184 



Canadian Forestry Journal, September, ipij. 



around, was mounted last Spring a 

 lookout tower, giving the ranger an 

 additional altitude of about fifty feet. 

 The work was done entirely by Mr. 

 Graham and his assistants from ma- 

 terials within the immediate district 

 and forms a substantial, wind-proof 

 vantage-point of incalcuable service 

 to the Association. To look across 

 the endless miles of valley and 

 water-courses, heavily blanketed 

 with evergreen and hardwood forest, 

 broken here and there with a patch 

 of silvery lake or the misty steeples 

 of a settlement, conveys a good 

 idea of the ease and -accuracy of dis- 

 covering and locating a near or dis- 

 tant fire. Only a few weeks before, 

 the ranger in charge noticed the be- 

 ginning of a small blaze over thirty 

 miles away and from his knowledge 

 of the country was able to telephone 

 to rangers in the neighborhood of 

 the trouble and direct them where 

 their services were needed. Prompt 

 obedience isolated the damage to a 

 fraction of an acre. 



The Help of Telephones. 



Half a mile through mountain 

 trail brings one to the opposite side 

 of the plateau where a second tower 

 of more modest proportions surveys 

 an additional segment of valley and 

 hillside. Several times a day, from 

 early Spring to late Fall, the ranger 

 makes his round from station to sta- 

 tion scrutinizing the surrounding 

 country for signs of mischief. Any- 

 thing suspicious is immediately re- 

 ported to the nearest ranger or in- 

 spector by telephone, the instrument 

 being located in the ranger's cabin 

 a short distance down the mountain 

 trail. The theory of this arrange- 

 ment is undoubtedly good, but the 

 practice is even better. Anyone 

 acquainted with forest travel will 

 recognize that the range of vision of 

 a man climbing a trail or walking 

 along a settler's road is limited to a 

 few rods or at best a few miles. By 

 the combined elevation of the moun- 

 tain top and the lookout tower one 

 man may survey accurately more 



territory than possibly two hundred 

 men down on the forest level. The 

 telephone line at the cabin is con- 

 nected some miles away with private 

 wires belonging to lumber and pulp 

 companies and leads ultimately into 

 Buckingham and the manager s offi- 

 ce in the City of Ottawa. The Asso- 

 ciation is developing its telephone 

 facilities as speedily as possible and 

 will soon have the aid of a new line 

 forty miles in length from River 

 Desert to Tomasine Depot, built by 

 W. C. Edwards and Co., Limited, 

 which will eventually be carried to 

 Lapine Depot in the Gatineau limits 

 of the company. 



The staff of the Association con- 

 sists of Mr, Graham as manager, 

 four inspectors, and fifty-eight ran- 

 gers. While the extent of territory, 

 13,000 square miles, might make this 

 staff seem inadequate during a dan- 

 gerous season, their efficiency is 

 very greatly increased by their 

 power of summoning any foreman 

 employed by a limit-holding mem- 

 ber to turn over his staff of men at 

 a moment's notice for fire fighting 

 purposes. The company so called 

 upon charges the time of the men 

 against the Association. The advan- 

 tage of this scheme is obvious, for 

 with logging camps within reach of 

 fires, the ranger can often com- 

 mandeer plenty of good help, tools, 

 and commissariat supplies, which 

 are points of the highest importance 

 in modern forest protection. 



Protection's Big Dividends. 



What of the practical money-sav- 

 ing results? As with the elder- 

 brother of the St. Maurice, the limit 

 holders in the first twelve months of 

 organized operation have received 

 higher dividends from saved timber 

 than were ever paid to them by their 

 sales of manufactured lumber. Oc- 

 casionally one encounters a limit- 

 holder who contends that he never 

 heard of so many fires until the 

 scientific fire ranging systems came 

 into existence. The reason for his 

 remark is hardly mystifying. In the 



