10 MISCELLANEOUS CIRCULAR 36, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



growing in popularity. Informal programs, radio concerts, camp- 

 fire talks, and contests of various kinds enliven the hours in camp. 



On May 31, 1926, the dam forming what is known as Lost Lake 

 was completed, and on this date it was dedicated and formally 

 presented to the United States Forest Service by the citizens of 

 Lawton, who had contributed the $6,000 necessary to build it. The 

 Cache Improvement Society, composed of citizens of Cache, also 

 contributed $600 for the construction of the Panther Creek Dam, 

 which adds materially to the attractiveness of the Wichita and forms 

 a most picturesque swimming pool for public use. 



The Wild Life Institute fostered by the University of Oklahoma 

 and other agencies and organizations of the State, meets annually at 

 Camp Boulder and conducts a series of lectures and field trips designed 

 to give practical help to teachers of science in the public schools, to 

 Boy Scout leaders, and to all nature lovers. The work of the Wild 

 Life Institute, while affording delightful recreation, has a serious pur- 

 pose. All of the interested agencies take an active part in the summer 

 camp, and the various species of wild life and the geological forma- 

 tions in the "Wichitas" afford a wonderful opportunity for study. 



Among the Oklahomans who live in the cities and towns and on the 

 plains near by there is a great and growing pride in the Wichita 

 National Forest and Game Preserve, a tremendous appreciation of its 

 value as a public property, and a keen willingness and desire to par- 

 ticipate in its protection and development. The forested groves are 

 cherished by the local people. They grant that the Wichita National 

 Forest and Game Preserve is the property of all the people, but in 

 their eyes it particularly belongs to their part of Oklahoma, and the 

 sense of prideful ownership is strong. 



No matter how much one enjoys the beauty of the Wichita Range 

 in general, the buffalo, longhorn cattle, elk, deer, and antelope, the 

 birds, the trees and flowers, the hours in the camp fire's friendly 

 circle, no visit to this national forest is complete without a jaunt to 

 Boulder Canyon, where West Cache Creek breaks through the 

 mountains into the open plain. Here the forces of nature have com- 

 bined to create a Garden of the Gods in miniature. The towering 

 canyon walls, the rugged peaks, the jumble of massive bowlders, and 

 the delicate and ever-changing colors are profoundly impressive. And 

 with it all there is the crystal stream, edged by wooded and grass- 

 carpeted parks — ideal camping grounds where thousands whose homes 

 and workshops are in the cities or on the prairies may and do find rest 

 and the joy of life close to nature in her most pleasing moods and 

 aspects. 



PREVENT FOREST FIRES— IT PAYS 



SIX RULES FOR PREVENTING FIRE IN THE FORESTS 



1. Matches. — Be sure your match is out. Break it in two before 

 you throw it away. 



2. Tobacco. — Be sure that pipe ashes and cigar or cigarette stubs 

 are dead before throwing them away. Never throw them into brush, 

 leaves, or needles. 



