AMERICAN FORESTRY 



1439 



FOREST FIRE PERIL ENDS 

 t> EPORTS and estimates from reprc- 

 sentatives of the Forest Service, United 

 States Department of Agriculture, indicate 

 that the period of the greatest forest fire 

 peril that has ever confronted the Forest 

 Service has been brought to an end by 

 heavy rains and snows in Montana and 

 northern Idaho. Until this sorely needed 

 assistance from nature arrived the wooded 

 areas of the district were so dry that fires 

 gained terrific headway with astonishing 

 rapidity. 



A surprising number of electric storms 

 occurred over these tinder-dry regions, 

 unaccompanied by sufficient rain to check 

 the flames which were started by light- 

 ning. More than half of the fires in the 

 regions, reports show, were begun by such 

 electrical discharges. 



To meet this peril in Montana and 

 northern Idaho, a maximum of 4,500 extra 

 men were employed in addition to the reg- 

 ular forces in the field. By reason of what 

 was probably better organization than has 

 ever been effected heretofore, the fire fight- 

 ers were able to keep the flames very large- 

 ly away from the more valuable timber. 

 While no definite figures are yet available. 

 it is estimated that the burned area totals 

 approximately one million acres. Much of 

 this, however, was land which had been 

 burned over at some previous time. What 

 is known as a blow-up — a wind of great 

 velocity — occurred during the season, and 

 added greatly to the labor of the fire 

 fighters. For a time it was feared that the 

 destruction wrought might be as great as 

 that in 1910. 



This season seven men lost their lives 

 fighting the flames. Two died of spotted 

 fever, one from over-exertion, and four 

 were killed by falling trees. In 1910 more 

 than 70 men were killed and many towns 

 were wiped out. One crew of men this 

 year was seriously imperiled and for many 

 hours it was feared they had been cut off 

 by the advancing flames. Another crew 

 was forced to remain in a cold stream for 

 18 hours to avoid being burned to death, 

 and similar measures were taken to save a 

 pack train. 



CARRIER PIGEONS REPLACE 

 TELEPHONE 



TN Oregon, as elsewhere, the telephone 

 operators have been striking for better 

 working conditions and as a result service 

 has been more or less disturbed. William 

 Sproat, of the Deschutes National Forest, 

 however, did not worry much when he 

 went to East Lake on special work, for 

 instead of depending upon "central" at 

 Bend to give him the proper connection, 

 he took with him some carrier pigeons 

 and in this way it was easy to send mes- 

 sages to his wife. The carriers made the 

 distance from the forest to the cote in 

 about 20 minutes and there was no "listen- 

 ing in" either. 



PASSING OF LUMBER INDUSTRY IN 



PENNSYLVANIA 

 TVT P. WHEELER, manager of Dusen- 

 berry and Wheeler Lumber Company, 

 of Endeavor, Pennsylvania, says his com- 

 pany has between 6 and 7 years more to 

 operate and its operations are closed in 

 Pennsylvania. There are only four large 

 operating concerns now in Pennsylvania : 

 Good Year Lumber Company, Norwich, 

 which, it is reported, has one year's cut left 

 — about 50 million feet; Salmon Creek 

 Lumber Company (E. S. Collins), Kellett 



The 



Rising Sun 



of Prosperity 



Shines on 



Thrift 



ville, has a life of perhaps 3 or 4 years ; the 

 Central Pennsylvania Lumber Company, 

 Willianisport, operates five mills and will 

 finish in all probability in 6 or 7 years. The 

 cut of these four companies will approxi- 

 mate 22$ million feet. {Tiinbcrnian, No- 

 vember, 1918, page SS.) 



DOUGLAS FIR INVADES SOUTHERN 

 PINE TERRITORY 



■PilMENSION lumber is going right into 

 Southern pine territory — a recent 

 visitor in Portland, from Kansas City, a 

 buyer for a wholesaler with line yards is 

 authority for the statement that : "All of 

 the retail yards west of the Mississippi 

 River are handling nothing in Southern 

 pine excepting finish and flat-grained floor- 

 ing, everything in the shape of dimension 

 is fir." — A shipment of oil rig stock or big 

 timbers into Texas is regular but it seems 

 strange to ship fir flooring into Dallas, but 

 that is being done by a Washington mill 

 whose headquarters are here, while Denver, 

 that used to be a divided market between 

 fir and Southern pine, is now absolutely fir. 

 ( IVcst Coast Lumberman. May 15, 1919. 

 page 25.) 



NORTHERN PINE CUT IS LESS 

 ^^TPHE steady decrease in the cut of lum- 

 ber in Minnesota will be more in evi- 

 dence in 1920 than is generally supposed," 

 says R. F. Pray, manager of the Red River 

 Lumber Company, of Westwood, Califor- 

 nia. "The J. Neils Lumber Company, of 

 Cass Lake, with a cut of 40 million feet, 

 and the Nicols-Chisholm plant of the Shev- 

 lin interests at Frazee, with a similar cut, 

 finish this year. In addition, the Weyer- 

 haeuser plant at Little Falls, cutting 75 

 million feet, will saw its last board this 

 season, and the two mills of the Northern 

 Pine Company, at Minneapolis, with a com- 

 bined cut of 100 million feet, will finish 

 operations, to which must be added a 50 

 per cent reduction in the Cloquet group of 

 mills, making a total reduction in 1920 

 production of approximately 450 million 

 feet. Last year the Leach Lake Lumber 

 Company, at Walker, Minnesota, closed. 

 It had an annual capacity of about 20 mil- 

 lion feet. The Deep River Lumber Com- 

 pany, at Deep River, Minnesota, closed in 

 1918, with a cut of 40 million, making a 

 total reduction of at least 500 million feet 

 in northern pine districts." (The Timber- 

 man, June, 1919.) 



THE DECLINE OF A ONCE GREAT 

 WHITE PINE CENTER 



A RATHER gloomy picture of lumber 

 conditions in the Tonawandas (BuiTa- 

 lo) is painted by a correspondent who says 

 that but three lumber-handling gangs of 

 twenty men each are working. A quarter 

 century ago thirteen gangs of thirty men 

 each were working almost constantly during 

 the navigation season. Not enough lumber 

 is coming in this summer to keep three 

 gangs busy. He adds : 



"The Tonawandas once held the record 

 for being the largest lumber port in the 

 world, but Chicago took that title from the 

 local cities ten years ago and has since held 

 it. The lumber industry here is being re- 

 placed rapidly by a variety of industries 

 though it still holds an important place in 

 the business world." (Hardwood Record. 

 June ID, 1919.) 



Think in interest — your own interest — 

 save and invest. War-Savings Stamps 

 pay 4 per cent interest, compounded 

 quarterly. 



LEAVES AND THEIR USES 



Boston Herald 

 There is a great opportunity for some in- 

 ventor to turn "the flying gold of the ruined 

 woodlands" into real money by adding one more 

 ingenuity to our new-found methods of economiz- 

 ing fuel. This is the season which we name from 

 the fall of the leaves with little thought that 

 foliage, moist on the tree or dry on the earth, 

 has any sort of connection with daily living. 

 Thickly as it may "strow the brooks of Vallom- 

 brosa," we treat it as an outdoor spectacle to 

 be revelled in and nothing more and as we draw 

 on the resources of our. leaf bins, not to super- 

 sede coal, but to take comfort in a fair and 

 cheap substitute for wood, it will be ours to 

 wonder "why it was iirvrr thnuclit of before." 



