ICO FIFTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



but in some directions from Whiteface, and in the natter portions of country 

 around some other stations, distance was hard to tell and an instrumental 

 equipment will perhaps prove desirable. All these matters will be made 

 the subject of careful study before another year and the equipment put in 

 shape to secure the utmost efficiency. The objection made on the part 

 of some that these stations would be useless when the atmosphere got 

 smoky were, in the season of 1909, rendered of no account, because fires 

 did not get under way and render the air smoky. This will, perhaps, not 

 hold uniformly, but these mountain stations certainly are a most useful 

 part of our system, and it is believed to have been good policy to develop 

 the system on a large scale at once. 



The Fire Fighting Force 



The most important feature of a fire protective system is without 

 doubt its personnel. In this matter, it seems to be just to say that we have 

 been fairly successful, or fortunate, whichever is the better word. Among 

 the force of patrolmen employed this year was a considerable number of 

 thoroughly equipped, ambitious, single-minded men, only too glad to serve 

 the State in this capacity, requiring only organization to make them a force 

 of the highest class. Others of necessity have not been of so high a grade 

 and results, of course, have corresponded. The eight Adirondack counties 

 of Clinton, Essex, Warren, Franklin, St. Lawrence, Lewis, Herkimer and 

 Hamilton have a gross area of 13,362 square miles; and in this district, at 

 the height of the past season, there were 3 1 regular patrolmen, or an average 

 of 400 square miles, or 1 1 townships per man. While the territory actually 

 covered by the force was much smaller than this, because of the large 

 amount of land occupied or cultivated, the districts of some of the men were 

 very large and because of difficult means of communication and the number 

 of lumbering crews in the district to be looked after, some of the men were 

 stretched to the utmost. Special patrolmen, protectors and supervisors, 

 of course, helped largely ; but the bulk of the work and responsibility came 

 on the regulars. Here was where the observation stations came in. With 

 one of these overlooking his district, a patrolman could have some peace 

 of mind and save his strength for times when it was really called for. 



