- 2 g REPORT OF ,THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



a burning house. We had to backfire t° save tw0 dwelling houses. Warned out forty-one 

 men; one hundred and twelve days wor ked - There were one hundred acres of meadow and 

 pasture land, forty acres of which was on a d T mountain slope, on which there was no 

 timber; nothing but little, small brush. There were ten acres on which there was some 

 pine timber. 



Mr. R. H. Wilson, town of Mine rva > Essex county, N. Y. : 



May 9, 1899. Number of acres, tvve nt y > on Lot I2 > Township 26, Totten & Crossfield's 

 purchase. No State land. No standing timber destroyed. This fire was set by a man who 

 was in the employ of Daniel Heffran. He was at work cutting brush, and, after he had 

 worked at it a little while, he thought \ xe could do [t easier b Y burning it off, and so he 

 started a fire, with the above result. I went and looked the g round over > and as near as T 

 can judge there were about twenty acre 5 burned ; but there was no timber on it. It was 

 covered with small brush of no value. The men worked hard to check the fire and keep 

 it out of the big timber. 



August 2, 1899. This fire is suppose d to have been caused by some one going along the 

 road smoking, who threw his cigar out P n the side of the road > which started a blaze - The 

 flames went like the wind, but within half an hour there were ab out thirty men there at 

 work who whipped the fire out where it was running in the grass. If it had once got a 

 good start there is no knowing what damage it would have done. After the fire was 

 checked we carried water and drenched the g roun o- 



August 6, 1899. Twenty acres ; all State land - District Firewarden Brannan and I 

 were both present. He called out fourt een men '> total number of days labor, forty-five. 

 The above fire was caused by lightning. lt was on the southeast part of the lot. There 

 is some very nice timber on this lot, but the fire was checked before it did much damage. 

 As near as I can estimate there were ab out one hundred market logs of spruce destroyed. 



August 17, 1899. One acre burned over '> State land - Standing timber was of very 

 little value, as it was on a poplar kno 11 ' on which th ere was a little balsam and spruce 

 also. District Firewarden Keyes was present, as well as myself. This fire was, as I have 

 learned, started by a hunter named Se aford - who was boarding at the Aiden Lair Hotel. 

 He has a small camp at Hewett Edd/> and neglected to put out his camp fire, as it is 

 plainly shown that the fire started froP 1 his cam P" The man claims that he put out his 

 fire; but there is no question in my mir^ but what he is responsible for it. I should like 

 to see an example made of some of thes e careless hunters. I wish you would see that this 

 is investigated soon, as it will cause oth ers t0 b e more careful. 



August 2i, 1899. About 150 acres! on Lots 21 and 22, Township 30. No timber 

 burned. There was no timber on thes ie solt , nothing but small brush of no value, in my 

 estimation. 



September 7, 1899. One hundred , and seventy-five acres; damage estimated at $15. 

 This fire ran along some ridges that we re burned over years ago, leaving nothing there of 

 value; but there was good timber on eac h side ; and we ditched around the fire and kept it 

 from running into these woods. It h as been an awful time to fight fire this summer, 

 because it is so dry, and there is no wat er - Stlll > we did the best we could. 



September 16, 1899. One hundred and ^Y ac res; Lot 7, Township 16. Estimated 

 damage, $25. I was notified of this fire b Y the North Woods Club. I got a crew of men 

 and went there immediately; but had j ust g ot to work in g° od shape when the rain came. 



