FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. 1 8 



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counties which run through extensive tracts of woodland. The object of 

 these inspections was to ascertain as nearly as might be the total number 

 of catches of fire arising from cinders or coals, irrespective of the size of 

 the fires, because in very dry seasons the smallest catch of fire may be the 

 source of a great conflagration. Several hundred miles of track were thus 

 traveled on foot by the patrolmen and protectors and a very large number 

 of such fires, most of them small, reported to this office. These reports are 

 on file here and a summary of their contents has been sent to the Public 

 Service Commission. Numerous catches of fire were found along the 

 roads supervised by that Commission and it remains clear, as was held by 

 the Forest, Fish and Game Commission at the hearings in 1908, that real 

 immunity from fire is to be obtained only by the use of something else 

 than coal as fuel. 



The roads in the Catskills maintained patrols, some of them willingly 

 and in a liberal spirit, some of them only after repeated demands; and a 

 similar variation in action and spirit has been evident in the condition of 

 their rights of way. A brief inspection also showed the locomotives on 

 some of the roads to be in a very bad condition. Some damage, but not 

 very heavy, has been suffered from this cause. Fires, started by railroads 

 and burning off their right of way have not been generally reported by the 

 railroads to this Commission as required by law. 



In general it may be said that the laws relating to the railroads, designed 

 to secure safety from forest fires, have been poorly and grudgingly observed, 

 and it is the intention of this office for the coming season to organize its 

 own work of supervision carefully, so that the railroads shall be obliged 

 to do their duty better and the danger of fire from this source be minimized. 

 It is not entirely clear that the laws relating to this subject are as satis- 

 factory as they might be, but the first thing to secure is felt to be not amend- 

 ment of the laws, but reasonable and steady observance of such as are now 

 on the statute books. 



Character of the Season and History of Fires 



The season of 1909 was not an abnormal one and still it was one of 

 a considerable degree of dryness, and in the Catskills the season was dryer 



