1919-20 DEPABTMENT OF LANDS, FOEESTS AND MINES. 109 



Matheson ranger district the townships of Clergue, Carr, Playfair and Pacaud 

 had considerable fire. 



But while much damage was done in the Northern Inspectorate it was rela- 

 tively insignificant when one turns to a consideration of the fire record in the 

 Central Inspectorate. The fires in the north were largely on lands being cleared 

 or which will eventually be cleared for farming purposes. From the one stand- 

 point of the timber supply of the Province they are of less concern than in the 

 case of those regions which are to remain centres of timber production. The 

 Central Inspectorate embraces roughly the middle portion of the white pine belt 

 in Ontario, and little of the soil is suited to agricultural pursuits. Fire in this 

 region means not only the loss of standing timber, but also the growing crop for 

 future logging. 



In this inspectorate the area reported burned over totalled 618,496 acres. 

 The largest fires occurred in the Chapleau, Sudbury, Webb wood and Soo Eanger 

 Districts. In the strip of country between Lake Nipissing and Sault Ste. Marie, 

 lying south of the Mississagi forest reserve, approximately 523,000 acres were 

 reported burned over — in other words, around 13 per cent, of this region. Large 

 general fires occurred in the townships of Curtis, Gillmor, McMahon, Morin, 201, 

 195, Bridgland, Wells, Grassett, 182, 175, 169, 168, 167, Mack, Striker, 145, 144, 

 143, Proctor, 132, 131, 130, 129, 120, Bigelow, Dunlop, jVIerritt, Craig, Moncrieff, 

 Totten, Cascaden, Trill, Dowling, Foster, 91, 90, 83, 82, 10, Blezard, Neelon, Dill, 

 Dryden, Cleland, Burwash, Street, Hawley, Hagar, Appelby, Latchford, Bertram. 

 In quite a number of cases whole townships were swept over. 



The Western and Southern Inspectorates also suffered severely — to the extent 

 of 181,458 acres and 63,824 acres, respectively. In the former, the Nipigon, Kainy 

 River and Thunder Bay districts suffered most; and in the latter, Muskoka and 

 Parry Sound. 



The total area reported burned over in the Province in 1919 was 922,161 

 acres, or 1,441 square miles. It is hard to realize what such an area is, but a 

 conception may be formed by trying to visualize a strip of country six miles wide 

 from Toronto to North Bay. 



No complete estimates of the loss are available. Included in the total burned 

 area are 247,266 acres of land classed as timbered, mostly with white pine. At 

 the extremely low estimate of 1,000 feet per acre, this would mean as much timber 

 as the Province received dues on last year. Of course, some of the damaged 

 timber will be salvaged. Heavy losses were also sustained by lumber concerns by 

 the burning of camps, logging equipment, supplies and sawmills. These losses, 

 of course, must ultimately be passed on to the consumer. 



In addition, there were burned over 251,355 acres classed as " logged over 

 with some timber left," and 233,196 acres of young growth; in other words, 

 around 485,000 acres of cut-over lands. The loss here is very high because it 

 means the wiping out of a large potential crop without any salvage. To put that 

 crop back artificially by planting would take at least $5,000,000, to say nothing 

 of the loss in time as represented in the age of the burned stands of young trees. 



Before going into a discussion of the situation presented above it may bo 

 well to point out that forest protection in Ontario has three distinct phases. In 

 the Clay Belt country the yearly expenditure is proportionately high because of 

 the permit system and the scattered nature of this work. It is not justifiable on 

 timber account alone, because most of the region will not be kept as a permanent 

 timl)er area, l)ut will pass to farming, A part of the cost of protection in this 



