NEW BRUNSWICK FORESTRY CONVENTION 193 



As Price was acting in the capacity of fire warden at the time, he 

 ordered out a crew of men ; they worked mostly all night and succeeded in 

 killing out the fire. It just cost the department $19.50. The fact that 

 Warden Price had the ability and acted promptly, saved a valuable country. 

 Messrs. Lynch, Gibson and McCloskey are the lessees of the lumber lands in 

 that locality and know its value as a spruce country. I could name a num- 

 ber of others but it is not necessary. 



I will now describe the big Dungarvon fire of 1906, August 15th. I 

 was at Bathurst and received a telegram from the Miramichi Lumber Co. ? 

 "Forest Fire north of Boiestown." I arrived in Boiestown, on the morning 

 of the IGth. The smoke could be seen from the store door of the company, 

 yet no one could tell me where the fire was, for the firm received notice 

 through a messenger on the 12th or 13th from Pleasant Ridge, that a fire 

 was raging in the vicinity of the Big Dugarvon I was obliged to hunt up 

 two men to locate the fire, consequently we did not get a crew to work until 

 the evening of the 19th, giving the fire a full week of a start. Now if the 

 firm had taken interest enough to send at once and locate the fire, so we 

 could have started on the 16th with a crew of men, possibly we could have 

 controlled the fire in the valley >f the Dungarvon. I don't say we could 

 have done so, but it was possible. When the two men reached the fire on 

 the afternoon of the 17th it was just working over the mountains. We had 

 altogether about 85 men in the woods, including men sent by Mr. James 

 Robinson. 



The method we used was digging trenches where the ground was dry and 

 composed of turf. It was necessary to swamp and cut through the roots, 

 making a perfectly clear trench, so that when the fire burned up, it could 

 not cross the trench. We used axes, picks and shovels ; we used water, 

 where we could get it, but at that season it was very scarce. On some of 

 the ridges where the soil is sand or gravel, it is only necessary to dig up and 

 throw on the earth, but in ground composed of turf it is necessary to cut 

 through to the gravel. We came across two beaver ponds that proved valu- 

 able to us in fighting the fire. I make the above statement to prove if we 

 had men patrolling the country at the time the above fire started, prompt 

 action could have been taken and a good property saved. 



While we succeeded in saving Little Dungarvon and Renous River, Big 

 Dunaarvon and Bamford Brook suffered. The burned district is under lease 



& 



to the Miramichi Lumber Company. 



