1 903 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



their aid. So great was the danger 

 that all of the women and children were 

 taken away by train. Many families 

 in this region were rendered homeless, 

 and some escaped only when driven 

 into the Oswegatchie River. Rain and 

 heavy snow checked the fire in the 

 neighborhood of Cranberry Lake. 



On May 1 1 these fires, which were 

 believed to have been effectually extin- 

 guished, broke out again with increased 

 fury, and, driven by high winds, threat- 

 ened Benson Mines, which had suffered 

 some loss in the previous fires. The 

 damage from this series of fires cannot 

 be estimated, and details of the destruc- 

 tion were meager in all cases, as the tele- 

 graph and telephone lines were de- 

 stroyed. Thousands of acres are known 

 to have been burned over, and in many 

 places the country is cleared of all vege- 

 tation. May 2 a fire broke out in the 

 mountains around the military reserva- 

 tion at West Point, and the Yale forest 

 students who are working on the govern- 

 ment tracts tried to check it. The en- 

 tire battalion of cadets was called out to 

 fight the fire and succeeded in stopping 

 the advance of the flames toward the 

 Military Academy's buildings. Consid- 

 erable damage was done to timber on 

 government property. 



Forest fires on two sides of Port 

 Jervis, Orange count}-, May 2 threat- 

 ened the town with destruction, espe- 

 cially as the men were all away. The 

 women of the town organized a bucket 

 brigade and saved the village property 

 adjacent to the fire. Several thousand 

 acres on the estate of George Chapin, 

 near Lebanon Lake, Sullivan county, 

 were burned over at the same time, 

 deer, antelope, and other game being 

 destroyed. This fire is said to have 

 been of incendiary origin, and Mr. 

 Chapin offered a reward of $2,000 for 

 the apprehension of the person who 

 started it. It is known also that the 

 extensive Adirondack fires were in 

 some instances deliberately and mali- 

 ciously started, and that as soon as one 

 was extinguished another was kindled. 

 In one instance a twelve-year-old boy 

 set fire to the woods in several places, 

 even after he had been apprehended 

 starting one fire which almost resulted 



in loss of life. May 20 the Adirondack 

 fires w T ere gaining headway so rapidly 

 that it was predicted nothing short of a 

 deluge of rain could prevent the abso- 

 lute laying waste to three counties, 

 with unprecedented losses. May 25 

 the fires were said to be under control. 



Pennsylvania* From May 10 to 14 

 fires burned over wide areas in Pennsyl- 

 vania, devastating the country around 

 Altoona, between that city and Johns- 

 town, and west of the latter place in the 

 Laurel and Chestnut ridges. For sixty 

 hours lumbermen and mountaineers 

 fought the flames without a rest and 

 managed to save the villages of Dunlo, 

 Vintondale, and Twin Rocks, which 

 were in imminent danger. Houses 

 were destroyed in Westmoreland county, 

 and timbered tracts in Cambria and 

 Somerset counties were burned over, 

 involving the destruction of much stand- 

 ing and sawed timber. Near Bradford, 

 on the northern boundary of the state, 

 fires again broke out on May 13, after 

 $1,000,000 worth of property had been 

 destroyed by fires on April 30. Here 

 the greatest trouble was to divert the 

 flames from oil wells. Near Ormsby 

 fift} r oil rigs were burned and a family 

 is missing. It is feared that the mem- 

 bers perished. 



Maryland. Fires around Cumber- 

 land, May 2, destroyed several square 

 miles of standing timber, the loss from 

 this source alone in one small area 

 amounting to $20,000. Many small 

 buildings, much fencing, lumber, ties, 

 and cord wood were also destroyed. 



Virginia. A mountain forest fire in 

 the southwestern part of Frederick 

 county, near Winchester, burned May 

 i and 2, destroying 4,000 acres of val- 

 uable timber and 20,000 panels of 

 fence. Two large residences with their 

 barns and outbuildings were burned, 

 and the losses from these amounted to 

 many thousands of dollars. 



Michigan. Fires were raging all 

 through the northern part of the Michi- 

 gan peninsula from April 27 to May i . 

 These were reported in the last issue of 

 FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION, though 

 the extent of the loss was not then 

 known. Since those reports additional 

 details have shown that many buildings 



