Forestry and Irrigation. 



VOL. X. 



JULY, 1904. 



No. 7. 



NEWS AND NOTES. 



Forest Fire Newspaper reports indi- 

 Record. cate that the forest fires 



mentioned as prevalent 

 in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin in 

 last month's FORESTRY AND IRRIGA- 

 TION have become inactive, principally 

 on account of heavy rains throughout 

 the threatened territory. These fires 

 had been steadily burning for several 

 weeks, and the losses, while not large, 

 have been quite severe to a number of 

 firms in the burned section. In Cali- 

 fornia intense heat and long-continued 

 drouth were the agencies that contrib- 

 uted toward the starting of several forest 

 and grain fires, actively assisted by the 

 omnipresent locomotive spark in most 

 cases. On June 133 destructive blaze 

 was reported on the Tejon Ranch, about 

 50 miles from Bakersville, Cal., but it is 

 stated that the losses comprise grain and 

 feed rather than timber. Similar fires 

 occurred in the Tehachapi Mountains 

 near Bealville, with comparatively little 

 damage to timber. Grain fires have 

 been frequent and in some cases entailed 

 severe losses, especially near Honcut, 

 Butte county, Dunnigan, Yolo county, 

 and in Colusa county. 



Logging firms and lumbermen gener- 

 ally suffered considerable loss through 

 forest fires distributed throughout Wash- 

 ington. The state has a new fire law, 

 providing severe penalties for non-ob- 

 servance of certain safety regulations, 

 and strong effort is being made by the 

 authorities to secure its rigid observ- 

 ance. The losses to date, says the Seattle 

 Post- Intelligencer, are estimated to be not 

 far from $350,000, $150,000 of which is 

 estimated to have been lost through the 

 destruction of timber and lumbering out- 

 fits by forest fires in Snohomish county. 

 No further danger is at present appre- 



hended, however, as it is thought that the 

 excessive rains of recent date will have 

 effectually extinguished all signs of fire. 

 The King County Commissioners, who 

 are empowered to act as an ex officio 

 Board of Deputy State Forest Fire War- 

 dens, have issued the following warning 

 to the public, together with rules gov- 

 erning the deputy wardens, which will 

 be rigidly enforced during the next three 

 months : 



"Any person, firm, or corporation fir- 

 ing or burning any slashing or chopping 

 during the close season without first 

 obtaining permission from the forest fire 

 warden of King county will be prose- 

 cuted as provided by law 7 . Before any 

 permission will be granted the applicant 

 must give notice to all owners, tenants, 

 agents, or representatives of adjoining 

 lands, giving the time and place of the 

 proposed burning, and on presentation 

 of proof that such notice has been given 

 permission will be granted after the ex- 

 piration of three days. 



' ' The forest fire warden shall inspect 

 all logging engines, locomotives, and 

 farm engines, and see that they are 

 properly equipped w r ith spark-arresters 

 as provided by law and report any neg- 

 lect to the prosecuting attorney." 



Water Power 

 Survey. 



The appropriation of 

 $1,500 recently made 

 by the New York State 

 Legislature for cooperative hydro- 

 graphic work with the United States 

 Geological Survey will be used in main- 

 taining records of the rise and fall, the 

 ordinary outflow, floods, and drouths of 

 many streams in the state. By means 

 of these records it is possible to deter- 

 mine in specific cases the water supply 



