The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-10-15
By Forest Fires in the United States
Every Year.
RECORDS OF GREAT FIRES.
The National Bureau of Forestry
Moving to Stir Up People
for Prompt Action in
Outbreaks.


lost, will add to the interest in a
special study Of the subject which has
engaged the bureau of forestry for
several years. The results Of this
study. in the form Of a bulletin, enti-
tied. Forest Fires" by Alfred Gas
kill, will be published soon. BY i'm
pressing the public with some idea of
the perils it suffers from forest fires
and the enormous damage they do,
the bureau hopes to induce more ef-
fective legislation in suppressing
them.
Investigation has shown that, in an
average year, sixty human lives are
lost in forest fires, SO, ,0O0,00 worth
of real property is destroyed, lO,214.-
OS9 acres of timber land are burned
over, and young forest growth, worth
at the lowest estimate 5000, 900, Is
killed. A special canvass Of the coun-
try by the Department of Agriculture
in 1891 discovered 100000 acres of
tember land destroyed by fire.
These figures are mere estimates.
which fall far short Of showing in full
the damage done. No account at all
is taken Of the loss to the country due
to the impoveriShment Of the soil by
fire, to the ruin of water courses and
the drying up Of springs. Even the
amount Of timber burned is very i'm
perfectly calculated, and the actual
quantity destroyed is far in excess OF
that accounted for Forest fires in
this country have crowned so COM
mon that only those are reported that
are Of such magnitude as to threaten
large communities. The numbering
industry in remote sections OF the
country may be ruined and people
forced to flee for their lives without a
mention of the disaster beyond the
places near where it occurred.
The fires that burnt this year in
Washington and Oregon were uncom-
mon only in the number Of lives lost.
The burning Of logging and mining
camps and farm buildings, the loss to
the country in the destruction of tim
Der and young tree growth, is of year
ly occurrence. Every fall. not only in
Washington. Oregon, Colorado and
Wyoming. but up and down the Pacific
coast and all over the Rocky Noun
tain country, fires burn great holes in
the forest and destroy the national
wealth. The air of the mountains
over hundreds Of miles is pungent
with the smoke of cOntiagration, and
navigation on Puget Sound has often
been impeded by smoke. The follow
ing comment by DR.. Henry Gannett
Of the United States geological sur
vey, should convey fair idea Of the
damage done in the State of Washing
ton: In less than generation two
ffths Of the standing timber has been
DESTROYED in one Of the richest timber
regions on the continent, and Of the
destruction more than half has been
caused by fire. Assuming that the
timber would, if standing, have the
value of IS cents per thousand feet,
not less than $50, 600 worth has
gone up in smoke, a dead loss to the
people Of the State"
According to the bureaus records,
the most disastrous forest fire in the
history of this country occurred IN
October, 1871, simultaneous with the
burning of Chicago. 1t extended all
across Northern Michigan and Wis
conSin aud into Minnesota. At least
1000 persons were burned to death
and $4,000 were made homeless. The
property loss has never been calculated.
The Hinckley fire of 1894. which de-
stroyed Hinckley and five other Min
nesota villages, burned to death 41S
persons, destroyed s150,000 worth OF
farm and town property, and about
400 square miles of forest. a fire in
Southeast Michigan in 1881 burned
the forest on forty-eight townships,
DESTROYED S2,000,000 worth of other
property, burned to death l25 persons,
and made homeless 5000. Another
Michigan forest fire, which occurred
in 1896, made homeless 1000 persons
and destroyed town and farm property
worth S1,250,000. Wisconsin lost by
fire in May, 1891, 100 square miles of
forest and other property worth 81
100000. In 1894, in Wisconsin, thir'
teen persons lost their lives and 5000
their homes and s2,000,000 worth OF
town and farm property was destroyed
in the Phillips fire.
The enumeration Of great forest
fires could be extended almost indef'
initely. One feature, however, is
common to them all: They were
small fires before they grew uncontroll'
able, and with little trouble might
have been extinguished. For example
the Einckley fire smoked as ground
fire for weeks, and nobody paid it seri
Gus attention. But one day tie vino
rose and famed the smouldering en-
berS into flame, the flame caught II
the dry underbruSh, leaped into the
trees and became a fire of so terrible
volume that no human power coult
; stay it.
Legislation, even in the East, ha:
done little toward solving the forest
fire problem. Pennsylvania, Mime
sofa. Massachusetts and New York art
possible exceptions. The best forest
fire laws are probably those OF Penn
:. sylvania, which make an annual eX
, penditure ofSl5, 000in support OF them
State conStables serve as fire wardenS II
their townships and receive extra pa,
= for their services. Minnesota, brough
to a sense OF responsibility by dlsas
ters, of which the Hinckley fire was
J the most terrible, has established al
efficient fOrest-tire system. MaSSachu
setts has had good legislation in th'
matter. The New York forest-tr
t laws. though generally limited in thei
/ effect to State reserves and parks
S have brought good results. West 0
the Rocky Mountains little is done to
: ward the suppression Of forest fires