SLASH LEFT AFTER LOGGING: THE GREATEST MENACE FROM FIRE 

 In all timber sales on the national forests this debris is destroyed 



related that even great quantities of fish 

 in the river were killed by the heat of 

 the fire. 



Another historic fire was that which 

 occurred in Wisconsin in the fall of 

 1871. A single fire swept over an area 

 of more than 2,000 square miles. It de- 

 stroyed the town of Peshtigo, and be- 

 tween 1,200 and 1,500 persons perished. 

 That same year the damage by fire else- 

 where in the country was enormous. 



Still another fire, which is still remem- 

 bered by many persons, was that which 

 destroyed the town of Hinckley, Minne- 

 sota, in the fall of 1894. As in other 

 cases of great fires, there was a season 

 of exceptional drought. The woods be- 

 came very dry, especially on those areas 

 which had been recently cut over by the 

 lumbermen, where a great mass of tops 

 and other debris was left upon the 

 ground. Many fires were constantly 

 starting during that fall, but there was 

 no effective effort to extinguish them. 



Forest fires were so common that there 

 was no special fear of possible danger 

 until it was too late to meet the situa- 

 tion. 



As often happens when there are ma.ny 

 fires burning under these conditions and 

 a high wind springs up, the diff'erent 

 small fires were suddenly merged to- 

 gether, and a great crown fire resulted, 

 which swept over the town of Hinckley 

 and six other towns, entirely destroying 

 them, killing 500 persons, and making 

 over 2.000 more entirely destitute. The 

 estimated loss in property by this fire 

 was more than $25,000,000. 



THE GREAT CATASTROPHE OF 19IO 



The most recent great disaster from, 

 forest fires occurred in the Pacific 

 NortliAvest in 1910. That year was the 

 driest ever known in the West, particu- 

 larly in northern Idaho and northwest- 

 ern ]\Iontana. Practically no rain fell 

 from early spring until October. The 



660 



