128 NINTH REPORT OF THE 



the day before the fire was discovered. This case seems easy of proof. Smokers 

 start most of the fires in this locality. A match thrown down, or a pipe knocked 

 out, will start a fire in a few minutes. 



Mr. Byron Ames, Nehasane, Hamilton County. — The origin of this fire will 

 always be a mystery. There appears to be no reason to suspect malicious intent; 

 and there is small probability that it was due to carelessness. It started near an 

 old stump where some bottles and tin cans had been thrown from camp buildings 

 unoccupied for many months. Some claim that the rays of the sun acting on the 

 bottoms of the old bottles were brought to a focus, the same as when passed 

 through a sunglass. Another theory is that the fire caught from flying embers 

 blown from other fires. This is a very plausible theory, because for days the air 

 had been full of sparks, and of the millions falling some few must have carried fire. 

 Only the day before (May nineteenth) the men at work there found a small 

 fire spreading on the surface of a path or road in some old sawdust and they 

 extinguished it. They could not account for its origin. Mr. Conklin, a log jobber, 

 within four or five miles of this point, about this time found two fires in the woods, 

 the origin of which he could not account for. It is very probable that they 

 caught from wind-dropped embers. The Chief Firewarden of the State and the 

 warden of the town of Long Lake were at this fire. They approved of the course 

 pursued in handling it, and no unfavorable criticism was made to me either during 

 or after the fire. The situation was a trying and desperate one, and the wonder is 

 that the destruction was not greater. 



Mr. W. D. Jennings, Long Lake, Hamilton County. — I sent District Fire- 

 warden Michael McManus to the fire. He claims that it was the same one which 

 had been burning in the muck, and that the wind blew it up. We supposed it was 

 entirely extinguished. I sent to Newcomb for help, and by June first we had 125 

 men on the line back-firing and trenching. 



Mr. Martin Boh, Morehouseville, Hamilton County. — This would have been 

 a very serious fire but for the promptness of Theodore C. Remonda, district 

 firewarden, to whom great credit is due for reaching the place with men and 

 teams as soon as it was possible to do so. By sundown we had it under control, 

 so that on the next day we wholly extinguished it. 



Mr. Frank Stanyon, Wells, Hamilton County. — I am sorry to say we have 

 got three fires in this town, but they have not done much damage yet, as they are 

 burning on land that has been burned over before. It is covered mostly with 

 briers, brakes and dead timber. Perhaps you are aware that it is hard to put 

 out fire in such a place as that when it is so dry as it is now, and we have 

 quite a wind every day, which makes it bad. I am doing my best to stop it with 

 as few men as possible. It is not yet near any valuable timber. It is the opinion 

 of some of our citizens that these fires are started to make feed for Deer. 



