FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. 399 



extent of the fires and damage therefrom caused by railroad operation, 

 and in accordance with such request a large number of hearings were held 

 at Tupper Lake, Saranac Lake, Malone and at Albany, and 3,000 pages of 

 testimony were taken bearing upon the cause and extent of railroad fires 

 and the adequate and practical remedies to prevent and eliminate their 

 recurrence in the future. 



The testimony taken was limited to the conditions existing along the 

 right of way of The Mohawk and Malone division of the New York Central 

 from Utica to Malone, and along the right of way of the Chateaugay branch 

 of the Delaware & Hudson Company from Plattsburg to Lake Placid, and 

 to the adequacy of the remedies proposed to cure the evil and menace. 



From this testimony it was established, and the Public Service 

 Commission so held, that the railroads were responsible for 40 per cent 

 of the forest fires occurring in the Adirondacks during the year 

 1908. 



Upon the question of remedies the Forest, Fish and Game Commission 

 proposed and established by proof before the Public Service Commission 

 the practicability of oil burning operation as a complete and effective 

 remedy against the conditions disclosed, and the railroads opposed this 

 remedy and urged as a substitute the improvement to ash pans and netting 

 in front end of locomotive; the cleaning of right of way by removal of 

 combustible material by burning and the cutting and removal of grass and 

 weeds therefrom twice a year; the organization and maintenance of a fire 

 patrol; the installation of telephones and fire train equipments. 



The substitute urged by the railroads was substantially identical with 

 the requirements of the statute which had been in existence for several 

 years, and the railroads proposed as a remedy to this deplorable condition 

 merely the methods of prevention which the statute already required 

 them to perform. 



Much expert and practical testimony was taken bearing upon the 

 efficacy and adequacy of the remedies proposed, with the result that the 

 proof established the efficacy of the remedy proposed by the Forest, Fish 

 and Game Commission beyond question, and that the proposals of the 

 railroads, while as preventive measures might be of some value, as an 

 absolute cure, were inadequate. 



