Fighting Fires and Thieves 193 



not only for protection against fire but also against 

 timber thieves. 



Timber stealing is a practice exceedingly com- 

 mon in all districts of the United States where 

 lumbering is carried on on a large scale. Although 

 many of the States have statutes making the cutting 

 and carrying away of timber from other people's 

 land larceny instead of mere trespass, a convic- 

 tion or even prosecution for such an offence is 

 practically unknown. For a conviction requires 

 proof of malicious intent, and it is so easy to per- 

 suade the jury that there was merely a mistake, 

 when there are, in the primeval wilderness, no 

 boundary marks except, at best, the section lines 

 blazed by the government surveyors many years 

 ago. Even the most reputable lumbermen occa- 

 sionally indulge in this little pastime, taking their 

 chances of being caught at it, and having to pay to 

 the owners what the stolen material is worth. The 

 greatest sufferers from these depredations are the 

 governments, both state and federal, whose lands, 

 are usually less well guarded than private holdings. 

 Besides, many otherwise fairly honest people have 

 no scruple about robbing or defrauding the govern- 

 ment. In the remote and sparsely settled lumber- 

 ing regions of the West, the stealing of government 

 timber has at times reached incredible proportions. 

 It has often happened that a sawmill has been set 

 up in the midst of government forests and operated 

 without even an attempt at concealment. Where 

 such depredations were committed by the inhabitants 



