464 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The forests of the western provinces of the Dominion are under 

 the control of the Minister of the Interior, who follows the system 

 adopted in the older provinces. 



Within the forested areas of the United States the most destruc- 

 tive agent at present is fire. In comparison with it the damage done 

 by pasturage in the Pacific coast States and by illegal timber cutting 

 is insignificant. In a number of the Western States laws have been 

 passed providing for the punishment of those who, by accident or de- 

 sign, set fire to the forests. There are so many agencies, however, 

 by which fires may be started, such as sparks from locomotives, 

 camp fires, lightning, as well as incendiarism, that it seems futile to 

 attempt to prevent the burning of the forests unless there are com- 

 petent forest guards to patrol them during the dry season. 



There are no statistics showing the area of forests destroyed 

 annually by fires in the United States, but during every summer 

 smoke obscures for months the view- of the sun over thousands of 

 square miles. Once fully under way, a fire in a forest of coniferous 

 trees will spread until it is extinguished by rain, or encounters some 

 natural barrier like a river, or is driven back over its own course by 

 a change in the direction of the wind. The only hope of averting 

 the enormous losses which the country suffers every year from this 

 cause lies in preventing the fires from starting, or in extinguishing 

 them promptly. There is no doubt that they will always occur, but 

 the experience gained in the Yellowstone National Park, and in 

 Canada shows conclusively that with the aid of a disciplined forest 

 patrol, intelligently directed, forest fires can be greatly reduced, and 

 that it is frequently possible to extinguish small fires if properly 

 handled when first discovered. 



Mining Interests. — The mining interests of the Western States 

 should be the most urgent in the demand for care and protection of 

 the forests under Government direction. Upon the abundance or 

 scarcity of timber will depend the development of many mining 

 enterprises, and through them the advance or retardation of the 

 growth of the State in which they are situated. That scarcity of 

 timber will limit mining is without question, unless the mines are 

 sufficiently rich to pay the added cost that transportation from a 

 distant source of supply will entail. This will apply particularly to 

 the small mine owner, and to the miner with little capital who wishes 

 to develop promising prospects. 



There is no doubt that the abundant timber supply of the Black 

 Hills of South Dakota has given great impetus to the development of 

 the mineral wealth of the region. It is equally true that if that 

 timber supply is removed by being wasted, or is destroyed by forest 

 fires, the future mining of the region will be limited to the working 



