With the Forest Engineers* 



{Contributed hy the Canadian Society of Forest Engineers.). 



Notes of the Work of the Engineers in the British Columbia Forest Service. 



The Province of British Columbia 

 entered on a new line of devlop- 

 ment in the establishment, under the 

 Hon. W. R. Ross, Minister of Lands, 

 of a Forest Branch, the direction of 

 which as is well known was given 

 into the hands of Mr. H. R. MacMil- 

 lan late of the Forest Branch in Ot- 

 tawa. So many matters were pend- 

 ing the passing of the Act, so many- 

 new problems have arisen simp- 

 ly through the establishment of the 

 Branch that the new Chief Forester, 

 since assuming his duties, has been 

 the centre of a veritable snowstorm 

 of papers of all kinds which requir- 

 ed attention. Consequently, he has 

 been held to his desk for every min- 

 ute of the day working with unceas- 

 ing energy to organize new branch- 

 es to take care of the details. He 

 has made numerous trips around 

 the country becoming acquainted 

 with the government officers and 

 lumbermen, and has made numerous 

 friends in his official capacity in the 

 City of Victoria. Naturally, in a 

 new organization the equipment and 

 ,staff were utterly inadequate for the 

 press of business. But Mr. MacMil- 

 lan had the authority to care for the 

 needs of his department, and now, 

 instead of one chief clerk and a 

 stenographer, the Forest Branch 

 consists of forty two individuals in 

 addition to all who were with the 

 Lands Department prior to the crea- 

 tion of the new base of administra- 

 tion. 



Mr. M. Allerdale Grainger, who 

 probably knows as much about the 

 forest legislation situation as any 

 other man in British Columbia, hay- 

 ing been Secretary of the Royal 

 Commission which brought about the 



Act, has been steadily engaged in ar- 

 ranging the details of the Records 

 Office, which falls to him under the 

 provisions for the new Forest Board. 



Mr. John Lafon, Chief of Manage- 

 ment, has been occupied principally 

 with the work of timber sales and 

 the cruising being done upon tracts 

 of land which it has been thought 

 could be. alienated. 



Chief of Operation, R. E. Bene- 

 dict, has been engaged mostly in 

 inspection of fire losses, and in view- 

 ing at first hand conditions which 

 he had heretofore known in only a 

 general way. He reports a rapidly 

 growing sentiment among people of 

 all parts of the province for forest 

 reserves to ensure thorough patrol 

 in the vicinity of lage towns, and 

 to make certain a constant supply 

 of water for irrigation purposes. 



The Reconnaissance Survey. 



Since stock-taking ranks with pro- 

 tection as an essential of forest 

 policy, the Branch has lost no time 

 in bringing about a reconnaissance 

 survey of a great part of the pro- 

 vince. The Columbia and Western 

 Land (rrant comprises two and a 

 half million acres recently sold back 

 to the Government by the C. P. R., 

 to whom it was deeded many years 

 ago, and this tract has been the scene 

 of a very active survey. Under 

 Chief of Surveys H. K. Robinson 

 twelve parties of reconnaissance men 

 are working in the valleys of the 

 Adams, Salmon, Nicola, North 

 Thompson, Omineca and Columbia 

 Rivers, around Mable Lake, and 

 along the route of the Grand Trunk 

 Pacific Railway. 



The surveyors are noting every 



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