HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 43 



The Nature of Forest Fires and Their Effect on Forests. 

 ' — Fires severe enough to cause the death of large tim- 

 ber only occur in prolonged dry spells, and on windy days. 

 In regions commonly free from fire, where the vegeta- 

 ble accumulation is deep, fires at such seasons burn in 

 the ground itself, and, killing the roots, destroy the larg- 

 est trees. Complete protection is the only safeguard for 

 such timber. In pine regions a strong wind sometimes 

 causes a fire to burn up into the crowns of the trees and 

 to travel through the crowns. Such fires are rare excep- 

 tions, but since they only occur in severe droughts, they do 

 tremendous damage. The great forest fires of history have 

 been of this nature. That at Hinckley, Minnesota, in 1894, 

 caused the death of over 400 persons. The wind carried 

 fire brands over lakes to distances of over half a mile. 

 Not a single pine survived over great areas. Traces of 

 similar fires may be found elsewhere in Minnesota. One, 

 the Ely fire, burned a distance of 40 miles and 

 laid waste from 12 to 15 townships of land, which 

 is now after a lapse of nearly 40 years, covered only 

 with poplar, birch and some Jack pine, the original white 

 and Norway pine timber surviving only on one or two is- 

 lands in the center of large lakes. 



Fires in hardwood regions are less severe, since crowns 

 of hardwoods are not inflammable. Hardwood ridges 

 act as checks to bad fires in pine woods. But many spe- 

 cies of hardwoods are badly injured by fires, since the 

 bark is thin. So it frequently happens that a severe sur- 

 face fire will kill an entire stand of such species as chest- 

 nuts. Stands of pole size, if killed, sprout readily, but 

 the fire-killed poles decay and fall over, creating a dan- 

 gerous fire trap. The second fire is almost sure to occur, 

 again killing the young sprouts. The stumps sprout a 

 second time but there is no limit to the number of fires 

 that may occur, while the capacity of the stumps for re- 

 covery is soon exceeded — and after each fire less stumps 



