FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 341 



April 19, 1898. Number of acres burned, ten; cause of fire, locomotive sparks from the 

 Mohawk & Malone R.R. This fire did little damage to the timber, but it destroyed fifty cords 

 of hardwood worth about $50, and about ten cords of poplar worth $20. 



Mr. Oliver Dupry, district firewarden of the town of Franklin, county of Franklin, 

 N. Y. : 



April 19, 1898. Number of acres burned over, one hundred; Lot 217, Township 9, Old 

 Military Tract. This fire was started by a locomotive on the Chateaugay Railroad, and that is 

 where most of the fires start nowadays. The railroad men take no pains to prevent them. 

 There is not a man, so far as I can find, that the railroad companies furnish to prevent or 

 extinguish fires. Their section-men will pass by a fire and pay no attention to it, unless the fire- 

 warden is there to make them do so. There are small fires nearly every day on one or the 

 other of the railroads. 



Mr. Warren J. Slater, town of Harrietstown, Franklin county, N. Y. : 

 August 17, 1898. The above report shows that the fire was burning for three days, although 

 the space burned over was very small. It was supposed that the fire was all put out on the 

 17th, but it afterwards started up afresh in the duff and was finally extinguished on the 20th. 

 We carried water in pails. 



Mr. Frederick Degon, town of Malone, Franklin county, N. Y. : 



April 27, 1898. Number of acres burned over, five ; no loss to speak of, except a piece of 

 line fence which was damaged to the extent of $10. This fire was started by one Allen Bador, 

 who burned a fallow on his own land without a permit. It escaped into a clump of small 

 second-growth maples. 



Mr. Netus Lancaster, town of Stratford, Fulton county, N. Y. : 



July 16, 1898. This fire burned over about forty acres and was started by some unknown 

 person. The ground had been burned over once before. By hard work we prevented it from 

 running into the green timber, so that no trees were hurt or destroyed. We extinguished it by 

 digging trenches with hoes and shovels, clearing away brush and carrying water. 



Mr. B. F. Merwin, town of Indian Lake, Hamilton county, N. Y. : 

 July 7, 1898. Number of acres burned over, about four hundred; none of it State land. 

 Location, northeast corner of Township 35, and southwest corner of Township 19. I don't 

 consider the damage anything to speak of, as the lands had been cut over in the last two years. 

 We fought this fire by using grubbing-hoes and shovels, digging trenches and throwing fresh 

 dirt on the fire. We cut up the old logs and cleared a narrow strip or path of all leaves, etc., 

 ahead of the fire and then set a back-fire. Men were stationed on watch to see that the flames 

 did not cross this path. Some very good work was done. 



Mr. Charles Payne, a citizen of the town of Indian Lake, Hamilton county, N. Y., 

 writes as follows: 



May 27, 1898. Col. Wm. F. Fox, Superintendent of Forests: Dear Sir — Mr. Hutchins was 

 here to-day to investigate the fire that occurred in my fallow. The truth of the case is this : I 

 had a turnip patch logged up last year, but could not burn it on account of wet weather. I 

 plowed and dragged in my crops amongst the logs and heaps this spring and wanted to get 



