1904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



300 have been appointed during the 

 first part of the year, but by September 

 i, to make provision for possible fall 

 fires, there were 450 in service. The 

 hardest thing to contend against has 

 been the indifference of the people, who 

 have become so accustomed to forest 

 fires that they accept them as a matter 

 of course, and unless the fire is burning 

 in valuable virgin pine practically no 

 attention is paid to it, and the accepted 

 program is to let it run and trust to rain 

 to put it out before it does a great deal 

 of damage. Wardens are, however, in- 

 structed to rigidly enforce the two fol- 

 lowing laws of the statutes of Wisconsin : 



' ' Setting and Failing to Put Out Fire. 

 Whenever the fire warden of any town 

 becomes convinced that a dangerously 

 dry time exists in its vicinity, and that 

 it is imprudent to set fires upon any 

 land, he shall post or cause to be posted 

 a notice in three public places in such 

 town forbidding the setting of such fire 

 therein, and after the posting of such 

 notices no person shall set any fire upon 

 any land in said town, except for wai ru- 

 ing the person or coo/.ing food, until 

 written permission has been received 

 from one of the fire wardens of said 

 town. All persons who start camp fires 

 shall exercise all reasonable precautions 

 to prevent damage therefrom and shall 

 entirely extinguish the same before 

 leaving them. Every person violating 

 any provision of this section shall be 

 punished by a fine of not more than 

 fifty dollars or by imprisonment in the 

 county jail not more than six months 

 for each offense. 



"Same. Any person who shall build 

 a fire on any lands in this state not his 

 own or under his control, except as 

 hereinafter provided, shall, before leav- 

 ing the same, totally extinguish it, and 

 upon failure to do so shall be punished 

 by a fine not exceeding one hundred 

 dollars or by imprisonment in the county 

 jail not exceeding one month, or by 

 both such fine and imprisonment. Any 

 person who shall willfully or negligently 

 set fire to or assist another to set fire 

 on any land, whereby such land is in- 

 jured or endangered, or shall willfully 

 or negligently suffer any fire upon his 

 own land to escape beyond the limits 



thereof, to the injury of the land of 

 another, shall be punished as hereinbe- 

 fore provided and be liable to the person 

 injured for all damage that may be 

 caused by the fire. 1 ' 



Underflow of The investigation of the 

 Arkansas. underflow in the Arkan- 



sas River Valley in 

 western Kansas, under the direction of 

 Mr. Charles S. Slichter, of the U. S. 

 Geological Survey, is drawing to a 

 close. Operations have been extended 

 to a line of stations at Deerfield, Kansas, 

 and in tw r o locations near Hartland. 

 The conditions at Deerfield were found 

 to be similar to those near Garden City. 

 The materials are not quite as uniform, 

 but the average ground water velocities 

 are quite as high. 



The range of velocities near Hartland 

 were from 6 to 24 feet per 24 hours, and 

 the general direction of seepage is, as 

 at former stations, in a general easterly 

 direction, corresponding to the slope of 

 the valley. 



After carefully going over the entire 

 situation, Mr. Slichter has concluded 

 that the most feasible site for an infil- 

 tration gallery is in the neighborhood of 

 Deerfield, at a point about i l A miles 

 above the headgates of the Farmers' 

 Ditch, and if a successful gallery can 

 be constructed its waters could discharge 

 into the Farmers' Ditch and so reach 

 the uplands. 



The investigation shows that water 

 can be pumped so cheaply in the bottom 

 lands of the Arkansas Valley that an in- 

 filtration gallery designed to provide 

 water for such lands would be imprac- 

 ticable. At a point near Lakin and 

 Hartland there is found the ' ' mouth ' 

 of the disappearing stream known as 

 Bear Creek. This is a perennial stream 

 that disappears as soon as it reaches the 

 sand hills, 5 to 10 miles south of the 

 channel of the Arkansas. Mr. Slichter 

 measured the underflow in the dry 

 "flood channel' 1 -of Bear Creek and 

 found that the motion is across the 

 channel of the creek, but down stream, 

 with reference to the Arkansas valley, 

 following the usual direction of the 

 water of the Arkansas Underflow. 



