Company G, 25th Regiment from Fort George Wright, Washington 



reports constantly being received of 

 new fires. I'm going to say frankly, 

 now that the danger is over, that for a 

 time we thought the whole country 

 would go. 



"To get an organization under such 

 conditions was as imperative as it 

 seemed impossible. Never at the best 

 of the time could we get enough men 

 to fight the fires and get the kind of a 

 continued patrol we needed. 



"Right here is where the telephones 

 saved the day. In the Crater National 

 forest the government has spent $3,500 

 in constructing 60 miles of telephone 

 lines between the various outposts of 

 the patrol rangers. We also had free 

 use of such private telephones as 

 there were. The fire situation was 

 constantly changing. When a few 

 hours before it might have been clear, 

 a carelessly dropped cigar might have 

 been fanned into a raging fire. At a 

 point a little distant, where the fire had 

 been serious, control of the situation 

 might have been obtained. So by a 

 constant system of telephone reports 

 we were enabled to know where the 



need for fire fighters was greatest and 

 to keep them moving accordingly. 



"The fire at Deadwood, a small but 

 serious blaze, will serve as an instance. 

 Dead Indian, a few miles to the north, 

 had been pretty well burned over, 

 when in the middle of the night, news 

 of the fire at Deadwood came. I 

 found it possible to move men from 

 Dead Indian and from Ashland at the 

 same time by using the telephone. In 

 24 hours the situation was under con- 

 trol. Had messengers been trusted to 

 bring the news, and other messengers 

 been necessary to gather up the men 

 and send them to the fire front, the 

 blaze might have spread beyond all 

 control. At Deadwood the settlers 

 came near losing their property. Fire 

 burned clear up to the back yards and 

 the fire-fighting that was done, before 

 the blaze could be controlled, was of 

 the heroic kind. 



THE WORST FIRE 



"The worst of all the fires was on 

 the South Fork of Rogue river. A for- 



649 



