1912 AND FISHERIES COMMISSION. ' 175 



and very frequently unsafe, in consequence, to all but comparatively 

 large boats. At the present time the superintendent has his headquar- 

 ters at Nipigon village at the extreme southerly end of the reserve, and 

 is provided with no boat with which to move about the lake or cross it, 

 but is forced to depend on the steamer plying between certain points on 

 it in the interests of the firm of Kevillon Brothers. His charge includes 

 the river and lake with the forests on either side of them, although at 

 the present time the right of way of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway 

 is under a separate fire ranging service. The construction of the Canadian 

 Northern Railway as projected would appear likely to still further 

 enhance the difficulties of ranging and of supervision of the •same. Even 

 though the same policy were pursued for the protection of the forests 

 during the construction of this railway as has been followed in the case 

 of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, namely of allocating a separate 

 body of rangers under separate control to the w^ork, it is plain that 

 when the railways are in operation there will remain at least an equally 

 great necessity for strict precautions against fire, and, therefore, it is 

 only reasonable to presume that ultimately those sections of railway 

 which pass through the reserve will be included in the charge of the 

 superintendent of the reserve. It would seem, then, that some little 

 reorganization of the present system might be advisable in the near 

 future, in order that it may be capable of expansion as necessity arises 

 without impairing or upsetting its arrangements. 



The superintendent must in any case be a very busy man, with so 

 vast a district under his charge, and he should obviously be provided 

 with a boat of sufficient size to enable him to move about the lake in all 

 weathers and in all directions. A boat of the Class B type, as recom- 

 mended in the Interim Report of this Commission, would appear most 

 suitable for the purpose. The logical headquarters of the superintendent 

 should apparently be at some point on the south shore of the lake, 

 whence he can readily move to any point of the reserve, and as the 

 terminus of the light railway, previously referred to, is located at South 

 Bay, where there is convenient shelter for a boat, doubtless this would 

 be found to be the best location. It would obviously be impossible for 

 the superintendent to devote very much of his time to the protection of 

 the forests against fire if his presence is required more or less continu- 

 ously on the river for the issuance of angling licenses and the collection 

 of the fees, so that it would be indispensable that he should be furnished 

 with some form of deputy to attend principally to this duty. The con- 

 figuration of the territory breaks the reserve into two distinct portions, 

 the northern including Lake Nipigon and the forests bounding it to the 

 north, east and west; the southern, the River Nipigon with the forests 

 on either side of it. The Canadian Pacific Railway is at present the 

 chief means of access to the River Nipigon for visitors and must con- 

 tinue to be so until the other railways are in operation, but eventually 

 this monopoly will disappear and stations or getting-off places on the 



