34 2 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



September 16, 1899. This fire was started by a hunter, who made a fire in a hollow tree to 

 smoke out a coon. We soon extinguished it by whipping out the blaze and drawing water. 



Mr. Horace Webb, town of Edwards, St. Lawrence county, N. Y. : 

 August 15,1899. Number of acres burned over, 1,600; standing timber destroyed, $400; 

 also twenty cords of wood and one barn. Warned out twenty-three men; one hundred and 

 forty-seven days. This fire would smolder for a few days and then start up whenever there 

 was any wind. There was so much underbrush and old slash that it was impossible to 

 extinguish it completely, even when the wind was quiet. It was mostly in territory that 

 had already been lumbered, and on which the timber was not very valuable. The soil was 

 so dry, however, that the fire burned through the ground to the rock, ruining the land for 

 a further growth of timber or any other purpose. 



Mr. W. T. Clark, town of Fowler, St. Lawrence county, N. Y. : 



August 13, 1899. Number of acres, 1,500; standing timber destroyed, $750. I here- 

 with make the following report, and inclose bills for fighting fire, paid by the town 

 of Fowler, as required by article XII, sections 277 and 278 of the Fisheries, Game and 

 Forest Law. The first notice that I received of forest fires in the town of Fowler was 

 on Sunday, August 13, 1899. The fire at that time was at Rice's, in the south end of 

 the town. I immediately took charge of the work and ordered out help, as it covered a 

 large territory. You will see by the St. Lawrence county map that this locality bor- 

 ders on the Lewis county line and the Pitcairn town line. In fact, none of the 

 fires that caused this large expense started in the town of Fowler. There were large 

 fires in the town of Diana, Lewis county, from which a heavy south wind swept the 

 flames into my district. With a fire extending along a front of two or three miles, in 

 an extremely dry time and heavy winds, and part of the country nothing but a slash, 

 it was simply impossible to stop it until it came to a clearing or an open space. 

 There was no water near, and if there had been it would not have been of any par- 

 ticular good while the fire was at its work. As the flames approached the clear 

 ings, fences were torn down and furrows plowed, and, in some cases, backfires were 

 started, which proved to be of great benefit. In one place the fire was stopped in the bot- 

 tom of a dried-up creek, by shoveling dirt and covering up the flames. This was done also 

 at times in the woods, with good results. After its progress was finally checked, by plow- 

 ing furrows or trenches which we dug around it, we found that the ground was so dry that 

 the fire burrowed in it a long distance, making it necessary to keep men at work and on 

 watch night and day to prevent it from spreading, and to be on the lookout for any new 

 fire caused by sparks blowing across the trenches. It is difficult to make any estimate of 

 the damage done by these fires. Nearly 2,000 acres of land were burned over, and more 

 than 100 cords of stove wood and pulpwood consumed. Several hundred acres of fairly 

 good timber land were burned over also. This timber is not spoiled, but most of the trees 

 are fallen. It will have to be lumbered this winter in order to save it. 



The expense of getting it off is much greater than it would be if the trees were stand- 

 ing. I estimate the damage to the timber, and loss in pulpwood and stove wood, together 

 with the injury to the lands and fences, to be not less than $750. Of course the individual 

 owners of the land estimate their loss at a much greater sum. 



