196 Forestry Quarterly. 



stand. The fire which kills the green timber usually burns up but 

 little of it. In accessible locations the dead timber may be logged. 

 This results in bringing enough tops, branches, small poles, etc., 

 to the ground to make a consuming fire. In inaccessible locations 

 where it is not practicable to log the dead timber, a period of 

 years must elapse before there will have fallen a sufficient amount 

 of litter and timber to make a consuming fire. The length of 

 time before the conditions are favorable for the second fire de- 

 pends largely upon the amount of snow and wind in the succeed- 

 ing winters after the timber is killed. 



This particular burn is sure to be set afire sooner or later 

 either by lightning or by the carelessness of one of the many 

 fishermen, berry pickers, or other campers who frequent the val- 

 ley. In the middle of the summer the entire burn within the 

 Lower Slope type is one continuous mat of dry timber. Each 

 summer all the conditions are favorable for a fire to start which 

 could not be kept under control and each summer a miracle has 

 prevented it from starting. The fire would be a destructive one 

 if it started in the dry season, for with the great heat to be gen- 

 erated by so large a quantity of inflammable material as occurs 

 on the burn the fire could escape into the large bodies of timber 

 to the north, south and west. With this inevitable fire but a few 

 years oflf, the reproduction now on the ground has no value for it 

 will never reach pole size, and each year the fire is delayed in- 

 creases the length of time this tract of land is kept non-produc- 

 rive. This loss may be expressed in figures, for if the expectation 

 value of the soil be capitalized at $50 an acre the interest at 3 

 per cent, on the value of the 15,000 acres of non-productive land 

 would amount to $22,500 yearly. 



There are five private holdings in the burn, a patented home- 

 stead, a listed homestead, a shingle bolt camp, a prospector's cabin, 

 and a mining company's property. Two of them present the only 

 difficulties in carrying out the plan to fire the burn. They are 

 the patented homestead and bolt camp. The most valuable asset 

 on the patented homestead is the dead cedar on it, about 2,000 

 cords, which would be cut if the bolt camp resumed operations. 

 About 6,000 cords remain on shingle bolt sale area, and although 

 an extension of time was allowed, until June 30, 1914, the com- 

 pany seems disinclined to take advantage of it. After the close 

 of the sale the buildings on the sale area revert to the govern- 



