84 THE LOG OF A TIMBER CRUISER 



guard camps continually at the more important 

 towers. 



Every station is provided, in addition to fire tools, 

 with a compass, a field glass, a fire map and a stand- 

 ard protractor. Also it is connected by telephone 

 with the Supervisor's office in Silver City. 



When the fire guard spots a fire from the lookout 

 peak he at once reads its angle of direction from the 

 protractor. This he telephones to the Supervisor, 

 together with any other facts such as the apparent 

 size and character of the fire that he thinks impor- 

 tant. As soon as two or three direction readings 

 from different lookouts are received at Silver City, 

 the Supervisor proceeds to locate the fire by means 

 of the large fire map there. Every lookout station 

 shown on the map has a thread of silk attached to it 

 ' by one end. This thread is drawn across the map in 

 the exact direction indicated by the angle sent in, 

 and the precise point at which two or more threads 

 cross indicates the location of the fire reported. 



All arrangements for attacking the fire or fires 

 may thus be made at headquarters almost as soon 

 as they are discovered in the field, and a force of 

 men sent at once, if necessary, by the best and quick- 

 est route to the scene of action. 



So efficacious is this system that no fire on the 

 Gila, Reid told us, had obtained over twenty-four 

 hours' headway, before being discovered, since the 

 fire plan was put in force. We were profoundly 



