The Late Overton Prica 



67 



The Late Overton Price. 



Foii-tiTs and fores^t eonforvationists 

 throughout America learnt with very ileep 

 regret of the recent lanientaV)le death of 

 Mr. Overton W. I'rice. Mr. Price, while 

 only thirty-nine years oM at the time of 

 his death, had heen connected with forestry 

 work for al)Out twenty years, and his repu- 

 tation was international. During Dr. Giffonl 

 I'inchot's term as I'nited States Forester, 

 ^^r. Price was his assistant. He resigned 

 shortly after Dr. Pinchot left the service, 

 and since that had been practising as a 

 consulting forester. He was also Vice- 

 Presiclent of the National Conservation As- 

 i-ociation. He visited Canada on many oe- 

 ca.'-ions. and at the time of his death was 

 consulting forester to British Columbia. 

 Mr. H. R. McMillan, Chief Forester of 

 British Coluinliia, sends the following ap- 

 preciative note on Mr. Price's work: — 



'Canadian forestry will long feel the loss 

 of Overton W. Price. Mr. Price 's first ser- 

 vices to Canadian conservation were in- 

 direct. Under his influence, working in as- 

 sociation with Mr. Pinchot, the educational 

 effect of the United States Forest Service 

 knew no international boundary. 



' The crystallization of forest sentiment 

 in Canada, the springing into life of Cana- 

 dian forest organizations can be traced 

 directly to the international forest leaders 

 of the United States, of whom Mr. Price 

 was one.* 



' Mr. Price 's direct services to Canadian 

 forestry began in 1906 when, as representa- 

 tive of the United States Forest Service, 

 he attended the Canadian Forestry Associa- 

 tion Convention in Vancouver. His greatest 

 service to Canada was rendered while act- 

 ing as consulting forester to the Province 

 of British Columbia during the two and a 

 half years previous to his death. 



'The Royal Commission on Forestry, with 

 Mr. M. Allerdale Grainger as secretary, 

 hail shown the necessity for a Provincial 

 Forest Service, and had outlined an or- 

 ganization, but the work from the ground 

 up remained to be done. The credit of the 

 organization belongs to Mr. Price. His 

 breailth of vision conceived it, his zeal car- 

 ried it through, his counsel guided it, his 

 standards are and will be its inspiration. 

 His memory will live long with foresters 

 in British Columbia. " 



Strength of Hickory. 



Hickory is the strongest Canadian wood. 

 When yiroperly seasoned a hickory column 

 will support a weight of twelve tons per 

 square inch cross-section, which is con- 

 siderably more than what could be borne 

 by a pillar of cast iron or steel of the same 

 length and weight. 



Forest Fires. 



The reports received from east and 

 west indicate that this was in some re- 

 spects the worst season for forest fires 

 since an organized attempt has l>een made 

 to tight these conflagrations. In most 

 parts the snowfall was unusually light. 

 It was hoped that copious spring rains 

 wouM make up for this, but, on the con- 

 trary, spring opened very ilry and cold, 

 with the result that by the jniildle of .lune 

 vegetation was scarcely more advanced 

 than ordinarily it is in the early part of 

 May. The result was that the very dan- 

 gerous fieriod extended at least a whole 

 month longer than usual. More effort to 

 discover and fight fire was jiut forth than 

 ever before, with the result that in spite 

 of the bad season losses were kept down 

 much below what was feared. Such a 

 season as this indicates that under or- 

 dinary conditions thorough organization of 

 the fire fighting forces can almost com- 

 pletely eliminate forest fires. 



Protect Young- Timber. 



Mr. Clyde Leavitt, chief fire inspector 

 of the Railway Commission, stated, in an 

 interview, that the railways were doing 

 everything in their power to prevent bush 

 fires near the railway tracks from spread- 

 ing. 'It seems to me,' said Mr. Leavitt, 

 'that there is too little attention paid to 

 the fires in the cut over areas, and too 

 much protection eoncentrate<l on the mer- 

 chantable timber limits. If more effort 

 were devoted to protecting the young tim- 

 ber it would give it a chance and prevent 

 the fire from spreading to the limits where 

 the trees are large enough for merchant- 

 able use. ' 



MAKE IT KNOWN. 



Many people first have their atten- 

 tion directed to forest conservation 

 by conventions. They join the Asso- 

 ciation just before or at the Conven 

 tion, and consequently the literature 

 sent out to those already members 

 may not reach them. Members are, 

 therefore, requested to make known 

 to any who may be interested the 

 fact that the Halifax Convention, 

 Sept. 1 to 4, has been postponed in- 

 definitely, and that all railway and 

 other arrangements are cancelled. 



