126 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



will continue to occur, and so there remains the difficult task of properly regulating 

 the use of fire by land owners on their own property- In this work we are assisted by 

 public sentiment in the forest towns, due to the law which provides that each town 

 must pay half the expense of fighting and extinguishing woodland fires. There has, 

 accordingly, arisen in each town a sort of censorship on the part of the citizens and 

 taxpayers which acts as a deterrent in the careless use of fire by the thoughtless and 

 ignorant members of the community. 



Trespasses. 



During the year there have been some trespasses on the Preserve caused by petty 

 thieving of timber. In some cases, also, a small amount of timber has been cut by 

 lumbermen, the trespass being an unintentional one, due to erroneous, disputed, or 

 poorly marked lines ; or, as in some instances, to the absence of any line whatever, the 

 interior lots of the township never having been " run out" by the surveyor. 



It should be understood that the lot lines which are so distinctly shown on our 

 Adirondack map are not always so apparent in the forest itself, where, at the best, 

 they can be traced only by the occasional faint " blaze," made in most cases fifty, and 

 perhaps ninety years ago, — marks discernible only by those experienced in this pecu- 

 liar woodcraft. In fact, the boundaries of the i6o or 200-acre lots in some townships 

 never existed except on the map of some early surveyor who, having surveyed the 

 outer lines, contented himself with making a " paper allotment," and doing nothing 

 further in the way of surveying and marking these interior lines on the ground itself. 

 And yet these lots are assessed, taxed, sold and transferred, under their lot numbers, 

 although their owners have never seen them and would be unable to find them if they 

 felt disposed to do so. 



This is not said by way of apology for the lumbermen whose evident and conceded 

 duty it is to ascertain and plainly mark their lines, whether the State does so or not. 

 On some doubtful lines where the lumbermen have gone to the expense of surveying 

 and marking the State boundaries, they have furnished the information themselves 

 that their choppers had cut over the line by mistake, and were anxious to settle the 

 damage at any price without delay or suit. 



But the timber cutting during the year, whether through theft or mistake, has 

 been limited to a few cases, and the amount taken was small. In each case, without 

 exception, whether unintentional or not, the matter has been turned over to the 

 Attorney-General and suit has been brought. The cases of willful thieving were 

 prosecuted to the full penalty of the law, while in others the measure of damages was 

 placed high enough to prevent any further carelessness on the part of the defendants. 



