Canadian Forestry Journal, December, ipij. 



30^ 



land is being used for farming pur- 

 poses, for which it is eminently fit- 

 ted. 



North of Englehart for a few miles 

 there is still land that is being used 

 for farming, but it is somewhat 

 broken in places. This brings us 

 north to about Krugerdorf — from 

 this on north for miles the country 

 again is given over to the prospec- 

 tor and while good spaces of farm 

 lands intersperse, the lands are gen- 

 erally rocky and have gravelly, 

 stoney valleys. The country 

 continues of this nature from 

 near Krugerdorf (mileage 146) to 

 Bourkes (mileage 183) — a distance 

 of thirty-seven (37) miles. From 

 Bourkes to Cochrane (mileage 253), 

 or a distance of seventy (70) miles, 

 the soil again makes for a farming 

 countrv. \\'e are here in the "Great 

 Clay B^lt." 



Precautions Against Fire. 



In all the distance from North 

 Bay to Cochrane — along the Elk 

 Lake, Charlton, Porcupine and Iro- 

 quois Falls branches — timber grew 

 to great value — the older trees for 

 present use, the younger trees for 

 future use. 



From the time of the entry of the 

 steel into this forest, it has been the 

 aim of both the Commission and the 

 government to preserve the timber 

 for the commercial uses it was fit 

 for, or that it would be fit for after 

 some years of added growth. With 

 this end in view great care was 

 taken to equip the locomotives with 

 screens in the stacks, not only to 

 meet the requirements of the regu- 

 lations, but to absolutely prevent the 

 locomotives from throwing fire, 

 sparks, cut through the stacks, 

 smaller meshes were used than pre- 

 scribed by law. Extra precautions 

 were taken in burning off right-of- 

 ways ; all timber growing on same 

 being carefully brought in on land 

 being cleared, so as the sides of line, 

 when cleared, were as safe from fires 

 as it was possible to make them. 

 Circulars and posters are posted 



along the line in great quantities and 

 written in many languages. All are 

 warned and appealed to to beware 

 of starting fires. 



Besides the above — Fire Rangers 

 patrolled the line from one end of it 

 to the other — including all its bran- 

 ches. Those rangers were equipped 

 with speeders, which during the 

 time of the greatest drought were 

 used to patrol the tracks after the 

 passing of every train, and it was 

 rarely that the incipient fire was not 

 quenched before damage was done. 



Good Record at Temagami. 



Through the Temagami Forest 

 Reserve, in all the years that the 

 Railway has passed, there has not 

 been a fire of any appreciable ex- 

 tent. True, there have been small 

 areas burned over, but along the T. 

 & N. O. track. I think I am safe in 

 saying that there has been fewer 

 fires of a destructive nature than on 

 any other railway in Canada whose 

 entire route was through great for- 

 ests. 



In the sections where farming is 

 being carried on, the timber, as a 

 matter of course, is disappearing. 

 Most of it that was found on the 

 farms has been utilized- — is being 

 utilized and rightly so. In no place 

 has the same use been made of the 

 forest growth as on those same 

 farms — lumber, poles, ties, posts and 

 piles have been cut for export, be- 

 sides all that has been used for local 

 and home building purposes. 



Nature has in a great many places 

 commenced reforestation and its 

 growth is eagerly noted by the mem- 

 bers of the Commission, their offi- 

 cials and employees. 



Any one old enough to look back 

 twenty-five years can realize how 

 short the time has seemed and how 

 terrible has been the destruction of 

 the forests ; what forests they wereo 

 They have vanished; have been an- 

 nihilated by a generation who did 

 not appreciate the value of conserv- 

 ing them. 



