PREVENTION OF FOREST FIRE IN 

 MINNESOTA 



By A. P. SILLIMAN 



T1IU first of a series of recent great forest fires in 

 the State of Minnesota occurred in Virginia in 

 1893, in wh it'll the Town was practically destroyed. 

 Succeeding this fire came the Hinckley fire in 1894 in 

 which 418 people lost their lives. The next great fire 

 occurred on September 4th, 1908, at which time the 

 Village of Chisholm was destroyed with no direct loss 

 of life, though the exposure involved subsequently 

 caused the death of several women and infants. On 

 October 7th, 1910, we had the fire which destroyed the 

 towns of Beaudette and Spooner and devastated the 

 surrounding country entailing a large loss of property 

 and the sacrifice of 32 lives. The last and recent fire 

 was that of October llth and 12th, 1918, which burned 

 over an area of 350,000 acres, in which the towns of 

 Cloquet and Moose Lake were wiped out, causing a 

 property loss of over $50,000,000 and over five hundred 

 useful lives. 



EXTENT OF THE FOREST 



The timbered area of the State of Minnesota includes 

 approximately twenty-seven millions of acres. Tha 

 value of the timber products alone thereon amounts to 

 over five hundred million dollars. From this timbered 

 area up to July 31st, 1918, the State revenue alone from 

 the timber cut therefrom was $10,197,894.90, which has 

 been for the benefit of the entire state, the money going 

 largely to the university and school fund. The total 



