400 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



less money available for new work, the mileage of telephone lines 

 constructed was but 24 per cent less than in 1910 and that of trails 

 and lire lines 36 per cent. Special allotments to the Forests swept by 

 the disastrous fires of 1910 were necessary to provide for the recon- 

 struction of ranger stations, bridges, and fences. 



The work done during the year comprised 1,383 miles of trails, 125 

 miles of roads, 1,427 miles of telephone lines, 163 miles of fire lines, 

 376 miles of fences, 372 cabins and barns, 50 bridges, and 47 corrals. 

 The reduced appropriation and the necessity of concentrating upon 

 protection facilities diminished the amount of work done in coopera- 

 tion with States, communities, and private associations or individuals. 

 Such cooperation was practically limited to means of communication. 

 As in previous years, the contributions made bv the Service to coopera- 

 tive projects formed but a small proportion oi their total cost, oixty 

 miles of telephone line were completed on the Targhee National 

 Forest, in cooperation with the Yellowstone Power & Telephone Co., 

 at a cost to the Service of $867.97. This line will be maintained by 

 the cooperating company for 5 years. Eleven miles of telephone 

 line were constructed cooperatively on the Cache National Forest, 

 and 20 miles on the La Sal National Forest, at costs of $164.60 and 

 $50, respectively. Eight miles of telephone line were similarly 

 built on the Manzano at a cost of $106.19, and 6| miles on the Kla- 

 math National Forest at a cost of $51.30. Eight miles of road on 

 the Monterey Forest were constructed at a cost to the Service of 

 $82.69. In but few cases of the most urgent character were coopera- 

 tive projects undertaken which involved work for purely adminis- 

 trative uses. The Service was forced to reject a large number of offers 

 of cooperation in the construction of roads and other improvements 

 of great benefit to the National Forests, because of the necessity of 

 Umiting expenditures strictly to improvements most needed in 

 bettering protection from fire. 



With relatively small appropriations available from year to year 

 it is difficult to avoid an uneconomical, piece-meal system of repairs 

 and construction, taking up the most urgent work here and there 

 without correlating the work completed and proposed. Special 

 effort has been made to avoid this danger. A systematic plan exists 

 for the complete equipment of each National Forest with communica- 

 tions and administrative facihties. As far as practicable each new 

 piece of work authorized is in line with the approved plan ; but in each 

 case the work to be given first preference will be that directly con- 

 tributing to fire protection. A comprehensive scheme of main and 

 secondary trails and telephone hnes, a system of lookout points or 

 watch towers covering all of the areas where this method of fire 

 control is feasible, fire lines at strategic points, such as wooded passes 

 which form Ijreafe in natural barriers and along the edges of dan- 

 gerous slashings, and tool caches distributed throughout inaccessible 

 areas are the most essential features of the improvement plan. 

 Attention will next be given to structures required for the accommo- 

 dation of forest officers and for the proper control of present uses 

 of the Forests. Improvements designed to meet the third general 

 purpose, viz, the development of the resources of the National 

 Forests, must necessarily progress very slowly, in view of the greater 

 urgency of the other work. 



