ANNUAL REPORT 1914 25 



was supplied from the Potlatch Lumber Company's store at Pot- 

 latch. This commissary is capable of furnishing from two to 

 three thousand men with supplies without greatly taxing its ca- 

 pacity. Each camp was supplied with a well stocked commissary, 

 consisting of clothing, tobacco and all the necessary articles for 

 the personal use of the men. Each camp was furnished with a 

 complete medicine kit, which is made up by the Milwaukee Hos- 

 pital Association, and each employee is charged a nominal hospital 

 fee of one dollar per month. The Milwaukee Hospital Associa- 

 tion has a branch hospital at Bovill. Telephone lines which were 

 already established to various logging camps were used as means 

 of communication. No attempt was made to install emergency 

 wire or portable phones. 



As stated before, the larger portion of the area burned con- 

 sisted of low rolling hills, which are covered with a good depth 

 of soil. The extreme northwestern portion of the area burned 

 is steep and on the southern exposure the soil is quite thin. Tak- 

 ing the area as a whole, practically every exposure is represented. 

 Several streams cross the area and these were used effectively to 

 check the fire. A number of abandoned railroad grades and 

 ditches, caused by logging with donkey engines, were also used 

 as fire lines. 



The past season was an exceptionally dry one. The amount, 

 of rain which fell over this section of the country was far below 

 the average. The temperature, while not exceptional, ran up 

 quite high and remained there for a period of about a month. As 

 a consequence everything became very dry and the fire hazard 

 increased daily. The prevailing wind over this area was west, 

 dying down at nightfall, with very little wind during the night 

 and the early part of the following day. As the atmosphere 

 warmed up the wind would come up and increase in velocity 

 until toward sundown. 



Practically all the timber had been cut off the area, and the 

 ground had been burned over from one to three times. There 

 were, however, some old snags and rotten windfalls on the 

 ground. The area had grown up to small brush and grass, which 

 was very dry. Fire ran rapidly through this cover when fanned 

 by the afternoon winds. 



The general plan of fighting on this fire was to entrench the 

 area burning, building the trench as close to the fire as possible 

 and patrolling the line to prevent the fire crossing. In locating 

 the fire lines the principal object in view seemed to be checking 

 the fire. Little attention was apparently paid to the most desir- 

 able places where fire could easily be checked. Advantage was 

 taken, however, of any roads, trails or logging spur grades which 

 were factors in attacking the fire. The lines were well swamped 



