Destruction and Deterioration 101 



along the tracks, not in forests only, but on the 

 prairies and among cultivated fields. But they are 

 extinguished almost immediately by the section 

 crews, or even by the train hands themselves. It 

 is very doubtful whether many destructive fires 

 during recent years have been caused by passing 

 trains. As to the city sportsmen, they are mostly 

 persons of not a little intelligence ; they have heard 

 a good deal about forest fires, and are rather in- 

 clined to be cautious. Moreover, they are usually 

 accompanied by experienced woodsmen and guides, 

 who see to it that fires are properly handled. As 

 to the Indian, no doubt little good can be expected 

 of most of his race ; still I doubt whether he is, on 

 the whole, more reckless than the white settler. 

 The tramp, to be sure, may fairly be charged with 

 all iniquity, for he stands convicted of almost every 

 crime ; but, on the whole, his kind is not very com- 

 mon in most of the forest regions. So the attempt 

 of the settler to shift the burden on other shoulders 

 must fail, and the fact stands out clearly that his 

 own negligence is the most frequent cause of the 

 conflagration of which he is apt to be the first 

 victim. 



If the settlers are apt to be reckless in their 

 manner of kindling and guarding fires, they are 

 still more negligent in the matter of extinguishing 

 fires that have arisen in one way or the other and are 

 no longer being used. Nothing is a more common 

 sight almost anywhere within the larger forests of 

 the United States than to see small fires smoulder- 



