346 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



long and from ten to thirty miles wide, with an area of about one million acres. 

 There were 138 people who lost their lives, and the property destroyed was valued at 

 over two million dollars. Forests, farming crops, orchards, dwellings, barns, cattle 

 and horses were all destroyed in the sea of flame that swept over the land. At night 

 the sky for many miles was red with the glare of the burning forests, while in the day- 

 time the sun was obscured by the dense clouds of smoke. On Lake Huron the air was 

 darkened as with a thick fog. The hot blasts were plainly felt by the people on vessels 

 near the shore, and showers of burning cinders fell on the decks of passing steamers. 



In 1894 similar scenes occurred in Northern Minnesota, in the Duluth region. 

 On September 1, of that year, a whirlwind of fire devastated a forest area twenty-six 

 miles in length and from five to fifteen miles in width, destroying in its course the 

 village of Hinckley, where, together with people in the surrounding country, 418 

 persons met a terrible death. In this same year, in July, the Wisconsin forests were 

 again devastated by a large fire, in which thirteen lives were lost in the village of 

 Phillips, and an immense area of valuable pine timber was destroyed. 



While the States mentioned have suffered more from forest fires than others, nearly 

 every State in the Union has its story of annual losses from this source. In our own 

 State destructive fires were of yearly occurrence until the organization of the Forestry 

 Department in the government, the administration of which has succeeded in checking 

 and well nigh suppressing this source of destruction to our woodlands. The wide- 

 spread devastation, once so prevalent in our Adirondack and Catskill forests, is now 

 largely a thing of the past — the fires now being comparatively few in number and 

 small in area, or limited to barren tracts that have been burned over before. Fires in 

 the timber forests of our State are now rare, and nearly all that occur are in the 

 scattered woodlands in the vicinity of farming districts. 



The damage from forest fires, unfortunately, is not limited to the actual loss of 

 timber, but involves, also, the prevention of future growth by the overheating and 

 burning of the soil itself. The vegetable humus, so essential to tree growth, is 

 destroyed, and with it the seeds and seedlings necessary for another forest. If the 

 ground is not burned too much, an inferior growth may follow composed of poplar 

 and small cherry, which in time enriches the soil with falling leaves sufficiently to 

 nourish a succession of more valuable timber. 



But in a region where fires are allowed to run unchecked, and no systematic effort 

 is made by the government to prevent their occurrence, there are apt to be second 

 fires which burn over the same ground, and complete the work of destruction. Not 

 only a second but a third burning frequently occurs, rendering the earth completely 

 barren, and leaving an expanse of sterile plains on which there is nothing but 

 sand or rocks. 



