1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



355 



should therefore know what they are 

 talking about. 



This paper will confine itself to 

 northern California, and will attempt 

 to prove in this region : first, that the 

 Indian forest burning did untold harm 

 to the forest, and, second, that such 

 a method is absolutely indefensible for 

 present conditions which call for the 

 most careful and scientific regulation 

 of fires. 



INDIAN FOREST BURNING AND ITS 

 EFFECT. 



The trees themselves are witnesses 

 to continued fires which have swept 

 the California forests for an unknown 

 period. Nor is there any doubt that 

 most of these fires may be traced to 

 the Indians. 



A savage* and nomadic people is 

 mainly dependent on the chase, and in 

 the lack of efficient weapons there is 



i: 



Fig. 1. Old virgin forest rep'acing itself where fires have been absent 



