(AiiKulidR Forvsliti J oil null. March, 1U17 



lUl, 



A FOREST PATROL AVIATOR IN WINSCONSIN CROSSING A LAKE 



The Cost of Aerial Patrol 



By Wm. T. Cox, State Forester of Minnesota 



The time has passed when flying 

 machines should be looked upon as 

 toys or experiments. They have been 

 developed to the point where they are 

 being used daily and with compara- 

 tive safety. Within the past five 

 years thousands of men have been 

 trained to guide aeroplanes and hy- 

 droaeroplanes among the clouds with 

 a greater degree of safety than any 

 other kind of machine or conveyance 

 can be driven at the same speed on 

 the ground. 



The European War is calling for 

 aeronauts in increasing number. They 

 are wanted to carry dispatches, to 

 observe movements of enemy forces, 

 and even to carry on offensive move- 

 ments against the enemy. They are 

 not only practicable and reliable as 

 machines go, but are now considered 

 almost indispensable for the armies. 



Some years ago, when I watched 

 the Wright brothers make the first 

 successful flight for the Government 

 prize at Fort Meyer, Virginia, it 

 occurred to me that aeroplanes were 



certain to find a field of usefulness in 

 forest patrol. In what other way 

 could a large tract of forest be so 

 cjuickly seen and fires detected? Since 

 the winning of that prize at Fort 

 Meyer, the Wright brothers and 

 many others interested in aeronautics 

 have been steadily and rapidly per- 

 fecting the different types of flying 

 machines. To-day they are almost 

 as practical as the automobile. 



Promptness Pays 



To appreciate what the advent of 

 the aeroplane means in patrol work, 

 it is necessary to know what con- 

 stitutes adequate forest patrol and 

 what it costs. Let us figure a little. 

 Ninety-nine forest fires out of every 

 hundred can be extinguished in a few 

 hours by one or two men if the fire 

 is reached within half a day after it 

 starts. That is why the rangers and 

 their patrolmen are effective. But 

 it costs money to maintain the right 

 kind of a patrol force. There should 

 be at least one man to every 72 square 



