34 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



water supply. The drinking of stream water is the only 

 alternative offered the camper at thousands of camps in 

 the west. He has no choice about the matter. No other 

 vater supply is available. 



Two measures are necessary to make and keep the 

 water supply clean. First it is essential to supply prop- 

 erly located and properly constructed sanitaries. Human 

 occupancy demands their presence. Otherwise rains will 

 inevitably wash human excrement into streams used for 

 drinking purposes. Rules or signs cannot stop human 

 body functions, but sanitaries will stop insanitary prac- 

 tices. 



While it is reasonable to 

 expect the presence of 

 clean, well-placed sani- 

 taries will prevent con- 

 tamination of streams, an- 

 other simple development 

 will make clean water 

 doubly sure. A box which 

 is essentially a miniature 

 filter arrangement built on 

 the principle of city water 

 supply filters should be 

 sunk out of sight in the 

 bed of a stream and water 

 conducted from it to the 

 camp supply point. Water 

 protected from contamina- 

 tion by convenient sani- 

 taries will be doubly safe- 

 guarded by passing 

 through a foot or more of 

 sand or charcoal in this ar- 

 rangement. Any slight 

 contamination will stand 

 little show of passing 

 through this box and to the 

 lips of camp visitors. 



Sanitaries can be built at 

 various locations in a sat- 

 isfactory manner for thirty 

 dollars or less. A maxi- 

 mum cost might be sixty 

 dollars per structure. A 

 thousand would cost a 

 maximum of $60,000, or a 

 cost equal to the fireplace 

 estimate. A ratio of six to 

 twelve fireplaces to one sanitary has been found good so 

 that a thou.sand camp units could be constructed in our 

 western forest play places for $120,000. 



Probably a filter box has never been built for service 

 in our western forests. There never has been Federal 

 money available for such life savers, yet they would 

 cost in the neighborhood of only fifteen to twenty-five 

 dollars each. An average of twenty dollars would show 

 that one pure water supply for each group on the "10-1-1" 

 basis would bring the total cost of a thousand camps up 



BOTH SANITARY AND SIGHTLY 



This spring guarantees pure water supply at all times. While 

 it does not show, there is considerable construction work insur- 

 ing this, but it is all masked by a native stone wall set with- 

 out cement and in the cracks of which moss and other moisture- 

 loving plants are growing. 



to $140,000. The "10-1-1" combination is ten fireplaces 

 to one sanitary to one water development. 



There are three minimum "prevention" needs. The 

 first is the fireplace, properly built and properly placed. 

 The second is a good sanitary for each group as well 

 built and placed. The third is additional assurance of 

 good water supply through the installation of a filter 

 box. 



As compared to the loss from fire each year this total 

 cost is very small. One per cent of the annual fire loss 

 exceeds the entire cost of construction of these perma- 

 nent improvements. 



If we were to place the 

 human lives on a dollar ba- 

 sis this loss alone would 

 justify the spending of 

 $140,000 on camp develop- 

 ment. Insurance com- 

 panies, public service cor- 

 porations and like institu- 

 tions figure the settlement 

 price of a human life at 

 about $5,000. On this ba- 

 sis $1,655,000 were lost 

 through typhoid fever in 

 in the one state of Colorado 

 during the past three years, 

 no small per cent of this 

 due to insanitary condf- 

 tions in the mountain 

 areas. Ten per cent of the 

 loss of life in one state dur- 

 ing three years reduced to 

 the dollar basis exceeds the 

 entire cost of a thousand 

 camps supplied with "mini- 

 mum protective require- 

 ments." 



The recreational use of 

 all forest areas can never 

 be curbed through laws or 

 edicts. No one would wish 

 to do that in our national 

 or state properties. Peo- 

 ple will come more and 

 more to the outdoor places. 

 They will come in numbers 

 causing congestion at many 

 points. Only through the 

 installation of proper improvements will these camping 

 places be made safe for human occupancy. Most of our 

 existing forest camp grounds lack proper protective im- 

 provements. The cost of each unit or each camp is nomi- 

 nal when compared to the service in protection from 

 fire or life loss. 



All rural play areas present these problems of fire 

 prevention and sanitation. A minimum standard must 

 be met in development to make them safe. Any public 

 organization which has charge of such areas should be 



