332 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



In the south, where the bog prevented such measures, an attempt to keep the fire back 

 by beating out and backfiring became hopeless when in the afternoon the wind changed to 

 northwest and stiffened, and towards evening the fire was running in the moss and Labra- 

 dor Tea brush of the dry bog. Again the coolness and dew of the night was utilized to 

 beat out the fire on this side, with success. During the night further assistance arrived 

 from Tupper Lake (twenty-four men) and from the camps of the Santa Clara Lumber Com- 

 pany (fifty men). The line of fire by Sunday morning was at least four to five miles long, 

 having started up again at many points in all directions. The wind being now from the 

 north, the north line was left to itself, the ditch promising to hold it ; and the breeding 

 places in the ground, stumps and logs, where ditching was impossible, were individually 

 attacked with mattock, axe and shovel. 



In the afternoon when the wind again strengthened, the battle became hopeless ; and 

 while at the ditch to the north by backfiring the conflagration had been successfully con- 

 fined, at the south the fire in the bog had again broken out. and, running across it, entered 

 the woods along the whole line. In the evening an attempt was made to backfire from a 

 logging road, but, owing to the dew, it was practically impossible to make a fire run ; fires 

 could be kept up only with difficulty, and refused to spread, so that this method was 

 abandoned. 



On Monday morning a ditch was thrown along the whole southwest line through a 

 hardwood ridge, and, the ditch in the north having been jumped by the fire in several 

 places, an attempt was made to circumvent the fire again with a ditch. The attempt 

 would have been successful if the wind had not veered, driving the fire northward and 

 chasing the workers away, who found themselves surrounded by fire, and escaped only 

 with difficulty. At about three o'clock all control towards north and east lines had to be 

 abandoned, the fire driving with fury in those directions, being stopped only by the down- 

 pour of a heavy thunder shower at seven p. m. 



Roadmakers, encamped near the new road from Saranac Inn to Wawbeek, in fear of 

 their camp, backfired from the road on the east side towards the fire, and, being unable to 

 control their backfire, the other side of the road also took fire, endangering the cottages 

 on Saranac Lake. This fire was ditched, however, and, with the aid of the rain, confined 

 to a small acreage. 



Although several days following were cloudy and damp, if not rainy, the fires in logs, 

 dead trees, stumps and ground continued to smolder and required patrolmen for several 

 days to put them out. 



At this writing (September n) the fire has again broken out in two places, requiring 

 attention. 



The unusual dry season, the sweep of winds in the open, and the heat in the middle of 

 the day, conspired to increase the dimensions of a fire which would otherwise, with the 

 force of men at work, have been kept within more reasonable limits. 



There being seven other fires going at the same time on the property, not all the force 

 at command could be concentrated on this one, although it was hardly within human 

 power to have stayed its progress when it ran before the wind. 



The damage done is comparatively small ; hardly any merchantable or tall timber suf- 

 fered, although quite an amount of young, promising pine and spruce growth has been 

 destroyed, and some portions of a balsam and cedar swamp burned out. 



