96 SURVEYS OF FOREST RESERVES. 



Except for oue area of 1,600 acres on the Lower West Pork, there is 

 probably not a body of one thousand acres on the whole reserve which 

 has not been more or less seriously injured by lire. The timber which 

 has been destroyed exceeds in value several fold that which remains. 



These fires have been set chiefly by prospectors, hunters, and trap- 

 pers. The most complete destruction coincides with curious exactness 

 with the supposed mineral belts of the northern aud western portions 

 of the reserve. It is well known that many fixes are set by prospectors 

 for the sake of uncovering the rock. Special precautions will be 

 required in nearly all the reserves to guard against this danger. 



Fires are dangerous in this reserve from late in April to the middle 

 of October. The completeness of the destruction they effect depends 

 upon the dryness of the forest and the strength of the wind. Those 

 which occur in summer are apt to be the hottest and swiftest. Large 

 numbers of dead trees usually remain standing after any prosperous 

 forest has been burnt over for the first time. The decomposition of 

 their roots in the soil, and the violent winds which prevail in this 

 region at certain seasons of the year, gradually overthrow these trees, 

 which then furnish fuel for subsequent fires. The latter are apt to 

 destroy the forest floor and the vegetable soil far more completely than 

 their predecessors. The young trees which spring up among the dead 

 trunks are killed, and in this way the time when the forest shall take 

 possession of the soil again is often indefinitely postponed. 



By assigning to the devastated areas a probable amount of standing- 

 timber less than that known to be present on uninjured tracts, a con- 

 servative estimate of the loss from fire during the last thirty years has 

 been obtained. Previous to that time this region appears to have suf- 

 fered little from fire during a hundred years or more, and in conse- 

 quence it was densely timbered. Two tables are given ; one Indicates 

 the loss on the basis of stumpage value; the other the value of the 

 manufactured timber ready to ship. The latter shows more accurately 

 the loss to the regions in which these forests stand, since by far the 

 greater portion of the value of manufactured lumber consists in la,bor, 

 the wages of which, in this case, would have been put in circulation in 

 the neighborhood. It may fairly be said of this loss that it has not as 

 yet been sustained, but it will come to be felt at the time when this 

 tiinber, if it had been preserved, would have been manufactured. It 

 must necessarily result in the comparative impoverishment of a consid- 

 erable population. To this immense loss must be added that of the 

 productiveness of the forest soil, which it will take years of Immunity 

 from fires to replace, and in addition the increase in value of this young 

 and growing forest during the years since it was destroyed. 



Stumpage value of iurned timber. 



4,490,000,000 feet, at 50 cents per M $2,245,000 



245,000,000 ties, at 2 cents per tie 4,900,000 



6,000,000 telegrapli poles, at 5 cents per pole 300,000 



Total 7,445,000 



Value of burned timber, if manufactured. 



4,490,000,000 feet saw logs, at $10 per M $44,900,000 



245,000,000 ties, at 20 cents per tie 49^ 000, 000 



6,000,000 telegraph poles, at 25 cents per pote 1, 500, 000 



Total 95,400,000 



