8 



for locomotive screens has a mesh five-sixteenths of an inch square, 

 or two and one-half openings to the linear inch ; and experts assert 

 that a locomotive cannot " make steam " with a mesh of smaller size. 

 Still, live coals as large as a pea will be thrown by the exhaust 

 through nettings of this pattern. The screens are not placed in the 

 stack as many suppose ; but are bolted firmly to a framework in the 

 forward extension of the boiler. The sparks and live coals from the 

 flues or tubes first strike a solid wrought iron shield, which slopes 

 downward at an angle of 45 degrees, and are deflected to the bottom 

 of the smoke box, after which such as are carried upward by the 

 draft strike the screen, which slopes upward and forward, and, with 

 the exception of the smaller ones that go through this netting, fall 

 back. But in the little engines used by the contractors on con- 

 struction work such as the ones just referred to the screen is in 

 the stack. 



On the nineteen miles of the Raquette Lake Railway, running 

 through the State forest from Clearwater to Durant, no fires oc- 

 curred ; because, in granting a charter for this road the Legislature 

 stipulated that the locomotives must use petroleum for fuel. 



The railroad officials expressed themselves as anxious to do every- 

 thing practicable to prevent the starting of fires by their locomotives, 

 as the company is legally responsible for all damages arising from 

 this source. They manifest an interest in forest preservation also, 

 because their summer traffic is dependent on it. 



Our present law is insufficient in its provisions to prevent a recur- 

 rence of these railroad fires, and the only remedy lies in an amend- 

 ment compelling the companies to use electric motors or petroleum 

 burners ; or, failing to do this, to patrol their lines during the dry 

 season with a sufficient number of men to extinguish the live coals 

 and sparks wherever they may fall outside the tracks. 



