98 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



fires in our State have, for the most part, occurred in the spring months; a very few 

 happen in the fall ; but forest fires in the summer, when the trees are in full leaf, 

 were almost unknown. 



The spring months last year passed by with very little damage from woodland 

 fires. Several were reported by the firewardens, but, as they were quickly extin- 

 guished, or small in area, the losses were merely nominal. When the spring had 

 passed, and with it the time of danger, the department officials congratulated them- 

 selves on the fact that there had been so little loss from fire, and were prepared to 

 claim some credit for an improved condition of affairs. 



But, with the summer months, there came a season of unprecedented drought. 

 There was no rainfall aside from the scanty showers which happened only at long 

 intervals. The water in the swamps disappeared. Springs and streams ran dry that 

 were never known to fail. Trout brooks which had been stocked at considerable 

 expense dried up, and the fish in them were killed. In some of these little streams 

 not a drop remained to moisten the bare, rocky bed over which, in spring, the water 

 foamed and eddied in its noisy course. In the field and barrens that skirted the 

 woods, the grasses and ferns were withered, while on shrubs and bushes the leaves, 

 which in midsummer should be broad and green, were dry, curled and dusty. Even 

 in thick forests, the favoring shade failed to keep the duff and leaf mold on the 

 ground from becoming dry and tinder-like. As the drought continued, with no sign 

 of rain, old woodsmen shook their heads gravely as they prophesied danger, and the 

 firewardens watched with anxious outlook for the rising smoke which, sooner or 

 later, would announce a forest fire. 



On Monday, August 7th, the first fire, or fires, broke out in the vicinity of 

 Indian Lake. I happened to be there at the time, attending to some matters in con- 

 nection with the flow line of the new Indian lake reservoir. Four fires started in 

 different localities at about the same time. The largest one was on the range of 

 hills east of the village, on Township 17. Another started on Township 32, on the 

 side of the mountain east of Indian lake. The smoke from another was rising in 

 the direction of Cedar river, on Township 33. Men were at work at each fire, some 

 of them having been hired by the lumber company which owned the adjoining 

 timber. 



Two of these fires were started by lightning. I am aware that doubt has been 

 expressed as to fires starting from such a cause. Lightning striking in the forest is 

 so common an occurrence that the splintered shafts of the trees attract little atten- 

 tion ; nor is there any fire expected from such causes, for the heavy downpour 

 accompanying a thunder storm extinguishes the flames. But in each of these cases 



