80 



A miMER OF FORESTRY 



ing Newcastle, Chatham, and Douglastown, were de- 

 stroyed. Oue hundred and sixty persons perished, and 

 nearly a thousand head of stock. The loss from the 

 Miramichi fire is estimated at $300,000, not including 

 the value of the timber. 



Fig. 75. — Fire sometimes renews an old forest by killing the veterans and so 

 permitting vigorous young trees to take their place. Tlie rotting slabs of 

 fire-killed veterans of Red Fir are seen in the picture surrounded by young 

 standards of E<'d Fir and Western Hemlock. Olympic Forest Eeserve, 

 Washiii";ton. 



In the majority of such forest fires as this the destruc- 

 tion of the timber is a more serious loss, by far, than 

 that of the cattle and buildings, for it carries with it 

 the imi^overishment of a whole region for tens or even 

 hundreds of years afterwards. Tlie loss of the stumpage 

 value of the timber at the time of the fire is but a small 



