Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1904-06-02
THE FALLING TREES
CONDITIONS WHICH ARE DEv.
|, AsTATINa OUR FORESTS.
Destructive laundering Operations
and Forest Fires Have Despoiled
+, the Country Of Vast Wealth
Need of Replanting.

There are few people so unintelligen
that they do not appreciate. in SOM
measure, the value of forests, but per
haps there are fewer still who full.
appreciate the gigantic Importance o
the part trees play in the progress an(
maintenance OF civilization. The fact is
that without trees our present civiliza
ton could not have been developed fol
ages, and perhaps 1t could never have
been developed at all. In many parts
OF our country. for example. farming
operations would be impossible but fol
the trees, such is their influence upon
the streams. They regulate the water
supply and tend to prevent both floods
and drought They supply fuel. one OF
the greatest necessities of life, and
they supply lumber for the building OF
cities, bridges, railroads and ships. Yet
most of us never stop to think that
the number of trees Is limited, that we
are using them up far faster than they
are being replaced either by man or
nature, and that. unless some means
can be found either to prevent the
wholesale destruction OF lumber which
Is now going on, or to Offset 1t by re-
planting large areas with young trees,
"A timber famine must result at no very
distant day. We of this generation
may never feel 1t except in the in
creased price Of lumber and fuel. but
those who come after us will curse our
neglect and want of foresight.
or course 1t has become necessary
that vast forests of fine trees be cut
every year; gigantic industries, in
which millions of dollars and the en-
ployment of hundreds Of thousands OF
men are involved, make 1t impossible
to stay the hand of the lumberman.
But in the very interest of these great
industries destructive numbering should
be everywhere guarded against.
An enemy almost II not quite as de-
;structive as bad numbering, Is the for
est fire, which destroys not only the
timber lands. but very often dwellings
and human lives besides. When con-
ditions are favorable to such fire, II
sometimes reaches appalling proper
tons. Such was the case with the Mir
.amichi fire in 1926, which. in the short
space of nine hours, destroyed a belt
of forest so miles long by % miles
wide. killed almost every living thing,
including the fish In the streams, over
an area of more than 100000 acres,
swept away number of towns, burned
1000 head of stock and killed 100 peo-
pie. The Peshtigo fire of 1871 was still
more disastrous. covering. as 1t did.
1900 square miles in Wisconsin, and
involving the loss Of many millions of |
dollars and the death of nearly $500 |
persons. This fire burned slowly FOR
several days at first, and might have |
been put out easily enough before the
high wind came and dashed 1t to fury |
beyond control. When forest fires first |
begin they may often be beaten out
with green branches. Those which
have made Roadway, but which are
burning along the ground only, may
often be checked by the digging of
trench and this method is particularly
recommended where the floor of the
forest is dry and deep and 'peaty, in
which case the fire Is apt to smolder
far beneath the surface and break out
again long after 1t seems to have been
extinguished. But the worst forest
fires are those which run along the
ground and through the tops of the
trees at the same time. First becom-
ing intensely hot on the ground, the
fire runs up the dry trunks OF the
trees, and then becomes one Of the
most destructive forces known. Trav-
cling often faster than man can run,
1t sweeps everything in its path, build
ings. fences and animals being con-
like tissue paper in a furnace
With the wind in its favor there is but
one thing which can stop big fire of
this character, and that one thing is
a wide space on which there is moth
ing to burn. Sometimes a natural bar
rier like river or a sandy stretch may
bar the path Of the flames. but II not,
an unburnable space should be msde
by starting what are called "back fires"
at some distance ahead of the main
fire. These smaller fires should be kept
under control, and allowed to burn
against the wind only. They will thus
all the burnable material over
q wide strip in the pathway of the
main fire, so that when they meet, the ,
latter will 20 out for lack of fuel
ERNEST HAROLD BAYNEs.