FOREST FIRES IN NORTH AMERICA 277 



fact the brand new system of the United States forest reserves, completely 

 broke down just as the incomplete organization of the eastern states had 

 done in 1908, and a large number of the brave firefighters met their death in 

 their zealous efforts to extinguish the flames. 



How such a catastrophe could take place after the great progress of the 

 previous decade is a question easily answered both on general geographic 

 considerations and also with the assistance of the information provided by the 

 numerous handsome volumes of the United States Geological Survey relating 

 to the different reservations. In the first place, it is to be observed that in 

 the United States, and especially in the west, it is unfortunately impossible 

 to combat the original causes of forest fires in as effective a way as is done 

 in Germany. The rough men who find their living in the eastern or western 

 wildernesses, in mining, hunting, stock-raising or other interests, can not be 

 prevented from building camp-fires, which are positively necessary for pro- 

 tection against the cold of night as well as for cooking, nor on the other hand 

 can they be forbidden the enjoyment of their only pleasure, tobacco; and to 

 find a spot absolutely free from danger for camp-fires is, in such circum- 

 stances, simply an impossibility. On this point, the author of these remarks, 

 who knows the wild west and its inhabitants quite well from his own expe- 

 rience, must confess that even he, when on his journeys of investigation, has 

 frequently built his camp-fire under press of circumstances in places which 

 he knew in advance to be dangerous, and in several cases narrowly escaped 

 the responsibility of thousands of others for negligent fire-setting. In one 

 case it was only with the greatest difficulty that he and his party succeeded 

 in extinguishing a blaze which unexpectedly leaped its bounds and which 

 would have utterly destroyed an extensive forest area of Arizona. Camp- 

 fires in the woods which are carelessly watched or are abandoned without 

 being extinguished must necessarily escape in large part the notice of the 

 forest guards on account of the enormous extent of the areas under their 

 jurisdiction and the fact that wide stretches are unprovided with roads or 

 trails. Even those fires which are negligently caused by locomotive sparks 

 can not be prevented in North America in the same degree as in Europe, 

 simply because much greater lengths of track are concerned and because the 

 lay of the land in many cases does not permit the laying out of fire-lanes. 

 With the experience of the last decade, however, it can no longer be doubted 

 that with a well-organized patrol, fires of this sort can generally be extin- 

 guished before they reach a too great extension. In a similar manner it may 

 be possible to effectively combat a large proportion of intentional fires. It 

 was formerly common for both Indians and white hunters to thoughtlessly set 

 underbrush ablaze merely to scare up game, and many of such fires were 

 propagated indefinitely. Such vandalism is at the present time limited in 

 most places, and in so far as it yet exists, there is a good prospect that its 

 days are numbered. But far more numerous have been those fires which have 

 been started for clearing purposes or for burning brush and rubbish. Partic- 

 ularly in the northwest, in Oregon and Washington, where the growth of 

 the giant trees in many places is so great that it seems impossible to dispose 

 of them with axe and saw alone, it is qyite general to resort to tire and 

 dynamite to accomplish the clearing. In the east, too, it has been the rule to 

 get new land for cotton or grain plantations by burning off extensive wooded 

 areas, and the farmers care little for the charred trunks which are left stand- 

 ing. Not a few of the fires so produced have continued far beyond the limits 

 set for them, and this has been one of the most frequent causes of very great 

 forest fires in the newly settled districts. Of course the new forest guards of 

 the United States have given special attention to this cause, and by insisting 



