RECENT FOREST FIRES IN OREGON AND 



WASHINGTON. 



DESCRIPTIONS OF RECENT DISASTROUS FIRES, 

 WITH ESTIMATES OF THE LOSS OF PROPERTY. 



BY 



WILLIAM T. COX, 



BUREAU OF FORESTRY. 



DURING the month of September 

 severe fires occurred in nearly 

 every count}^ west of the Cascades in 

 Oregon and Washington, but the area 

 wherein the loss of life was greatest 

 and the destruction of timber most com- 

 plete is that portion of Washington ex- 

 tending from Kalama River, Cowlitz 

 county, south through Clarke and 

 Skamania counties almost to the Co- 

 lumbia and east to the valley of Wind 

 River. In Oregon the area chiefly de- 

 vastated extends from the Columbia 

 River southward, closely following the 

 western lines of the Bull Run and Cas- 

 cade Forest Reserves, through Multno- 

 mah and Clackamas counties, to Molalla 

 River. 



Some portions of these extensive 

 areas were quite thickl}^ settled, but 

 the greater portion consisted of rock- 

 strewn mountain slopes, worn into 

 gulches and canyons by numberless 

 clear, swift streams, and covered with 

 a virgin forest of Douglas Spruce. 



Roughly speaking, the Columbia 

 River bisects the fire-swept region west 

 of the Cascades. On the south side fire 

 came down almost to the river bank. 

 On the north side one range of hills in- 

 tervenes between the burned timber and 

 the river. 



I. THE OREGON FIRES. 



I will first call attention to the Clack- 

 amas and Bridal Veil fires, by which I 

 mean that series of fires which from 

 September loth to 13th, inclusive, de- 

 vastated Multnomah and Clackamas 

 counties and left practicalh' a continu- 

 ous belt of charred and ruined forest 



from the Columbia to the Molalla 

 River. The timber of this region is of 

 unusual value, owing to the nearness of 

 good markets. 



Hiring a saddle horse in Portland, I 

 went south to Oregon City, thence up 

 the Clackamas River, traversing the 

 worst burned districts in the vicinity of 

 Springwater, Viola, and Dodge ; then 

 following the belt of burned country 

 north to vicinity of Bridal Veil. Pro- 

 gress was necessarily slow through this 

 section, as roads and trails were blocked 

 by fallen timber, much of which was 

 still burning. Bridges were burned out 

 and streams difficult to ford. 



The area burned over, while not so- 

 great as was at first reported, is very 

 extensive. Fully 170,000 acres in 

 Multnomah and Clackamas counties- 

 are blackened by fires. Of this area 

 about 50,000 acres were either cut-over 

 lands, lands that had been cleared by 

 settlers or burned over by previous 

 fires, and had little merchantable tim- 

 ber upon them. 



In the Oregon fires but two people 

 met death. These were two bo3's 

 named Hamilton, who perished in the 

 flames near Bridal Veil. Several other 

 people are probably fatally burned and 

 many received injury. 



As near as can be ascertained, eighty- 

 six families were left homeless as a re- 

 sult of these fires. Two hundred other 

 settlers .suffered a partial loss of prop- 

 erty. The following list of farm prop- 

 erty destroyed has been prepared after 

 personally examining a great deal of the 

 burned country and carefully compar- 

 ing what I believe to be the more trust- 

 worthy estimates for portions not visited: 



(462J 



