46 fore:st commissioner's report. 



isfactory patrol work need, and can command, steady employ- 

 ment, and in this remote territory, one must figure on employ- 

 ing a certain number of men, even though the season, as the 

 one just past, is a most favorable one. In no way is the old 

 saying "an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of 

 cure" more applicable than in the matter of protection of our 

 forests from fire. 



"The more I have to do with the work the more firmly con- 

 vinced I am that our greatest efforts and expenditures of 

 money should be directed toward an efficient patrol, with the 

 hope of discovering fires in season to be extinguished by the 

 patrol, and thus prevent a large conflagration, the extent and 

 damage of which cannot be estim.ated. The results obtained 

 from the patrol in this northern district during the past eight 

 years clearly demonstrate that an efficient patrol does protect." 



Chief warden E. C. Mooers of Milo submits the following 

 report of the work done in patrolling and extinguishing fires 

 in the District comprising the territory of the East and West 

 College Grant; T. 7 R. 9; Elliottsville Plantation; Katahdin 

 Iron Works; T. 5 R. 9; A. R. ii; A. R. 12; B. R. 11; Lake- 

 view Plantation; Barnard; 4 R 9, for the years 1911 and 1912: 



"After my appointment as chief fire warden in the spring 

 of 191 1 I had hardly gotten patrolmen orr the ground and ar- 

 rangements made for systematic patrolling of the district when 

 on account of the extremely dry weather numerous and exten- 

 sive fires broke out in several localities which threatened to de- 

 stroy large areas of valuable timber land. 



"The chief of these fires started on Boardman mountain in 

 Township A Range 12 and assumed such alarming proportions 

 it was deemed advisable to put an extra force of men on the' 

 ground at once. In order to obtain the large number of men 

 necessary for dealing successfully with the alarming conditions, 

 application was made to Mr. E. M. Hamlin, Manager of the 

 American Thread Company, in Milo, who immediately shut 

 down his works and turned over his entire crews to the service 

 of fighting the fires. Through the courtesy of Vice President 

 Todd of the B. & A. Railroad a special train carried these men 

 to the scene of the conflagration. By means of this large addi- 

 tional force everything that could be done to check the spread 

 of the fires was accomplished although on account of the ex- 



