1904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



195 



ing brush and grass, particularly on 

 windy days, started one-fourth of the 

 fires, burned nearly 60 per cent of the 

 total acreage, and did more than 50 per 

 cent of the damage. In view of these 

 facts, it is evident that there is need for 

 a more rigid enforcement of the law in 

 reference to forest fires, particularly of 

 those provisions which forbid the burn- 

 ing of brush, grass, etc., without main- 

 taining a sufficient watch to prevent it 

 spreading. 



'Atlantic county suffered the most from 

 forest fires in 1 903 . Nearly 2 5 , ooo acres 

 of timber were swept off, and the loss 

 figured up $75,205. 



Union county had one fire. Three 

 acres were burned over, and the loss 

 was estimated at only $1.50. 



California A special meeting of the 



Water and California Water and 

 Forest Forest Association was 



Association. held Saturday, April 

 23, in the Chamber of 

 Commerce rooms at 307 Sansome street, 

 President W. H. Beatty in the chair, to 

 elect officers for the ensuing year and 

 consider the reports of various men who 

 have been in the field. A delegation of 

 the Outdoor Art League appeared be- 

 fore the association asking for coopera- 

 tion in saving the Calaveras big trees to 

 government ownership. 



Among the reports read was one by 

 E. T. Perkins, of the United States 

 Geological Survey, on the Colorado 

 River and its Possibilities ; by H. E. 

 Greene, of Los Angeles, on the Sacra- 

 mento and its Tributaries ; by J. A. C. 

 Clausen, of the United States Reclama- 

 tion Bureau, on the Inyo, and by Pro- 

 fessor Samuel Fortier, of the State Uni- 

 versity Department of Agriculture, on 

 Irrigation and Agriculture. A paper 

 by Gifford Pinchot, of the Forestry De- 

 partment, on Special Phases of Forestry 

 in California, was also read. 



For the Outdoor Art League Mrs. 

 Lovell White appeared with a large 

 committee of ladies. They read a letter 

 from Secretary Wilson stating that he 

 would be glad to seek a practicable 

 plan of saving the Calaveras big trees 

 to the government, and asked the asso- 



ciation to indorse their plan of having 

 a joint federal and state board to ap- 

 pra'se these trees for future purchase 

 or condemnation by the United States. 

 The association agreed to this, and 

 passed resolutions indorsing the plan 

 and requesting the Department of the 

 Interior to arrange some way in which 

 this could be done. 



Other interesting and valuable papers 

 besides those mentioned, were read at 

 the afternoon session, and the govern- 

 ment was asked to continue its present 

 plan of testing timber in California. At 

 the election of officers all the old officers 

 were reflected, Charles Laton being 

 chosen on the advisory board, vice W. E. 

 Smythe, resigned. President William 

 H. Beatty announced that the next 

 meeting would be the regular one in 

 December, and late in the afternoon the 

 association adjourned till that day. 



In a discussion during .the session of 

 proposed legislation on water rights it 

 developed that the association was di- 

 vided on its expediency, President Be- 

 atty deprecating any attempt at change 

 and Judge John D. Works, of Los An- 

 geles, favoring a revision of present 

 laws. 



Forest Fire With the advance of 

 Record. spring and summer come 



notices of forest fires of 

 a minor degree of destructiveness as 

 yet, but gradually growing more and 

 more disastrous as the season of their 

 destructiveness reaches its height. The 

 most serious fire so far this season has 

 been raging in the Sierra Madre Moun- 

 tains of Mexico, about 150 miles from 

 El Paso, Texas. The fire started about 

 a week ago, and has since traversed an 

 area covering many miles, in places 

 sweeping the hills clean of valuable 

 timber in the game and forest preserve 

 country. Second in point of destruc- 

 tiveness were the fires which have been 

 consuming valuable timber in the Pine 

 Mountain district of Kentucky. Forest 

 fires of more or less disastrous degree 

 have been prevalent during the entire 

 month in many sections of North Caro- 

 lina. Much valuable standing timber 

 and 800 cords of lumber were destroyed 



