to any rivals. The draped satin gown in the picture is one of those in which the material seems to be wrapped about the fissure and to end in a short train. It Is-of white satin with a drapery of tullt on one shoulder that falls almost to the ankles, from the other shoulder strands of beads fall in long loops and' there is a trailing spray of silver rose at the back to finish up the splendor. The pretty dress of turquoise georgette crepe shown in company with evening gown, does not aspire to rival it. Yet it might appear at the same function and prove as pleasing.. Not every woman can carry off magnificence, and times have so changed that many fine ladies have no longer much: use for it. The simpler, things suit them better; so they choose1 that which fits personality and do not attempt to play a role that does not'. please them. out-shin- ' s d Paris Launches New Silhouette dune-crowne- Ice-gor- . 1 0 v The tunic skirt and the straight line, and the chemise dress have- had: a long reign. But now they bid! fair- to. be "displaced, beautiful as they arev lines, the full hip and skh-l- patic nler and other draperies that look to the period of Louis XV for- Inspiration, a.nd to the time of the Seeoiwt Empire,. Changes In styles from present lines to those for fall promise to be radical They are In the experimental stage Just now; but designers are drawing upon many sources and times for ideas and presenting entirely new creations that have many allurements besides that of newness, to compel success for tbem. The Dlrectolre Influence Is the dom inant feature In the odd costume for afternoon, pictured above. It has a plain skirt made of fibre silk apparently In an Irregular brocaded pattern, ilid yes a redlngote of satin entire- covered with a scroll pattern of ellk - s, t - cord. It Is long since the redingot flourished but here It Is, piur and simple as to hue and complex. a to finish. The flaring line at the sides and the collar as shown here appear In suit coats in which the original style la closely followed, Unlike Its prototype, dUe overgarment pictured fastens on the shoulder and underarm seam and a heavy silk cord Is looped about th. waist. This Ja merely for ornament, as It does not influence the seml-fttte- d lines In nny M ay The sleeves show a departure fr6m the style of the Dlrectolre coat In a wide flare at the hand and they are faced with satin in whtte or a light color. Brown, In man shades, is a favorite color for fall dresses, Dlrectolre red it another and soft shades of olive op Jade green, A t tp |