142 OUR NATIONAL FORESTS 



number two. In any case it is all arranged before- 

 hand just exactly who shall be notified in case of a 

 fire in each and every corner of a National Forest. 

 Each man in the organization has his duties and re- 

 sponsibilities determined for him in advance and he 

 does his part without being prodded or reminded. 

 The location of a fire in the wild and inaccessible 

 forest regions of the West, which may seem a very 

 simple matter, is determined in a very ingenious 

 manner. 



How Fires Are Located. The lookout man, as 

 well as the Forest Rangers and the Forest Super- 

 visor, is provided with identical maps of the For- 

 est. These maps show most of the important fea- 

 tures useful in fire protection work, including also 

 the private lands, all government holdings, and the 

 public land survey. This public land survey has 

 divided the land surface into legal subdivisions 

 known as townships, sections, and quarter sections, 

 and it is by these and with reference to these that 

 all features, both natural and artificial, are located. 

 A township is usually a square 6 miles on a side, 

 containing 36 sections. Each section is divided into 

 quarter sections containing 160 acres each, which 

 are further divided (though not by law) into forty- 



