9-10 DEPAETMENT OF LANDS, FORESTS AND MINES. xi 



ness in connection with their engines. Curious to note some of the most serioiua 

 fires that occurred, were away from railway construction, settlement, or lumbering. 

 On the other side of the boundary line, in the State of Minnesota, serious fires 

 occurred, entailing great loss of life, and some of them crossed into Ontario. 

 Fortunately we experienced no loss of life, although serious damage was done to 

 the forest. There were on duty on licensed lands, during the past season, 427 fire 

 rangers, all paid by the timber licensees. 



Forest Eeserves. 



During the summer the usual fire-ranging staffs were placed on duty in the 

 several forest reserves: — The Temagami, Mississaga, Nepigon, Quetico and the 

 Eastern. On these reserves there were about 288 rangers on duty. In the 

 Temagami Beserve, there has been great danger for some time, owing to the exten- 

 sive exploring and mining for silver, which has been going on there, but during 

 the past summer we have been fortunate enough to have escaped serious damage 

 from fire. The explorers and miners, and summer tourists, of whom a great num- 

 ber visited this reserve during the summer months, appear to have exercised every 

 care and precaution. At the northern end of this great reserve there has been 

 great activity and prospecting incident to the gold discoveries which have taken 

 place there. Next summer will no doubt see a tremendous influx of prospectors, 

 miners and others, and we shall have to place a large staff on duty at that end. o^ 

 the reserve. It is possible that a railway will be constructed from the T. & N. 0. 

 into Porcupine at an early date, and there is also an agitation on foot to have a 

 railway built into Gowganda, which will be an added source of danger. If we had 

 not had very efficient fire-ranging in that reserve since the mining excitemenifi 

 began, the large quantity of Pine timber growing there would, in all probabilityy 

 have gone up in smoke. 



There have been no fires during the year in the Mississaga, the Nepigon or the 

 Eastern Eeserves, where adequate staffs of fire rangers were maintained. The 

 great Nepigon Eeserve is exposed to considerable risk, owing to the construction 

 through the northern end of it of the Transcontinental railway. The Eastern 

 Eeserve has been' carefully guarded and the forest growth is reported to be dense 

 and thrifty on this territory, which was completely denuded of its Pine timber 

 before being set apart as a Eeserve, The Sibley Eeserve is a small area, covering 

 Thunder Cape, — the object being to keep that noble promontory clothed with 

 timber. No fire has occurred there. The Quetico Eeserve, in the Eainy Eiver 

 district, — the latest addition to our list of forest reserves, — suffered somewhat 

 from forest fires during the past summer. As this reserve is away from settlement 

 and railways, or lum^bering, it was difficult to account for the fires, unless they had 

 crossed from the Minnesota side, where serious fires raged for considerable periods. 

 We had an adequate staff of rangers on duty in this Eeserve, and every effort was 

 made to protect it, and suppress fires when they occurred. "We had to dispose of 

 some areas in this Eeserve, where the timber was seriously damaged, and it had 

 to be cut to save its value for the Province. Serious fires occurred at other points 

 in the Thunder Bay and Eainy Eiver Districts. Altogether it was estimated that 

 about one thousand miles of territory had been more or less damaged by fire. 

 Part of this territory had been cut over some time ago under authority of permit, 

 — some was partially cut over, and some was virgin territory. Our fire rangers had 

 instructions to report at once to the chief rangers when fires occurred, and the 

 chief rangers were requested to have estimates made of the damaged timber, and 



