ABOUT CAMP FIRES 



By D. LANGE 



THE first and most important duty of a camper in 

 connection with his fire is to make absolutely cer- 

 tain that it will not spread. 



The safest places for campfires are therefore, on 

 bare clay, sand or rock on a river bank or lake shore. 



If the fire cannot be built in such a place, great care 

 must be taken that it will not spread through dry 

 leaves, grass or forest litter. There are two fire sea- 

 sons: early spring, before the new vegetation covers 

 the ground and late fall after the vegetation and leaves 

 of the season have died and become dry. 



In a dry season in spring or fall, all combustible ma- 

 terial must be removed, before the fire is started ; other- 

 wise, especially on a windy day, the small cheerful 

 campfire may in a few seconds become an uncontrol- 

 lable destructive forest or prairie fire. The United 

 States leads the world in wasteful prairie and forest 

 fires and most of them are due to gross carelessness on 

 the part of campers, hunters, lumbermen, settlers and 

 boys. 



The damage done by forest fires in the United States 

 since 1910 is estimated at the staggering total of 

 $50,000,000. 



Minnesota has experienced two very disastrous for- 

 est fires the Hinckley fire of 1894 in which 417 lives 

 were lost, and the great fire in 1910, which destroyed 

 the towns of Beaudette and Spooner, cost some forty 

 lives and destroyed property exceeding $10,000,000.00. 



29 



