Canadian Forestry Journal, October, ipi6 



753 



Through Northern Quebec On a 



Motor Speeder 



A Description of the Country Traversed by the National 

 Transcontinental and the Fire Guarding Problem 



B\ Rohson Black. 



,A trip of investigation through thS 



forested regions ot 



Northern Quebec 

 traversed by the National Transconti- 

 nental Railway was made during the 

 week of September 18th by the Secre- 

 tary of the Canadian Forestry Associa- 

 tion, in company with ]\Ir. Clyde Lea- 

 vitt, Forester. Commission of Conser- 

 vation ; Mr. Ellwood Wilson. President, 

 and Mr. Henry Sorgius. Manager of 

 the St. Maurice Forest Protective As- 

 sociation. 



Not only did the journey furnish 

 valuable information as to the charac- 

 ter of country, the forest resources and 

 their development, and the settlement 

 policy of the Government, but in addi- 

 tion afiforded a first hand acquaintance 

 with the fire protective system main- 

 tained by the Province, the railway and 

 the St. Maurice Forest Protective As- 

 sociation in the areas visited. A gaso- 

 line speeder carried the party about 

 300 miles from La Tuque to Amos, the 

 first large agricultural settlement on 

 the edge of the Abitibi country, and in 

 that distance was witnessed the most 

 varied character of topography and 

 soil, from the abrupt hillsides of rock 

 through the Parent-Hervey area, to the 

 fertile clay lands north-west of Notta- 

 way. 



Dealing With Fire. 



Problems of fire prevention were ev- 



The railway 

 the operations of the 

 pulp wood jobbers and small sawmills, 

 the great tracts of stripped hillsides 

 and unproductive muskeg, the increase 

 of settlement in the spruce-covered 

 farming sections — each of these factors 

 suggested the need of a resolute and 

 unified policy of protection. 



erywhere recognizable, 

 right-of-wav. 



The St. Maurice Forest Protective 

 Association has charge of the railway 

 fire patrol throughout its territory, 

 extending from Parent SDUth-easteily 

 to Hervey. The railway pays 



one-third of the cost, the bal- 

 ance being divided between the 

 Association and the Provincial Gov- 

 ernment. The railway recently has 

 given the rangers full co-operation, 

 supplying their speeders with free ga- 

 soline and oil. and assisting the work 

 by such means as the ofincials can con- 

 trol. It was found that the right-of- 

 way, except for sections on the easterly 

 part of the line, has not been cleaned 

 up in harmony with the practice of the 

 Dominion chartered railways, based on 

 instructions of the Railway Board. 

 Over hundreds of miles the fire hazard 

 from profuse growth of grass and 

 weeds is yet to be dealt with. As 

 concerns the effectiveness of the fire 

 protective measures adopted by the 

 Government Railways on the greater 

 part of the right-of-way outside the St. 

 Maurice limits, the instructions to sec- 

 tion crews regarding vigilance in fire 

 prevention constitute about all the pre- 

 caution taken. These instructions are 

 good as far as they go. but experience 

 shows that they have been indifferent- 

 Iv observed. A conscientious fore- 

 man may carry out orders to the let- 

 ter, but the average crew are more apt 

 to treat incipient fire with the same 

 sort of carelessness that characterized 

 railway gangs in the construction 

 days. 



Using Section Crezi'S. 



Far better results would be obtained 

 if the railway placed a few skilled 



