Report of the Forest Commission. 29 



CATSKILL PRESERVE. 

 Sullivan County. 

 Newcomb Mapes, firewarden for the town of Bethel, Sullivan 

 county, reports : 



I have to report a hard fought three days' fire in my district, May 

 2-5, inclusive. It was started at Black Lake by Eugene Schoonmaker, 

 on the Shafer farm. He notified me in accordance with the rules of 

 the Forest Commission that he wanted to burn over some meadow 

 land on his farm on Saturday, April 28. I responded to the notice in 

 the morning of that day and looked over the ground, which adjoins a 

 tract of wild land. I directed him to plow all around the piece he 

 wished to burn, and get five or six men to assist him, and not to set 

 fire until four o'clock in the afternoon, as it was quite dry. In 

 the afternoon of that day it rained, so that he could not burn it 

 over ; but on the morning of May 2d he fired it without taking any pre- 

 caution whatever, and without notifying me again. In less than 10 

 minutes the fire was beyond his control, running faster than a horse. 

 I had notified Schoonmaker when he applied for permission to burn 

 this fallow that he must assume all risk and expenses in case of acci- 

 dent or if the fire got away from him. So as soon as he found that 

 the fire had got the best of him he sent for me, and I repaired to the 

 place at once. I found Mr. Schoonmaker with quite a number of men 

 fighting the fire, but before it could be subdued the flames ran over about 

 400 acres. In its course the fire burned a shanty owned by John Rape, 

 which was used in storing hay, and ran over about 100 acres of his 

 land, doing but little damage to it, however, with the exception of his 

 buildings. His loss will not exceed $50. From Rape's property it 

 extended to the lands of Mr. George Wells, burning over nearly 100 

 acres ; but Mr. Wells told rrie that he had not considered it had 

 damaged him any as he got a good burn on a fallow which he had cut. 

 From there it burned over lands owned by heirs of the Tillotson 

 estate to the extent of over 200 acres. A part of this tract is covered 

 with a growth of young thrifty maple, birch, poplar, beech, etc. In 

 the latter case it would be hard to estimate the damage, as the land is 

 good for no other purpose than woodland ; but this fire has set back 

 the growth from five to 10 years. Mr. Schoonmaker did all that was 

 possible to extinguish the fire, and did not leave it, night or day, until 

 the rain which came on the 5th. We used hoes and plowed furrows 

 where we could- get a team. We founl thit fresh dirt was very 

 effectual in stopping the spread of the flames. 



