Report of the Forest Commission. 85 



which those people eke out a miserable existence. It seems that huckleberry 

 bushes spring up quickly and surely wherever forest fires sweep over those 

 hills, and the unscrupulous persons who depend on them do not care what 

 damage to life or property results so long as they increase the berry crop. 

 The huckleberry farmer does not need to own an inch of land. If he has the 

 title to one simple lucifer match he can put thousands of acres under cultiva- 

 tion in a very short time. He has only to light it and touch it to the dry 

 leaves and branches on the ground, either in early spring or late fall, and his 

 cultivation is soon under way. No matter what had grown on the ground 

 before these incendiary fires sweep over it, huckleberry bushes will never fail 

 to grow from the ashes and scorched soil. 



"My informant assured me that nine out of 10 of the destructive and fre- 

 quently fatal fires that annually devastate those hills are started by these out- 

 laws. There is a strict and severe law against this business, and lumbermen, 

 tanners, and every one interested in keeping fires out of the woods are well 

 aware as to who starts them, but a case is yet to be reported where they have 

 taken any measure to prevent the incendiarism or bring the incendiaries to 

 justice. 



" Two years ago fires started in this way destroyed a million dollars' worth 

 of property and eight lives, among the latter Superintendent Badger, of the 

 Sinnemahoiing Valley railroad, who, with a force of men, had gone to fight 

 the progress of the fire along the line of the road. He and his men were sur- 

 rounded by the flames, and he and seven others perished. Yet none of the 

 wretches, who were responsible for the uncontrollable conflagration, was ever 

 molested, and they are firing the woods just the same this year. There were 

 30 miles of country in Tioga and Lycoming counties burning at one time 

 this spring." 



(Philadelphia Bulletin, May 12, 1894.) 

 Fire in Pennsylvania Forests. 



In a single stretch of woodland north of Westport, Pa . , one Williamsport 

 lumbering fir in lost last week 3,000,000 feet of logs owing to forest fires. The 

 firm estimates the market va.ue of these logs at $13,000, which, of course, does 

 not take into account the damage to standing timber caused by the same fire, 

 or the destructiveness of that blaze with reference to growing shrubs and 

 sprouts. The Scranton Truth says it never has been able to get a satisfactory 

 approximation of the fatal yearly loss to Pennsylvania from forest fires; but 

 the amount must be enormous. In its own community it knows it is a serious 

 present loss, without calculating at all the tremendous sacrifice which is tallied 

 upon the future. 



Connellsville, Pa., August 28. — Fierce mountain fires are raging all along 

 the Chestnut Ridge north and south of here. Many of the mountain farmers 

 are plowing furrows around their homes and grain stacks to ward off the fire. 



The long drouth has left the underbrush in such a condition that the flames 

 travel with great rapidity. The smoke was so dense here this afternoon that 

 electric lights had to be lighted at 4 o'clock. 



Kane, Pa., September 3. — A stiff gale from the southeast all day has fresh- 

 ened up the many forest fires burning in this section, and to-night the bright 

 glare is visible in all directions. 



