XIV 



REPORT OF THE No. 3 



it became necessary to kill oti' nearly one hundred of them, and $800 was derived 

 from the sale of the meat. 



(For Superintendents' reports see Appendices Nos. 30 and 31, page 71 to 76.) 



Railways. 



An additional stafE of rangers had to be put upon the railways in the Province 

 owing to increased construction. The Transcontinental runs through the Province 

 north of the height of land on the Hudson Bay slope from the time it enters On- 

 tario until it passes into the Province of Manitoba. In addition to the main line 

 there is a branch from Fort William to Sioux Lookout. Considerable progress has 

 been made in the construction of the Transcontinental, but it is still in the hands 

 of the contractors and we have to look after the fireranging on it very closely. 



The Canadian ISTorthern is under construction from near Ruel west to Port 

 Arthur, and from Ruel east to Pembroke, and a large staff of firerangers were kept 

 on it. 



The Algoma Central is under construction from Hobon to "Hearst. On the 

 Transcontinental the usual staff of rangers was on duty all summer. 



On these railways we have placed four supervising rangers with two men on 

 each ten miles under them. Their instructions were to keep a close watch over the 

 habits and acts of the labourers. The Italians and other foreigners are notoriously 

 careless in the use of fire, using it for smudges and for cooking — not only in the 

 camp where they live, but wherever they sit down to lunch or smoke, and they are 

 inveterate cigarette smokers and careless how they dispose of the partly unsmoked 

 cigarette and where they throw down matches. The rangers are instructed to im- 

 press upon the foremen the necessity for warning their men to be very careful in the 

 use of fire, and also to be sure to extinguish it when it has served their purpose, 

 whatever that may have been. Where the labour is English-speaking the rangers 

 warn them and give them directions and hand them a copy of the Fire Act. They 

 also put up poster copies in Italian and English at all points where men congregate. 

 By doing this and traversing their five-mile beats twice a day — once out and once 

 back— they keep in touch with what is going on and enforce .obedience to the regu- 

 lations. We had no fires of any consequence on the Transcontinental last summer. 

 This no doubt was, in a measure, due to the very wet season. 



On the Canadian Northern from Ruel to Nepigon we put a ranger on every 

 seven miles. The company had an engineer with a residency every seven miles, and 

 one ranger was put. in each residency, and the engineers and contractors were asked 

 to see that they did their duty in patrolling the railway and render them every 

 assistance they required. We had no fires of any consequence on this railway. 



On the Algoma Central a staff of rangers was also on duty under similar in- 

 structions and no fires occurred there. 



The railways that are in running order or partly in running order are the 

 Canadian Pacific, the Canadian Northern, the Algoma Central, the Algoma Eastern 

 and the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario. 



On the Canadian Pacific we had one ranger from the Severn north, whose duty 

 it was to take care of the block of pine timber that grows in the Township of Wood 

 through which the railway runs. We had another ranger on the C. P. R. from 

 Port Arthur west. his duty being to have supervision of the track to see where ties 

 were being burnt or any fires taking place along the line, and wherever he finds a 

 fire to get off the train at the next station and find out all particulars about it, and 



