370 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



studied, and an understanding is reached with settlers, lumber com- 

 panies, mine operators, and others so that fit men picked beforehand 

 are ready to respond immediately to a call for help. Similarly, it is 

 learned from what stores and ranches provisions and tools can be 

 obtained, and in what quantities, and also where pack horses and 

 other means of transportation can be hired. Finally, so far as 

 possible, all the various contingencies likely to arise are considered 

 and coursos of action marked out beforehand, to tha end that the best 

 couree may be taken at once and every one whose cooperation is 

 needed may be ready to fall into line and perform his part without 

 confusion or loss of time. 



Where possible, lookout tow^ers have been so placed that they 

 command a considerable common field, within wnich fires can be 

 very accurately located when their bearings are reported from both 

 lookouts. Patrolmen on their rounds are called upon to report to 

 the supervisor from fixed points at certain hours, w nile ranger head- 

 ([uarters are ahvays connected by telephone wdth the supervisor's 

 office and parties working on improvements or reconnoissance are 

 within as close touch as possible. 



The building of lookout tow^ers and establishing of telephone com- 

 munications has as yet been hardly more than begun, for the perma- 

 nent-improvement appropriation necessitates doing the work a little 

 at a time; yet a great advance has been made, because so much care 

 has been used to do what could be done at the points wdiere it would 

 give the largest results. As a supplement to the permanent telephone 

 fines it was found that temporary lines of insulated copper wire 

 could be laid cheaply and rapidly. Insulated wire, weighing less 

 than 30 pounds to the mile, can be carried on a pack horse to any 

 point from w^hich it is desired to extend an existing line so as to 

 establish temporary telephone connection with a field party or 

 lookout. The insulated wire is then laid on the ground. It has 

 been found good for any distance within 60 miles. 



One of the most serious of the fire risks to which the National 

 Forests are exposed is that created by railroads. Of the known 

 causes of fires in 1910, 32 per cent were due to sparks from railroad 

 locomotives. There are approximately 2,000 miles of track within 

 the National Forests, besides logging railroads. The most careful 

 attention has been given to devising and putting into effect measures 

 for preventing fires along railroad lines, and for the prompt discovery 

 and extinguishment of fires which may be started. These measure.^ 

 include the clearing away of inflammable material along the tracks, 

 the cutting of fire lines, provision for patrol, the assistance of railroad 

 employees, both in giving the alarm when fires are discovered near 

 the railroads and in putting out the fires, and the prevention of the 

 dropping of live coals and the throwing out of cinders. Safety against 

 the starting of fires from the throwing oui of cin(lers, especially on 

 heavy grades, calls for the equipment of locomotives with efficient 

 spark arresters or the use of oil for fuel. 



There is an increasing willingness on the part of railroads to coop- 

 erate with the Forest Service in diminishing the fire risk along their 

 lines. It is obviously to the interests of the railroads themselves to 

 prevent fires, both because serious fires may inflict heavy losses on 

 the railroads in the destruction of property, the interruption of traffic, 

 and the loss of tonnage which results when timber is consumed, and 



