1238 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



SEAPLANES TO BE USED FOR FOREST FIRE PATROL 

 WORK IN QUEBEC 



BY ELLWOOD WILSON, EDITOR, CANADIAN DEPARTMENT 



THE Province of Quebec has reason to be 

 proud of itself. After many difficulties, 

 which at many times seemed insurmount- 

 able, two seaplanes for use in forest fire 

 patrol and mapping have been obtained and 

 the first machine has been flown from 

 Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Lac a la Tortue, 

 a little village about two miles from Grand 

 Mere, and is in actual use for patrol work. 

 About three years ago the Directors of the 

 St. Maurice Forest Protective Association 

 discussed the practicability of using air- 

 planes for patrolling, and a committee was 

 named to look into the feasibility of the 

 plan. They reported that it seemed prac- 

 ticable and in nineteen seventeen an effort 

 was made to get a machine and pilot, with- 

 out success. In nineteen eighteen another 

 effort was made to put the scheme into 

 practice. On Christmas Day, 1918, Mr. 

 Allard, the Minister of Lands and Forests, 

 sent for the writer and told him that he was 

 much interested in the idea and would con- 

 tribute $2,000 toward an experiment. At 

 the annual meeting of the St. Maurice 

 Forest Protective Association a sum of ten 

 thousand dollars was voted. The writer, 

 after considerable study, decided that owing 

 to the difficulty, amounting practically to 

 an impossibility, of providing landing places 

 for airplanes, that seaplanes were the only 

 machines possible. It was learned that the 

 Department of Naval Affairs of the Domin- 

 ion Government had in storage at Halifax 

 12 seaplanes turned over to it by the 

 American Navy at the signing of the 

 armistice. The Department was asked, 

 through the Acting Minister, Hon. A. K. 

 McLean, to loan two of these machines. 

 After much consideration and discussion 

 he agreed to loan them and an agreement 

 was entered into to take over these ma- 

 chines. The Minister of Marine, the Hon. 

 C. C. Ballantyne, who had been absent in 

 California on account of serious illness, re- 

 turned to Ottawa and at once decided that 

 he would not loan the machines, and he said 

 that proper safeguards for their return to 

 his Department had not been put in the 

 agreement. However, after a long dis- 

 cussion of the matter, he finally consented 

 to allow the machines to be loane.l on the 

 original agreement. Much credit is due 

 to the two gentlemen named above for, 

 their action in making possible this experi- 

 ment. The Montreal Branch of the Aerial 

 League of Canada also co-operated in help- 

 ing to get these machines, by sending a 

 deputation to Ottawa to see the Minister, 

 and by many helpful suggestions. The 

 President, Sir Charles Davidson, gave much 

 needed legal advice and helped in other 

 ways. 



The pilot engaged by the Association. 

 Lieut. Stuart Graham, of Montreal, had 



had experience with both airplanes and 

 seaplanes, having served in the Royal 

 British Naval Air Service and having been 

 decorated for sinking a German submarine 

 after his engine had gone dead. He went 

 to Halifax and with his engineer, Mr. 

 Kehre, and with the help of the officers of 

 the Halifax Station, assembled seaplane 

 No. 1876. He left Halifax on the afternoon 

 of June S and flew to St. John, New 

 Brunswick, without any trouble except a 

 fog which lifted just as he reached St. John. 

 He remained there over night and left the 

 next day for Lac Temiscouata, Quebec. In 

 flying across the State of Maine, he en- 

 countered a heavy thunderstorm and seeing 

 a lake of the same shape as the one he was 

 looking for made a landing, only to find that 

 he was on Eagle Lake, Maine. He re- 

 mained there over night and flew to Lake 

 Temiscouata the next morning. He had 

 ordered gas and oil sent there but it had 

 not arrived so he was forced to take auto- 

 mobile gasoline and go on to Riviere du 

 Loup on the St. Maurice. On the morning 

 of the 8th of June, the sea water was very 

 rough and a high wind and strong tide, 

 and in trying to take off the nose of the 

 machine went entirely under water drench- 

 ing Mrs. Graham, who was in the forward 

 seat acting as navigator. He left Riviere 

 du Loup at 1 P. M. passed over Quebec 

 City at 2.25 and arrived at Three Rivers at 

 3.10. Here he was met by Messrs. R. F. 

 Grant, President, and Mr. Henry Sorgius, 

 Manager, and Ellwood Wilson, a Director 

 of the St. Maurice Association. At the 

 wharf the Hon. J. A. Tessier, Minister of 

 Roads and Mayor of the City of Three 

 Rivers, formally welcomed Lieut, and Mrs. 

 Graham, the Mayoress presenting Mrs. 

 Graham with a bouquet of beautiful flow- 

 ers. After a rest the party took the air 

 at 6.50 and arrived at Lac la Tortue at 7.10. 

 The trip was made without incident or mis- 

 hap of any kind, the four hundred horse 

 power Liberty engine never missing a 

 stroke. The plane seems to be ideal for 

 work over forests such as those in Quebec 

 where lakes for landing abound. Its gaso- 

 line capacity is a little low for long flights. 

 The machine lands and takes off beauti- 

 fully. Mrs. Graham has named the first 

 machine "La Vigilance." Lieut. Graham 

 leaves the nth of June for Halifax to 

 bring up the second machine and will then 

 commence his patrol and photographic 

 work. Complete cost records are being 

 kept and will be published at the end of the 

 season. 



This is the first use of seaplanes in 

 Canada for other than war purposes, the 

 first flight of any kind ever made from 

 Halifax to Quebec, and I think the first 

 for commercial purposes ever made in Can- 



FORESTERS ATTENTION 



AMERICAN FORESTRY will gladly print free 

 of charge in this column advertisement! of for- 

 esters, lumbermen and woodsmen, discharged or 

 about to be discharged from military st-rvicc, who 

 want positions, or of persons having employment 

 to offer such foresters, lumbermen or woodsmen. 



ARBORICULTURIST is open to an engagement 

 to take charge of, or as assistant in City For- 

 estry work. Experience and training, ten years, 

 covering the entire arboricultural field — from 

 planting to expert tree surgery — including nur- 

 sery practice, and supervision in the care and 

 detailed management of city shade trees. For 

 further information, address Box 700, care of 

 American Forestry. 



POSITION wanted by technically trained For- 

 ester. Have had fourteen years experience 

 along forestry lines, over five years on the 

 National Forests in timber sale, silvicultural 

 and administrative work; three years experi- 

 ence in city forestry, tree surgery and landscape 

 work. Forester for the North Shore Park Dis 

 trict of Chicago. City forestry and landscape 

 work preferred, but will be glad to consider 

 other lines. Can furnish the best of reference 

 Address Box 600, Care American Forestry 

 Magazine, Washington, D. C. (1-3) 



YOUNG MAN recently discharged from the U. S. 

 Navy, wants employment with wholesale lum- 

 ber manufacturer; college graduate; five year's 

 experience in nursery business; can furnish • 

 best of references. Address Box 675. Care 

 American Forestry Magazine, Washington, 

 B. C. (1-3) 



WANTED: Young forester, preferably married, 

 for clearing and maintaining woodland on small 

 estate, operating private nursery, etc. Will pay 

 $80 or better, depending on qualifications and 

 experience. Six room residence on state road 

 included Address Box 750, c/o American For- 

 estry Magazine, Washington, D. C. (7-9 19) 



ada. The Managers of the various Com- 

 panies which make up the St. Maurice 

 Forest Protective Association have signi- 

 fied their intention to inspect their timber 

 limits from the air, and photographic maps 

 will be made for any timber holders in the 

 Association who wish them. 



A small station with living quarters and 

 machine shop is to be prepared for the 

 machines and the fullest possible use will 

 be made of them. 



VALUE OF NUTS 



Nuts can and do take the place of meat in the 

 diet with beneficial results, and with the grow- 

 ing scarcity of meat due to the world war, they 

 are bound to be in great demand at good prices 

 in the future. 



The comparative food value to the pound in 

 calories is shown by the following table: 



Round Steak 950 



Wheat Flour 1,650 



White Bread , 1,215 



Dried Beans_„ 1,605 



Raisins , 1,605 



English Walnuts 3,075 



Pecans 3,445 



It should be noted here that the true value of 

 any article of food should not be measured by 

 its cost, but by what it is worth to the consumer. 



ONE POPLAR BRINGS $11,000 



A yellow poplar tree of giant size, which for 

 years had stood in the hills of the Cumberland 

 Mountain, where it was an object of unusual 

 interest, has already brought approximately 

 $11,000 as a manufactured product. The tree was 

 cut down by a local lumber concern and con- 

 signed to a firm in Cincinnati. When sawn, the 

 product totaled nearly 7,000 feet of first-class lum- 

 ber, with several hundred feet second-class lum- 

 ber thrown in. 



It is declared that this was the largest tree 

 marketed from the eastern Kentucky fields within 

 a half century. It was so large that for a num- 

 ber of years the task of marketing it was a 

 serious obstacle, there being few lumbermen who 

 cared to try to cut it down. 



