The San Francisco call., 1905-08-26
F|CHT WITH
FLAMES ON
TAMALP AIS
San Francisco Men
Battle With
Blaze.
Check Fire Which Men
aces Slopes Of the
Mountain.
Prominent Residents of This
City Do Heroic Work
on Hillside.
Special Dispatch to Tn. Can.

SAN RAFAEL, Aug. 2.-But for the
prompt and emerge tic action OF the Tam
alpais Forestry Association and the peo-
pie living near the mountain, Tamalpais
would have been swept bare by fire to-
day. Up to 8 o'clock this evening there
was an even chance that the fire would
reach Ross, but by back firing, the blaze
was confined to an area of about 100
acres.
The fire. which is supposed to have
been started on the Kent property by
poaching deer hunters, was discovered
at half past 4 o'clock this afternoon
Dy Miss Margaret Dover. who lives at the
Kent residence She notified the Tamal-
pals Forestry Association by telephone.
Word was communicated to the people at
the Tavern on Mount TamalpaiS. the
Marin County Water Company and other
parties immediately interested. The nre
broke out on the. ridge dividing Kents
property from Bill Williams Gulch- The
flames eagerly devoured the dense growth
and leaped from tree to tree
After the alarm was received II was not
very many minutes before an organized
fire fighting force of 15e. divlaed into
small squads, was checking the progress
OF the blaze by back firing.
The fire was within two miles of the
tavern and two squad Of twenty men
each, under President s. B. Cushing
and superintendent W. J.. Thomas,
stayed it's progress in that direction
The water company had a large force
of men under Superintendent Barr and
Foreman Mahoney to restrain the
flames at Bill Williams Gulch. George
Martin of San Anselmo and Frank
Pixley of Corte MADEIRA each had
large number of men lighting the fire
on the Kent property. The Tamalpais
Forestry Association gathered all its
frefghting tools from the different
stations and many prominent business
men of San Francisco. under the lead
ership of William Kent. gathered all
the help from their homes and at
tackled the fire from the Ross side.
After they had the fire under control
the i7rehghting force was diminished.
leaving a sufficient number of men TO
check any fresh. outbreak.
Superintendent Thomas of the scenic
road says that the fire IS under COM
plete control and he expects TO have
it xtinguished tomorrow. He said
that luckily there was no wind. other
wise the fire could not have been
checked so easily.
The Tamalpais Forestry Association
is composed principally OF prominent
San Francisco business men. who are
residents of this valley. The associa-
tion was organized for. the preSerSa-
tion OF trees on Mount Tamalpais and
for protection against forest fires.
Among those taking an active part in
the fight against the flames to-day
were James Coffin of the Alameda
Sugar Company, John Shepard Eells, the
attorney: Colonel Paul Jones of the
Rock Island system. Attorney j. HUI
bert Nee, Wharton w. Thurston. Frank
Jones and Mr.. Jenkins.
The tract burned over is of not much
value either for grazing or timber and
covers an area of about 100 acres or
so 1t is reported that many large
bucks were driven out of seclusion in
Bill Williams Gulch and Kents place
by the fire.