Timber Conditions of British Columbia. 185 



Now, according to statistics, the lumber cut from 1888 to 1904, 

 inclusive (17 years), aggregated 2,569,756,262 feet — a mere 

 nothing compared with the grand total — and taking the average 

 yearly cut for the 17 years, we find if that average were maintain- 

 ed for the next 200 years, our forests would still be far from 

 exhausted. This is a hopeful outlook for the people of British 

 Columbia, and the new provinces lying east of the Rockv Moun- 

 tains, whose inhabitants must look to us for their supplies of 

 lumber, but even with what seems at first blush an embarrass- 

 ment of riches, we must not assume that this forestrv treasure is 

 inexhaustible. Prudently managed it will last to' the end of 

 time, but if wasteful lumbering methods (so general in the past) 

 are persisted in, and fires allowed to run unchecked, our magni- 

 ficent forest heritage might be dissipated in a generation or two. 



In the Colonial period of British Coltmibia's historv the 

 question of forest preservation was given little, if any, consider- 

 ation. What settlements existed were confined to the sea coast 

 and the banks of the Fraser River. The great hinterland was 

 unknown — a pathless wilderness — the home of a few scattered 

 Indian tribes, and dotted here and there with the trading posts 

 of the Hudson Bay Company. The policy of the Government 

 of those days was to clear the land in and about the settlement 

 at any cost, and the methods used were decidedlv not in the line 

 of forest preservation. The gold seekers came next, and in their 

 eager quest for treasure, they naturally regarded the forest as a 

 barrier to success and unhesitatingly destroyed it in order to 

 clear the way for their mining operations. 



It was not until 1874 that the Government of British Col- 

 umbia took steps to preserve the forests. In that vear what is 

 known as the "Bush Fire Act" was passed. It provided that 

 any person convicted of igniting fires in the woods during the 

 months of June, July, August or September, and failing to 

 thoroughly extinguish the same, should, in the case of damage 

 resulting, be liable to a fine of $100.00, or three months' imprison- 

 ment. The same punishment was provided for persons allowing 

 fire to spread from their own property to that of their neighbours, 

 or to adjacent public lands. This Act was inoperative, however, 

 except in districts of which two-thirds of the residents petitioned 

 the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council for its enforcement. In 

 1887 the "Bush Fire Act" was made general throughout the 

 Province, and in 1896 the Lieutenant-Govemor-in-Council was 

 given power to define any portion of the Province as a fire district, 

 and it was made unlawful to set out or start fires between the 

 first of May and the first of October, except for tlie purpose of 

 clearing land, cooking, obtaining warmth, or for industrial 

 purposes. Provisions were made in this Act, and subsequent 

 amendments passed providing for safeguards against the spread 



