Great Lakes Patrol assigned to operate against criminals who were ravaging the logging industry. These so called timber pirates conducted illegal cutting of timber on federal land and then smuggled the valuable commodity out of the area in order to sell it. The areas most affected were in the western Great Lakes region, along the coasts of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota. Much of these forested areas controlled by the government were reserved for the building of new warships. The illegal timber trade centered on Chicago and Milwaukee. It was nearly as violent as the alcohol trade, which was carried out over the
Fountain of the Great Lakes it from building new ones. The second suit was still pending in 1906 and the legal cloud regarding deliberations of architectural limitations in Grant Park caused inaction. While the trustees remained silent, Taft sought wider public support by publishing a picture of "Spirit of the Great Lakes" in "Century Magazine", which drew interest from Buffalo, New York as a host of the final work. By February 1907, "Buffalo Illustrated Times published" a cover with an image of the work and a caption describing the anticipation of the Beautifying Buffalo Society for obtaining the work for the city. However, by the