Seventytwo Horses Were Packed Here for the Fire Camps 



seventy-five small fires were extin- 

 guished by the ranger^ before they 

 gathered headway. At one period of 

 the fire danger Ashland, a city of 4.000 

 inhabitants, closed all of its business 

 houses and the men assembled on the 

 fire line to save the city. It is appal- 

 ling to think what the situation might 

 have been, and the great work done 

 with an insufficient force, emphasizes 

 how much more effective the protection 

 might be made. 



The conditions on the Wallowa, 

 Whitman, Wenaha, Cascade and Ump- 

 qua were serious. In each of these for- 

 ests valuable resources were destroyed 

 and, but for the prompt action on the 

 part of Forest officers, not only tim- 

 ber but other property valued at many 

 hundreds of thousands of dollars would 

 have been lost. 



This is the most disastrous fire sea- 

 son the Northwest has ever known. 

 It is estimated that in the two States 

 of Oregon and Washington, one billion 

 feet of National Forest timber has been 

 killed by fire. Most of this, because of 

 inaccessibility, will never be marketed. 

 646 



It is probably true, that the fires in the 

 early 6o's, which destroyed an enor- 

 mous belt of timber along the Oregon 

 Coast, were more destructive than those 

 of this year. But in those days, while 

 the timber was in reality valuable, it 

 meant little to the citizens of that State. 

 The loss would have been placed at a 

 low figure as compared with that of 

 this year. In 1902, Washington and 

 Oregon suffered severely from forest 

 fires, but they were relatively local. 

 This year's fires have been general. No 

 section has escaped and the total loss, 

 if it is ever accurately ascertained, for 

 both the government and private lands, 

 will be staggering. Fires in Washing- 

 ton and Oregon have cost the Forest 

 Service, for extra labor alone, $150,000, 

 besides the patrols regularly main- 

 tained. In addition to this, private 

 owners in both States have expended 

 large sums both for fire fighting and 

 in patrols. 



The moral to be drawn is plain. We 

 must always be ready for the unusual 

 year. The losses of a year like the 

 present would pay for protection for 

 manv vears. Absolute safety must be 



