84 THE LOG OF A TIMBER CRUISER 
guard camps continually at the more important 
towers. 
Every station is provided, in addition to fire tools, 
with a compass, a field glass, a fire map and a stand- 
_ ard protractor. Also it is connected by telephone 
with the Supervisor’s office in Silver City. 
When the fire guard spots a fire from the lookout 
peak he at once reads its angle of direction from the 
protractor. This he telephones to the Supervisor, 
together with any other facts such as the apparent 
size and character of the fire that he thinks impor- 
tant. As soon as two or three direction readings. 
from different lookouts are received at Silver City, 
the Supervisor proceeds to locate the fire by means 
of the large fire map there. Every lookout station 
shown on the map has a thread of silk attached to it 
by one end. This thread is drawn across the map in 
the exact direction indicated by the angle sent in, 
and the precise point at which two or more threads 
cross indicates the location of the fire reported. 
All arrangements for attacking the fire or fires 
may thus be made at headquarters almost as soon 
as they are discovered in the field, and a force of 
men sent at once, if necessary, by the best and quick- 
est route to the scene of action. 
. So efficacious is this system that no fire on the 
Gila, Reid told us, had obtained over twenty-four 
hours’ headway, before being discovered, since the 
fire plan was put in force. We were profoundly 
