1544 



Canadian Forestri) Journal, Fehruarij, 1918 



More Letters From The Front 



Telling of Logging Under Fire, Shell Splinters In 

 Logs, An Indian Fire Ranger As Sniper, Etc. 



Canadians working wilh the For- 

 estry Battalions in England and 

 France have their, own points of view 

 of the unique surroundings of war. 

 The following excerpts from letters 

 received by the Director of Forestry, 

 Mr. R. H. Campbell, will doubtless 

 be found highly interesting. 



AN INDIAN RANGER-SNIPER 



Some of the most "picturesque" 

 letters which the Dominion Forestry 

 Branch receives from its sixty-odd 

 men overseas are those dictated by 

 Private Matthew Nackaway, an In- 

 dian from Norway House, who was 

 previously a fire ranger patrolling a 

 section of country along the Nelson 

 river in northern Manitoba. His 

 commanding officer reports that he 

 and the other Indians attached to the 

 unit are giving very good service. 

 They are employed chiefly as dis- 

 patch runners, scouts, and snipers. 

 It is said their ability to creep up close 

 to the enemy posts without being 

 discovered has been of the greatest 

 value to the unit. Private Nackaway 

 was gassed on September 22nd, and 

 was so badly burned by this new form 

 of gas that he was sent to a hospital 

 in England. In a letter to the 

 Director of Forestry, Mr. R. H. 

 Campbell, he describes the effect of 

 this gas as being like that of applying 

 raw mustard to the skin. Private 

 Nackaway is recovering but his lungs 

 still give a good deal of trouble 



COL. STEVENSON IN FRANCE 

 Lt. Col. H. I. Stevenson, who, 

 with the Fort Garry Horse in France 

 but whose work in civil life is that of 

 Supervisor of the Riding Mountain 

 Forest Reserve, in Manitoba, under 

 the Dominion Forestry Branch, has 

 recently written the Director of 

 Foreslrv lo the effect thai last sum- 



mer he was loaned to the Royal 

 Engineers and took charge of a forest, 

 the prize hardwood forest of France — 

 erected mills, etc. and ran it for about 

 five months with about 3000 men. 

 Col. Stevenson says it was a good 

 experience, a sort of post-graduate 

 course in forestry, as this particular 

 forest is the one in which all the 

 Indian Forest Service spend their 

 time when in France finishing up their 

 course. 



FLYING A "BUS" . 

 Lieut. D. A. MacDonald, Royal 

 Flying Corps, England, formerly in 

 the Dominion Forestry Branch as 

 Forest Assistant, Bow River Forest 

 Reserve, in writing to Director R. H. 

 Campbell, says: I completed a six 

 weeks' theory course on Flying Me- 

 teorology, and practical Wireless, 

 . Machine Gunnery, Engines, Rigging 

 and Artillery Observations, at Read- 

 ing about three weeks ago and am 

 now undergoing higher instruction in 

 these and learning to fly a "bus." 

 It is the most interesting game I can 

 think of and certainly a wonderful 

 technical education for no cost to 

 yourself. I have felt settled since I 

 finally got started in the R. F. C. 

 which I haven't been since this war 

 started. The R. F. C. has a wonder- 

 ful equipment for instruction and 

 also is perfectly organized. The 

 average cost to the Government for 

 qualifying a pilot from the time of 

 his appointment until his graduation 

 is high. The largest item of this, of 

 course, is damage to machines due to 

 crashes. I expect it will be well on 

 in January before I get my wings 

 since we have many different mach- 

 ines to fly for 20 hours solo and the 

 weather is too "dud" in the winter 

 months to get in much flying. At 

 present the weather is fair for flying 

 about two days a week. Mr. Finlay- 



