82 



Canadian Forestry Journal, May- June, 1902. 



Use of Telephone Lines in 

 Fighting Fire 



(Concluded from page 73.) 



While the principal reason for 

 building these lines is for fire pro- 

 tection, tliey pay for themselves in 

 other ways by facilitating the busi- 

 ness and administration of the forest. 

 Hardly a week passes but the ranger 

 finds it necessary to communicate 

 with his supervisor upon some mat- 

 ter of business. Mail routes are scarce 

 in these remote districts. To get to 

 head-quarters he may have to ride 

 one hundred miles, or even more. 

 This means several days of labor 

 lost, to say nothing of the risk of 

 leaving the district Mathout any 

 patrol. With a telephone the matter 

 can be settled in fifteen minutes and 

 the ranger does not leave his work. 



During the summer months the 

 forests are used to pasture thousands 

 of head of sheep, cattle and horses, 

 that are trailed for scores of miles 

 to these summer pastures. The tele- 

 phone is a boon to the owner in en- 

 abling him to keep in touch with his 

 foremen and outfit. 



This is why the Forest Service 

 spends thousands of dollars of its ap- 

 propriation each year in the con- 

 struction of telephone lines. Besides 

 those built and owned by the Service 

 they have the free use of many miles 

 of telephone built by settlers in co- 

 operation with the Service. Free 

 right of way and poles are granted 

 to any company, corporation or pri- 

 vate party to cross the forests with 

 such lines ; in exchange for these 

 privileges the Forest Service asks 

 the right to connect its lines, or to 

 place an instrument where needed. 

 Settlers and miners are glad to have 

 an instrument placed in their cabins 

 free of charge, the only fee required 

 being that they notify the rangers of 

 any smoke seen in their vicinity. 

 Often an abandoned telephone line, 

 that has been built into a once pros- 

 perous mining camp, is purchased or 

 leased at small expense. Tempor- 

 ary lines are often strung to some 



lookout point, where the instrument 

 is placed in a box and nailed to a 

 tree ; such lines are generally strung 

 on trees or brush and taken down 

 when the season is over. 



A comprehensive plan for a tele- 

 phone system has been worked out 

 for each forest ; few of these have 

 been completed to date, but some- 

 thing is being added to them each 

 year as appropriations are available. 

 With their completion, and an in- 

 creased force for patrol during the 

 dry season, a serious forest fire on 

 the national forest will be a rare oc- 

 currence. 



The Forestry Division of the Laur- 

 entide Co., (Grand Mere, P.Q.), is 

 this spring planting 15,000 seedlings, 

 having in view the re-stocking of cut- 

 over lands near their mill. A forest 

 nursery will also be established. Map- 

 ping and valuation survey work will 

 be continued. 



The Timherman (Portland, Ore., 

 U.S.A.,) reports a number of forest 

 fires in the states of Washington and 

 Oregon. The early part of ]\lay was 

 very dry, and hence the season was 

 favorable for forest fires. Five lives 

 were lost in a fire which destroyed 

 one logging camp. Nine camps and 

 one mill, besides other property, are 

 also reported destroyed. 



The College of Forestry of the Uni- 

 versity of Washington is to have a 

 demonstration forest ; it will fill the 

 double purpose of an experiment sta- 

 tion and a field laboratory in which 

 the students of the college may carry 

 on work. 



A press despatch, dated May 28, 

 from Prince Albert, Sask., stated that 

 bush fires had been sweeping the 

 country north of the River Saskat- 

 chewan for two weeks before that 

 date. One house belonging to a set- 

 tler had been destroyed, and a sur- 

 vey camp of the Canadian Northern 

 Hudson Bay railway burned. 



