9^ 



Canadian Forestry Journal 



'What of the future? Under the eir- 

 fuaistauces, one almost hates to tell the 

 truth about the effect of this disaster, but 

 already there is evidence that this fire 

 means a still greater Porcupine. The for- 

 est was a menace and brought no benefit, 

 except that mine timbers were more easily 

 obtained and every property was furnish- 

 ed fuel to the extent of the timber on its 

 claims. This was limited. A first-class 

 mining plant would speedily eat up the 

 timber of a 40.acre tract. Aside from 

 this, the forest was of practically no bene- 

 fit. The trees and underbrush impeded 

 progress and made fire a constant danger. 

 Every company was engaged in clearing 

 its property of timber. The fire has done 

 the work for them. The timber and un- 

 derbrush helped to conceal the geological ■ 

 formation. The burning of the brush will 

 expose many hitherto unknown veins of 

 gold-bearing rock.' 



That the lumbermen entirely reject this 

 view (even though the timber burned 

 was not of a valuable species) is shown 

 in the tenor of a number of articles in 

 the lumber press. A writer in the Can- 

 ada Lumberman signing himself 'Bush- 

 ranger', after severely criticizing the pres- 

 ent Ontario fire-ranging system, goes on to 

 argue that were there a properly equipped 

 brigade to support the ])atrolmen with de- 

 tachments stationed at convenient points 

 the fire could have been successfully 

 fought before it attained the dimensions 

 of a conflagration. He points out that 

 numerous fires were observed on July 4 

 and yet the damaging fire did not occur 

 until July 11. He says 'Apparently no 

 vigorous steps were taken to quell the out- 

 break or to minimize the danger during 

 the week they were burning. Had there 

 been a properly equipped brigade station- 

 ed, say at North Bay, it could have been 

 despatched to the scene by a special train, 

 or otherwise on Tuesday, July 4, and pos- 

 sibly a large timber area might have been 

 saved from destruction, and certainly 

 something might have been done to put 

 adjacent towns out of jeopardy. ' 



The Fire at Cochrane. 



At Cochrane fires had been noticed burn- 

 ing in the vicinity on Tuesday morning, 

 July 11th, but little attention had been 

 paid to them. Very suddenly, however, 

 the wind changed, and brought the fire 

 rushing down on the town, which it reach- 

 ed about three o'clock. For an hour or 

 two previous the people had been busy 

 getting their belongings to places of safe- 

 ty. A train was in readiness which pull- 

 ed out to a clearing some distance from 

 the town, and separated from it by spaces 

 of sandy land and by Lake Commando, 

 which the fire was unable to cross. About 

 six o'clock, when all danger was over, the 

 train returned to town. Immediate relief 



was given by Foley and Welch, railway 

 contractors, turning over their supplies, 

 which lasted for some time. 



Explanation of the Maps. 



A glance at the accompanying maps gives 

 an idea of the relative position of the 

 towns and properties damaged. Wtih the 

 exception of Cochrane, the towns are all 

 situated on Porcupine Lake, a sheet of 

 water some two miles in length by half to 

 three-quarters of a mile in width. At the 

 southwestern end of this is the town of 

 South Porcupine, with Pottsville almost 

 adjoining it a little to the west. At the 

 other end of the lake are the towns of 

 Porcupine and Golden City. The fire ap- 

 ])roached from the southwest, and the 

 area which sustained the greatest damage 

 is that in which the various Dome mines 

 were situated. At the West Dome mine 

 the loss of life was greatest, some twenty- 

 one bodies being taken from a timbered 

 shaft in which a number of the staff of 

 the mine had taken refuge. At the Pres- 

 ton East Dome mine, on the other hand, 

 where a number of persons took refuge in 

 a shaft which was not timbered, no loss of 

 life took place. From the shaft of the 

 Big Dome mine, also, six bodies were re- 

 covered. 



Relief Work. 



Supplies were speedily voted by a num. 

 ber of Canadian cities and towns, includ- 

 ing Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Guelph, 

 St. Catharines and others, and by Boards 

 of Trade, private firms and individuals. 

 The American Bed Cross Society also sent 

 a contribution of a thousand dollars. One 

 Toronto departmental store sent a carload 

 of provisions; a feature of this gift which 

 the relief committee found of advantage 

 was that the goods had been made up in- 

 to parcels before shipping, which made 

 the distribution of them comparatively 

 easy. 



Up to July 27th the total amount of re- 

 lief distributed by the relief committee 

 was $23,443, of which Porcupine received 

 $13,855 and Cochrane $9,588. In addition 

 .$10,000 was set aside for the establish- 

 ment of a hospital in the Porcupine dis- 

 trict, and $1,000 for the establishment of 

 temporary schools in the Porcupine dis- 

 trict. 



Reporting on his last summer's work in 

 locating the eastern boundary of the 

 Rocky Mountain forest reserve, Mr. P. 

 ^^. Caverhill remarks: 'Fire is the worst 

 Qnemy the forest has. Eighty per cent. 

 of the territory surveyed has been burned 

 in the past fifty years, and sixty per aent. 

 of this (or forty-eight per cent, of the 

 entire country) has been burned over in 

 the last twentv-five years.' 



