523 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



lay in the fact that persons who wished 

 to burn the woods could watch the 

 movements of the patrolmen and set 

 fires during their absence. Thus sev- 

 eral fires could be started and given the 

 opportunity to spread past control be- 

 fore the patrolmen returned. This 

 fully demonstrated the need for per- 

 manent lookout points from which fires 

 could be accurately located immediately 

 upon their appearance. The patrol- 

 men, it is true, maintained an inter- 

 mittent lookout in riding point to point, 

 where tall trees had been trimmed and 

 made climable by the insertion of tele- 

 phone pole steps, but this was insuf- 

 ficient. 



At this point, Mr. Adams, then Su- 

 pervisor of the Arkansas National For- 

 est, introduced his ingenious ideas in 

 watch towers and fire-fighting appara- 

 tus. His success encouraged the adop- 

 tion of a scheme of steel lookout tow- 

 ers. The system installed on the Ozark 

 during the fall of 1911 includes seven 

 64-foot towers and 120 miles of tele- 

 phone line. The towers, with square 

 open platform, are placed upon the 

 highest points of vantage with least ob- 

 structed view. Each tower is connected 

 with the others by telephone, and is 

 equipped with a special telephone in- 

 strument and dial range finder. The 

 range finder, a German silver plate 1-16 

 of an inch thick and 10 inches square, 

 inscribed with a compass circle, is se- 

 curely mounted on the apex of the four 

 posts of the tower in the center of the 

 platform, at a convenient height for the 

 observer. In the center of the circle, 

 swung on a pivot, is an arrow with 

 sights. When the lookout discovers a 

 smoke, he trains the sights on the fire 

 and reads the bearing indicated by the 

 arrow point. He then communicates 

 by telephone with a neighboring tower 

 and secures a cross bearing. W^ith two 

 bearings he is able to notify the district 

 ranger of the exact position of the fire 

 with reference to legal subdivision, 

 topography, roads, etc. In this he is 

 aided by the title map and protraction 

 chart showing each tower with bearings 

 projected for every five degrees. As 

 a check the lookout makes a detailed 

 report of his finding and action, and at 

 stated intervals during the day reports 

 by telephone to ranger headquarters. 



The approximate average cost of a 

 tower on the Ozark Forest is as follows : 



Cost of tower f. o. b. factory $63.00 



Telephone instrument 24.00 



Range finder 8.00 



Tools, dynamite, and miscellaneous — 5.00 



Freight and hauling 25.00 



Labor 25.00 



Total $150.00 



Description of tower : 



Weight 1.440 pounds 



Height 64 feet 



Platform 5'x5' 



Capacity 5 persons 



Safe load 16,000 pounds 



Depth of anchor plates 5 feet 



Spread between posts at 

 ground 12 feet 



As soon as a fire is reported by a 

 lookout the district ranger takes steps 

 to extinguish it. Each ranger district 

 is subdivided, as streams and roads dic- 

 tate, into fire-fighting units, in each of 

 which a reliable settler is designated 

 as "selected fire-fighter" and supplied 

 with complete fire-fighting equipment, 

 consisting of potato rakes, wooden 

 brooms, canvas sprinkling buckets, and 

 pack bags. He has also a title and 

 topographic map of his unit which en- 

 ables him quickly and intelligently to 

 plan his action. As a rule each "selected 

 fire-fighter" is connected indirectly to 

 the ranger station and lookout tower 

 by a neighborhood telephone line. 

 \Vhen a line of communication is lack- 

 ing the "selected fire-fighter" is reached 

 by a mounted messenger. 



As soon as a fire is reported to a 

 ranger he notifies the proper "selected 

 fire-fighter" to hasten immediately to 

 the blaze with such tools and extra 

 help as he may need. Should the ranger 

 in the course of his duties be out of 

 touch with the lookout tower, the man 

 in charge of the tower directs the 

 "selected fire-fighter." 



This simple organization has worked 

 successfully wherever reliable men to 

 serve as fire-fighters can be found and 

 a good telephone line exists. Fires are 

 discovered in their beginning and ex- 

 tinguished while they are still small. 

 The value of a tower itself lies in the 

 fact that it gives a stable and protected 

 support to the range finder and ele- 

 vates the lookout above the surround- 

 ing brush and timber. 



