Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1901-02-22
DESTRUCTIVE FIRES.
Forest Fires iu the Turtle Mountains
Source of Alarm to MIR.
Barrett.

my duty to again call attention to the
destruction of timber wrought by fire at
the Turtle mountains. Last year, in
giving attention to official duties in the
direction of terrestrial and fish conditions,
found hundreds and thousand of acres
of woods located at the east end of the
Turtle mountains had been destroyed by
fire within the last two years. The ma
jor part Of the trees thus destroyed were
of good size, ranging from 80 to 80 feet or
more in heighth, with diameter of 10 to
lS or more inches. the varieties consist
ing of poplars, Balm Of Gilead, ash, oaks,
white birch, willows, box elders and nu-
merous wild fruit trees, such. as the
plum, Juneberry choke and pin cherries,
highbush cranberries, wild currents,
gooseberries, rasberries, etc. The forest,
| fruit trees and underbrush were all de-
stroyed, except few stumps and uncon-
sumed parts of trees occupied the land
bleak, barren waste of wild desolation
where not only the trees were con-
sumed, but the rich mould and surface
soil was destroyed to full extent.
1t is safe to say and this is the opin-
ion of many of the intelligent men of the
mountains, that for each cord of wood
material removed from said mountains
since the early settlement of the state
for legitimate purposes-for fuel, build
ings, lumber, fencing, and even for
speculative purposes-at least from ten
to fifteen cords have been destroyed by
fires that for years have ravaged the
mountains. And during all this time no
adequate means have. been instituted by
our state or any counties to protect said
woods from the fires. Wherein do we
manifest economy, or afford protection
to the rich bounties of nature as be-
slowed in the way of forests. Our trees
are given up from year to year to the
forest fires, and hundreds of dollars of
our hard earned money are annually sent
away into Minnesota for the purchase of
fuel needed for home use.
/ was informed while at the Turtle
mountains that every quarter section of
government land in those uplands had
been filed on for homestead purposes. l
discovered the fires had died out near
Fish Lake. Where I entered the timber
I found it a vast compact and most valu-
able forest interspersed with hay mead
| Jy1 ~ F,,1
lakes. The trees were from 10 to Is feet
in height and from 80 to 55 inches in
circumference, and, as a rule, all were
sound and hardy in roots, trunks and
limbs. There are yet thousands of acres
of such forests. But there is no system
for protecting the same from fires. And
conditions are most favorable for pro-
ducing new conHagrations because of the
dry litter near the woods left by recent
fires. A very few roads have, as yet,
been made through the timber. Thus
the new settlers who will take up their
residence this season in those woods will
be not only in danger of losing their
timber but their other property and
their lives also. Besides this, I am in
formed that there is considerable wooded
lands in the mountains that belong to
our state institutions.
1t is claimed that the Indians fire.
quently set fire to the woods in order to
thus produce down timber" for them to
market.
Should these facts be deemed worthy
OF Investigation, it is probable our legis-
tlators would discover the need of ad-
ditional legislation in order to protect
the timber and other property and
human lives at the Turtle mountains,
especially during the dry seasons when
Ethe fires in that section prove most
disastrous. -. Yours truly,
i%ss5G.H. III 5s,@ =, w. w. BARRETT.
T. %