Conservation Commission 133 



The success of all reforesting operations depends primarily on 

 fire protection. Several million trees are being planted in New 

 York State each year, both by the State and by private land own- 

 ers. The importance of reforestation is indeed great, but, until 

 fire protection is secured, planting is merely gambling with the ele- 

 ments instead of being a sure business investment. 



HISTORICAL 



It is not within the scope of this report to present a detailed 

 history of the forest fires of the past. Brief mention will be made 

 of the worst ones and the causes will be analyzed so far as avail- 

 able records permit. The State of New York has, since 1891, kept 

 a more or less accurate account of the fires which have occurred 

 in the Forest Preserve. Frequent mention has been made, in 

 articles treating of forest fires, of the famous Miramichi fire in 

 New Brunswick in 1825, of the fire of Hinckley, Mich., in 1894 

 and of the terrible fire in Idaho in 1910. The contemporary 

 newspaper accounts of the latter catastrophes give one an idea of 

 the awful possibilities of a forest fire when conditions are suit- 

 able for its devolpment into a conflagration which is beyond the 

 power of man to control. The Hinckley and Idaho disasters are 

 regrettable, not so much for the enormous loss of property which 

 they entailed, but for the fearful loss of life. 



We need not go outside our own State to find appalling instances 

 of destruction by forest fires. The years 1899, 1903 and 1908 saw 

 hundreds of thousands of acres burned over in the Adirondacks. 

 The fire at Long Lake West in 1908 burned over some 30,000 

 acres in a day and did in the neighborhood of $130,000 worth 

 of damage. If the " fire train " had not been on hand to succor 

 the residents of the little hamlet at Long Lake West, the loss of 

 life would have been great. Had the train arrived fifteen minutes 

 after it did, not a soul in the place would have escaped alive. 



The years 1899 and 1903 were marked by little or no rainfall 

 throughout the spring months. After the snow disappeared and 

 exposed the dry leaves and litter on the ground to the hot rays of 

 the spring sun, conditions were ideal for fires until the early sum- 

 mer, when the new foliage came out. In 1908, the drought did 



