338 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



August 31, 1898. This fire, which was on Township 5, was started by sparks from a loco- 

 motive on the Chateaugay Railroad. It caught in a pile of old ties near the railroad track, on 

 the Parsons lot, at the head of Chazy Lake. I extinguished the flames by shoveling sand on 

 the fire. It was not necessary to order out any one to assist me. 



Mr. William Hopkins, firewarden for the town of Black Brook, Clinton county, 

 N. Y., reports : 



April 7, 1898. This fire burned for two days, during which it ran over about seven hundred 

 acres. I report no damage or loss to timber, because the fire was on denuded lands from which 

 all the timber had been removed during the past two years. The small amount of wood which 

 was destroyed was of such a scrubby growth that in my opinion it was worthless. I fought the 

 fire so successfully that I was able to keep it out of the valuable standing timber. I do not 

 know how the fire originated. In extinguishing it we plowed furrows and dug trenches. I was 

 in attendance three days. I ordered out, in all, twenty-seven men to assist me. The total 

 number of days' labor by the men called out amounted to seventy-nine. 



Mr. E. A. Howes, firewarden for the town of Tompkins, Delaware county, N. Y., 

 reports : 



July 16, 1898. This fire escaped from the lands of Austin Wakeman, who started it in 

 order to burn a fallow. He lighted his brush fires without my knowledge or consent, and as he 

 lives in a remote part of the town I knew nothing about it until nearly all of the territory 

 mentioned was burned over. I responded as soon as I was notified, and we stopped the fire 

 from running and spreading ; but it was necessary to keep a man on watch for four days, it 

 being very dry. I inquired into the cause of this fire, as to where and by whom it was started. 

 I conclude that it was set by Wakeman in some brush heaps near the woods. He went away 

 and neglected to attend to it. I have no knowledge that he made any attempt to stop the fire. 

 It burned over about 250 acres; part of it on Lots 153 and 162 of the Rapelyea Patent, none 

 of which belongs to the State. I estimate the, damage to standing timber at $250. In order to 

 control the fire we plowed furrows on one side ; on the other side we back-fired from an old 

 road running through the woods. 



Mr. Francis Bonneford, town of Hancock, Delaware county, N. Y. : 



April 14, 1898. Fire burning from the 14th to the 18th; number of acres burned over, 

 about 150; no State lands. Value of standing timber destroyed, estimated at $300. This fire, 

 as near as I can learn, was caused by sparks from a locomotive on the Erie Railroad. As soon 

 as I was notified I went to look after the fire, but did not have to call out any men. 



Mr. Carlos A. Jordan, town of Elizabethtown, Essex county, N. Y. : 



April 13, 1898. Caused by a man who set a brush pile on fire in a meadow. The fire 

 caught in the grass and got away. About seventy-five rods of fence were destroyed. I warned 

 out seventeen men. They worked half a day each, making eight and one half days. We made 

 a trench with shovels and hoes. 



July 10, 1898. This fire burned for eight days. It was on a mountain, where it started 

 during the last drought. All we could do was to trench around it and hold it till rain came. I 

 called out seven men. The total number of days' labor by these men amounted to forty. 



