ANNUAL REPORT 1914 15 



are equipped with field glasses, a protractor board, axes, shovels, 

 cross-cut saws, and a cooking outfit. 



The association owns one share of stock in the Washington- 

 Idaho Telephone Company, operating a farmers' telephone line 

 which runs up the Palouse River. We maintain 16 miles of this 

 line, from Harvard to the forks of the river. This is used to keep 

 in touch with people along the line and to get reports of fires. 



The topography and character of the country west of the 

 Boise Meridian makes patrolling it an entirely different problem 

 from that east of the Boise Meridian. The country west of the 

 Meridian is lower and less cut up by high divides, in many local- 

 ities is partly settled, and the danger from electrical storms seems 

 to be very small. Around Bovill the operations of the Potlatch 

 Lumber Company make it possible at all times to get men and 

 supplies, engines, boarding cars, and tools. Only enough patrol- 

 men to locate the fires are necessary. 



Most of the fires in this part of the district, aside from those 

 caused by burning slashings, are caused by settlers, and about 

 the only way much can be accomplished is to keep in touch with 

 the settlers and persuade them to keep their slashings burned in 

 the proper time and try to get them to co-operate with the parol- 

 men. For his purpose we have a motorcycle and keep a man 

 traveling around among the settlers, writing burning permits and 

 keeping track of everyone who has a slashing to burn. 



On July 10th thirty men were put out patrolling. These men 

 were paid $2.50 per day and board. This force was increased 

 from time to time until September 1st, when 45 men were patrol- 

 ling. 



After August 1st the air was so smoky that it became hard 

 to locate fires with either patrolmen or lookouts, although at some 

 time in the day the smoke would generally drift away or lift 

 enough to get a view of the country. However, extra men hail 

 to be put on to patrol out-of-the-way corners and localities where 

 the haze and smoke made it difficult to be sure there were no fires. 



CONTROL OF FIRES 



Very little trouble was experienced in getting men to fight 

 fires. In most cases they were taken from the logging camps 

 at Bovill and Elk River and their own foremen and cooks went 

 with them. In several instances the mill men from Potlatch and 

 Elk River were used. At the large fires near Bovill no trouble 

 was experienced moving men and supplies as logging spurs, roads, 

 and trails run all through the country, making it possible to move 

 camps rapidly and to get the men where they were most needed. 



Two reliable, experienced men, who were thoroughly ac- 



