1900. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



217 



of the West Fork would doubtless have 

 been swept clean, and the fire might have 

 spread over such a large area that it would 

 have been impossible to stop it before the 

 autumn rains. In all many thousand 

 acres of reserve timber were destroyed, 

 and in most places the soil was swept clean 

 of every vestige of vegetation. At times 

 there were 300 men employed in fighting 

 the flames, and the cost to the government 

 in wages and food will amount to about 

 ten thousand dollars. 



The best account of the fierceness and 

 rapidity with which the fire burned was 

 given in the Western Graphic, whose 

 special artist took the photographs which 



for taking photographs, the ridge led into 

 an unburnt section like an inverted k V.' 

 The breeze was blowing steadily from the 

 west, and, all unconscious of danger, one 

 of the cameras was set in position, when, 

 without warning, the wind suddenly 

 changed, bringing the fire down the can- 

 yon at a terrific pace, the flames mounting 

 fifty and seventy-five feet in the air. The 

 roar was louder than a dozen batteries of 

 artillery, and great masses of rocks, liber- 

 ated by the fire, came down the mountain 

 sides, breaking down trees and brush. 

 The heat was intense, and at times the 

 smoke was blown down in volumes, mak- 

 ine it difficult to breathe. But I was 



By courtesy of the Western Graphic. 



This picture was taken looking up a steep canyon, and shows a ''hog-back" in the ctnter which 

 the fire, still some distance away, had just passed over. The line of flame extended acioss the en- 

 tire canyon. " Two minutes after this photograph was taken the fire had reached and passed the 

 artist's position." 



are reproduced in this number of THE 

 FORESTER. The magazine reported him 

 as saying in comment on his trip : 



"Leaving the team at the base of the 

 mountains, I ' broke brush ' up a long 

 ridge, and came in above where the fire 

 was crossing into the Little Santa Anita. 

 The fire was raging fiercely above me, 

 and in making my way to a suitable place 



there for pictures, and pointing the ma- 

 chine at random, pressed the bulb, and 

 then did record time down the canyon. 

 The fire gained steadily, but a bare ridge 

 was in sight, and as I made for it I stop- 

 ped several times and took 'snaps.' The 

 pencil pusher was wise enough not to go 

 into the trap, and when I was safely out 

 assisted me with the cameras. It was the 



