Telephone Lines in Logging Operations 



The Value of the Installation in Fire Protection and Facilitating Work. 



The value of the telephone in logging 

 operations and fire ranging is explained by 

 Mr. Charles E. Eead, Jr., of the Kiordon 

 Pulp and Pajer Co., in a rceent article in 

 The Pulp and Paper Magazine. He relates 

 that company's experience from the build- 

 ing of its first line. This line, intended for 

 fire service only, ran ujj Trembling Moun- 

 tain from the company 's St. Jovite office 

 to a lookout station, 2,000 feet above the 

 surrounding country. The system was a 

 single wire or ' ' ground return ' '. It con- 

 nected with the Bell Telephone Co. through 

 a repeating coil. No. 9 wire, weighing 305 

 pounds to the mile, supported by No. 18 

 7-strand soft seizing wire, with split ring 

 insulator, was employed. To prevent a longi- 

 tudinal slip, an oak bracket and glass in- 

 sulator were used several times in each mile. 

 On account of the rocky, treeless region 

 traversed, it was necessary, in many j^laces, 

 to put in rock bolts to hold the poles. Such 

 a one-wire system, says Mr. Bead, can be 

 Iniilt for $5.5 a mile. 



This line revealed the possibilities of a 

 telephone service in assisting bush opera- 

 tions as well as fire ranging. The second 

 line was erected so as to serve, also, in the 

 conduct of shanties and drives. It was a 

 two-wire or metalie system, costing about 

 $90 a mile where the line could be hung 

 from trees. This line connected with the 

 Bell system. The wire was No. 12, gal- 

 vanized iron, weighing 165 pounds to the 

 mile. Oak side brackets and glass insula- 

 tors, 30 or 40 per mile, were used for suj)- 

 port. The cost would be increased where it 

 is necessary to erect poles instead of hang- 

 ing the wire on trees. 



These lines proved so useful in fire de- 

 fence ami wood operations that a more ex- 

 tensive telephone service was designed. 



The first part of the new programme con- 

 sisted of a line up the main Eouge river, 

 with spurs reaching all the conipany camps. 

 The system followed the portage road as 

 much as possible to facilitate repairs in 

 case of a breakdown. When water was low 

 last spring, Mr. Read says, these telephones 

 were of splendid service. Formerly, it would 

 take from 8 to 16 hours for a man to go 

 from the head of the drive to the storage 

 dams with orders for opening and closing. 

 All this valuable time is saved now by a 

 simple telephone message. As the gangs 

 come down the river they bring the tele- 

 f)hones along and are able to use the line 

 wherever they camp. A telephone set with 

 materials for installation costs about $15 

 or $16. 



Extensions were made up the two chief 

 branch rivers. Connection with the Bell 



Company made every lumber camp a long 

 distance station. 



Mr. Eead dwells on the advantages of 

 having direct conversations between the 

 manager and his foremen in operating 

 camps and drives. The whole cost of the 

 lines, he is confident, has been saved in get- 

 ting prompt aid to a single fire. He divides 

 the cost ajiproximately thus: Materials, 22 

 per cent; labor, 45 per cent; provisions, 23 

 per cent ; teaming, 10 per cent. 



THE INVOLUNTARY INCENDIARY. 



The involuntary incendiary is the man 

 whom all of you know. You see him every 

 day. If you are as fussy as I, you follow 

 liim and try where possible to prevent his 

 deadly devastation of life and property. You 

 trample on the half-burned match he throws 

 away; you extinguish his smoking cigar or 

 cigarette stump; you douse his smouldering 

 bonfire and campfire; you cover with metal 

 his open gasoline and coal-oil can; you chink 

 with mortar the cracks in his defective flues; 

 you drench his smoking ash-heap, as its live 

 coals are about to be fanned into flame. And 

 all the while you denounce him as the fire 

 fiend 's fool accessory. This involuntary in- 

 cendiary is the man whose acts are foolishly 

 criminal, as those of the voluntary kind are 

 wickedly criminal. — The Insurance Commis- 

 sioner of Utah. 



FOREST FIRES AND SOIL FERTILITY. 



Experts state that forest soils have lost 

 and are losing much fertility owing to for- 

 est fires which, doing apparently little im- 

 mediate damage, rob the soil of accumu- 

 lations of humus. In many sections land 

 is being cleared for farming, and, where 

 such forest land has not been burned, there 

 is a large percentage of vegetable matter 

 which provides considerable fertility and 

 a good mixture. Moreover, as this soil 

 lias a greater capacity to absorb and re- 

 tain moisture, it is less likely to be washed 

 and gullied under heavy rains. For these 

 reasons, in addition to the damage to 

 standing timber, authorities agree that 

 wood lands should be very carefully safe- 

 guarded against fire. 



POEMS REVISED. 



"Woodman, chop that tree; 

 I '11 burn it every bough. 

 In youth it sheltered me. 

 But coal is dearer no^^■. 



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