39 



that vegetation did not get a chance to start. If it had, it would 

 have retarded the fire materially. 



Mr. B. R. Brewster, Newman, Essex county. This fire was the 

 worst of all. A terrible wind arose on the 3d of June about 12 

 o'clock. The wind carried the sparks through the woods at a rapid 

 rate. In the territory around the South Meadows and Adirondack 

 Lodge about 6,000 acres had been lumbered. The spruce and bal- 

 sam brush made good fuel, and the fire swept over an area of 10,000 

 acres in one afternoon. The timber burned was of little value, as 

 it was all hardwood and too far from market. 



Mr. Robert H. Wilson, Olmstedville, Essex county. This tract 

 was lumbered last season, and all the large timber was cut off. There 

 was quite a lot of small spruce and balsam left which in time would 

 have been valuable; but now everything is killed. There was so 

 much brush to feed the flames that the fire burned very fast. 



Mr. Washington Chase, Newcomb, Essex county. This fire would 

 have been very disastrous had it not been for the prompt action of a 

 large force of men who stopped it and held it under control until 

 rain came. 



Mr. William H. Broughton, Moriah, Essex county. We could not 

 put the fires out ; but we kept them from running by leaving men to 

 watch the ground after they were once under control. 



Mr. Charles Giddings, Ausable Chasm, Essex county. This fire 

 was on pine land that had been lumbered. The tops and brush left 

 in the woods made a very hot fire; the young timber was mostly 

 killed. This fire (May 4th) was on Trembleau mountain. It did 

 very little damage, for we kept it out of the valuable timber and held 

 it at the top of the mountain, where there was very little to burn. 

 We fought it for three days against a strong south wind; then the 

 wind shifted to the west and the fire was soon extinguished. 



Mr. C. W. Rowe, Chesterfield, Essex county. The D. & H. Rail- 

 road has about ten miles of track in this town nearly all of it along 

 a mountain side and with very few buildings in sight of the road. 

 This mountain side was covered with forest when the railroad was 

 built; but it has been burned over so many times since that nearly 

 all the timber has been killed and is falling down, making excellent 

 fuel for a forest fire. The law requiring railroad companies to pay 

 all losses from fires caused by their engines has been utterly ignored. 

 Not a dollar has ever been paid for damages, the company claiming 

 that we must prove that their engines set the fires ; and to prove this 

 we must see the fire leave the engine and strike the ground. If the 

 railroads cannot prevent these fires by putting proper appliances on 



