524 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



that stood in the road, rehef measures were under way. too, by plentiful tales of heroism. It was the second 

 With appropriate vigor, a train-load of provisions and severe fire within five years in the same part of Ontario, 

 equipment was sent from North Bay on Sunday morning The penalty of the Porcupine fire of 1911 was 84 lives 

 and every town beyond the devastated area hurried motor and covered an area very much less than that of the 1916 

 cars with doctors and nurses to render service. disaster. In neither case was the forest growth of large 



By such means the hopelessness of the situation was size or maximum value, although the future will be in a 

 a good deal relieved. Private and governmental agencies better position to estimate exactly what the sacrifice of 

 carried in food and clothing, and burying parties removed forest growth amounted to. The service rendered in the 

 the scores of coffins collected about the railway tracks and clearance of agricultural lands (where a slash had already 

 roads. Light rains, commencing Sunday morning, spread been made) is naturally looked upon as a godsend. No 



minimizing 

 of the fearful 

 toll of life, 

 however, is 

 possible and 

 Northern 

 (Ontario r e - 

 gards its latest 

 experience as 

 too over- 

 whelniing to 

 be weighed 

 against real or 

 pretended 

 " benefits." 



The "Clay 

 Belt " fire of 

 July, 1916, will 

 rank as one of 

 the greatest 

 forest disasters 

 in American 

 history. The 

 Hinckley 



until the way should open for a fresh start at farming, fire in Minnesota, 1894, was responsible for 418 lives 

 Government aid was immediately assured to the ex- and the burning over of 160,000 acres. The famous 

 tent of partial rehabilitation of the sufl:'erers, special Peshtigo fire in Wisconsin, 1871, killed 1500 and dev- 

 agents were appointed, and provision made for housing astated 1.200,000 acres. In 1825 occurred the Mir- 

 and food supplies. To advise the Government regarding amichi fire in New Brunswick and r^Iaine, with a loss 

 a permanent policy on all matters connected with the of 160 lives and damage of 3,000.000 acres. The Clay 

 restoration of working conditions, a business committee Belt fire in Ontario, in point of lives lost, ranks third 

 was convened by the Minister of Lands and Forests and in the records of the continent, although the sacrifice 

 will investigate and report. of merchantable timber (under present conditions and 



Such is the general outline of a catastroiihe Inirdened present market values) is by no means a noteworthy 

 with the most terrible and poignant incidents and relieved, distinction. 



The Cause of the Fire — And Future Prevention 



By Clyde Leavitt 

 Forester, Commission of Conservation of Canada 



across the 

 blackened 

 country and, 

 increasing in 

 volume, gave 

 the people 

 their first hint 

 of cheer. Hun- 

 dreds had, of 

 n e c e s s i t }• , 

 taken train for 

 Southern On- 

 tario; others 

 were in hos- 

 pitals of the 

 railway towns 

 beyond the 

 danger zone, 

 and a luckless 

 remnant lo- 

 cated t h e m - 

 selves in the 

 temporary vil- 

 lages of tents 



Photograph by British and Culunial i*/t-;i. Torontu. 



ANOTHER SCENE WHICH WITNESSED TRAGEDY 



View from Nushka showing cut up the track where 54 people lost their lives. Only four people escaped from this town. 

 Of those who took refuge in the narrow cut everyone was smothered by the heat and the gases from the fire. 



THE terrible loss of life, and of property as well, in 

 the recent forest fires in Northern Ontario, must 

 cause thinking people to take stock of the situa- 

 tion, — to try to understand how such a thing could happen, 

 and to determine what measures must be taken to prevent 

 a recurrence. 



The explanation of the disaster is, to a certain extent, 

 to be found in the character of the country itself. In the 

 autumn of 1912 Dr. Fernow made a brief investigation. 



for the Lonimission of Conservation, of forest conditions 

 along the National Transcontinental Railway for a dis- 

 tance of about 200 miles east and west of Cochrane, as 

 well as south from this point, along the Temiskaming 

 and Northern Ontario Railway. Dr. Fernow discusses, 

 therefore, in his report, the situation in the very section 

 devastated by the recent fires. He reported that much 

 of the country is more or less swampy, due to tiie under- 

 lying stiiT clay. As might be expected from this, the 



