484 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



"Since landing safely following the Tuscania disaster 

 the Long-Bell boys, like the hundreds of other lumber 

 industry lads who belong to the 20th Engineers, have 

 written home to their relatives and families. These let- 

 ters have been interesting and descriptive of their ex- 

 periences, treatment accorded them in Allied countries 

 and matters having to do with their work in France, 

 where they are employed in French forests, doing woods 

 work in their own way, which is a la American, or at 

 sawmills now having American machinery and operated 

 along the same lines as sawmills in the United States. 

 Herein, as in many army methods, American brains and 

 American pep are exemplified in the lumber industry lads 

 from the States who have revolutionized lumber produc- 



tion in the territories back of the fighting zones. There 

 are many things that the Long-Bell Lumber Company or- 

 ganization is proud of, but of none more than that nine 

 of its former employees are serving for the Allied cause 

 in a way that their experience best fits them, and using 

 their brains and brawn in the task engaged in by hun- 

 dreds of American lads, of getting out lumber and timber 

 supplies needed by the Allied armies. In modern war- 

 fare lumber is just as necessary as guns or munitions or 

 food supplies, and armies to wage war successfully must 

 have their supplies quickly and in quantities. 



"The nine boys here shown report themselves as hale 

 and hearty and most enthusiastic in the work that now 

 engages them in France." 



A GIRL WHO GUARDS THE FORESTS FROM FIRE 



QCATTERED through the vast forests of northern 

 W Maine are the numerous watch-towers of the fire- 

 patrol system, where men are on duty with unrelaxing 

 vigilance to detect the first sign of the dreaded forest 

 fires which create such havoc in the valuable timber, if not 

 checked. To be an observer is considered a full-sized 

 man's job. He lives alone, some- 

 times in the tower itself, some- 

 times in a little, cabin nearby. He 

 is miles and miles from the near- 

 est neighbor. He has a telephone 

 and a part of his duty is to see 

 that the line is kept in working 

 order, a duty which is no small 

 matter as the wire is run almost 

 entirely on trees. 



But there is one woman in Maine 

 who is confident that she can do 

 the work as well as a man. She 

 has succeeded in convincing the 

 Forest Commission that she is 

 capable, has been duly appointed, 

 and the first of July began ' her 

 duties as observer in charge of 

 the station on Mount Kineo, the 

 high bluff which overlooks Moose- 

 head lake. A million dollars' 

 worth of choice timberlands, and 

 more, are in her keeping. This 

 woman is Miss Alice Henderson, 

 of Gardiner, Maine, a self-reliant, 

 bright young woman who says. 

 she is twenty-one years old and that she weighs one 

 hundred and thirty pounds, can shoot any kind of a 

 firearm and is not afraid of bears, or much of anything 

 else. 



She doesn't mind staying alone nights in the woods on 

 top of a mountain, for while the wild animals of Maine 

 may come around looking for something to eat and be a 

 trifle annoying, they are harmless if let alone. The big, 

 blundering moose sometimes rub their backs against the 

 base of the tower, and timid deer, who are always con- 



Miss ALICE 



The first Maine woman 



patrol 



sinned with curiosity, may wander into the little clear- 

 ing but they mean no harm. Porcupines are the most 

 annoying for they are not afraid of anything, eat every- 

 thing they can find and climb upon the cabin roof and 

 rattle and grunt. The black bears are the biggest cowards 

 ever and a shout or shot will send them scampering off 

 at top speed. 



As for wicked men well, Miss 

 Henderson is not afraid of them, 

 that's all. Her duties are to keep 

 a watch in every direction for the 

 first signs of smoke that may mark 

 the start of a devastating forest 

 fire. She has powerful glasses, 

 range-finders and charts and is able 

 to locate the smoke almost to a 

 rod. She can discriminate between 

 the camp fires of a fishing party, 

 or log-driving crew and a fire that's 

 getting away. There are watch- 

 towers all around and information 

 is exchanged over the telephone. 

 If the smoke grows, the district 

 fire warden is notified at once and 

 he starts with his crew and fire- 

 fighting equipment for the scene. 

 In nine times out of ten he checks 

 the fire at the start. It is estimated 

 that if the warden service and pa- 

 trols prevent one big forest fire in 

 a season, it saves much more than 

 it costs. The work of the observer 

 varies from days and days of ceaseless vigilance when 

 the woods are as dry as tinder, to long stretches of 

 rain, fogs and mists when observation is impossible or 

 there is little or no danger of fires. 



In these times the observers tend their little garden 

 spots, fix up the telephone lines, do odd jobs or take a 

 long tramp out to the nearest supply camp for provisions. 

 The station of Miss Henderson is the nearest to civiliza- 

 tion of any, being but two miles from the Kineo house 

 and settlement, The Springfield Republican. 



HENDERSON 



appointed to forest fire 



work. 



