FOREST-FIRE LEGISLATION. 187 



sets on lire, or causes to be set on lire, any woods, prairies, or other combustible material whereby the property of 

 another is destroyed and life is sacrificed shall be punished with a fine of not over five hundred (^500) dollars, or he 

 imprisoned in the State prison for a term of not over ton (10) yearn, or both such iine and imprisonment. 



Sec. 10. Any person who shall kindle a fire on or dangerously near to forest or prairie land and leave it 

 unquenched, or shall be a party thereto, and every person who shall use other than incombustible wads for firearms, 

 or who shall carry a naked torch, firebrand or other exposed light in or dangerously near to forest land, causing 

 risk of accidental fire, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred ($100) dollars, or imprisonment in the 

 county jail not exceeding three (3) months. 



Sec. 11. Every person who shall willfully or heedlessly deface, destroy, or remove any warning placard posted 

 under the requirements of this act shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred ($100) dollars for each such 

 offense, or imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding three (3) months. 



Sec. 12. It shall be the dutv of all railroad companies operating any railroad within this State to use efficient 

 Bpark arresters on all their engines and to keep their right of way to the width of fifty (50) feet on each side of the 

 center of the main track cleared of all combustible materials and safely dispose of the same within said limits of 

 their right of way between the 15th day of April and the 1st day of December. No railroad company shall permit 

 its employees to leave a deposit of fire or live coals, or hot ashes, in the immediate vicinity of woodland, or lands 

 liable to be overrun by fires, and where engineers, conductors, or tiain men discover that fences or other materials 

 along the right of way or woodland adjacent to the railroad are burning, or in danger from fire, they shall report the 

 same promptly at the next telegraph station that they may pass. In seasons of drought railroad companies shall 

 give particular instructions to their employees for the prevention and prompt extinguishment of fires, and they shall 

 cause warning placards furnished by the forest commissioner to be posted at their stations in the vicinity of forest 

 and prairie grass lands, and where a fire occurs along the line of their road they shall concentrate such help 'and 

 adopt such measures as shall be available to effectively extinguish it. Any railroad company willfully violating 

 the requirements of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and be punished by a fine not exceeding one 

 hundred ($100) dollars for each such offense, and railroad employees willfully violating the requirements of this 

 section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and be punished by a fine of not less than five ($5) dollars nor more than 

 fifty ($50) dollars. But this section shall not be construed to x>rohibit or prevent any railroad company from piling 

 or keeping upon the right -of way cross-ties or other material necessary in the operation or maintenance of such 

 railroad. 



Sec. 13, It shall be the duty of each and eveiy owner of thrashing or other portable steam engines to have 

 efficient spark arresters on their engines at all times when in use, and no person in charge of any thrashing ongine 

 shall deposit live coals or hot ashes from his engine in any place without putting them out or covering them with at 

 least three inches of earth before leaving them. All persons violating the provisions of this section shall be deemed 

 guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not less than five ($5) dollars nor 

 more than fifty ($50) dollars. 



Sec. 14. Nothing in this act shall be construed as affecting any right of action for damages. 



Sec. 15. Woodland territory within the terms of this act shall he construed to mean bodies of forest and brush 

 land. 



Sec. 16. All moneys received as penalties for violating the provisions of this act shall be paid into the county 

 treasury of the county wherein the oftense occurred, to be known as the county fire fund, and used under the direction 

 of the county board in defraying the expenses of enforcing the provisions of this act within such county. 



Sec. 37. The forest commissioner shall annually, on or before the first day of December, make a written report 

 to the governor of his doings in respect to the duties herein assigned him, together with an itemized account of the 

 expenses incurred iii carrying out the provisions of this act, which report shall include such statistics and facts as 

 he has obtained from the chief fire warden and from the several fire wardens of the State and from other sources, 

 together with his suggestions relative to the preservation of the forests of the State and to the prevention and 

 extinguishment of forest and prairie fires. 



Sec. 18. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed. 



Sec. 19. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. 



Approved April 18, 1895. 



The Wisconsin law (chapter 266, Laws of 1895) is similar in general character to the Minnesota 

 law, except that the chief clerk of the State land office and his deputy are made State forest 

 warden and deputy forest warden, respectively, without additional salary. Towns are limited to 

 $100 per year expenditure in extinguishing fires. 



The Maine law (chapter 100, Public Laws of 1891) makes the State land agent the forest 

 commissioner. The selectmen of towns are made fire wardens and their duties are to post copies 

 of the law in conspicuous places and to superintend the work of extinguishing fires. They are 

 empowered to call upon any person for assistaoce, and a refusal makes the party liable to $10 fine. 

 The county commissioners in counties where there are unorganized places may appoint not to 

 exceed ten fire wardens* £To town shall expend for extinguishing fires more than 2 per cent of its 

 valuation for purposes of taxation. Anyone who neglects to extinguish a camp fire is liable to a 

 fine not exceeding $100 or imprisonment in the county jail one month, or both. Non-combustible 

 wads must be used by hunters. Municipal officers (and county commissioners in unorganized 



