The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-03-05
OPPOSITION TO
FOREST POLICY
continu ed from Page I

fDent offered by the senator from Yer
mont (Mr. Proctor). which proposes to
increase the appropriation for the pur-
poses of forest reserve development.
Senators refer TO various expenditures
in justification Of the large appropria-
| ton which has been asked for ana
amongst them il was stated that teie-
phone systems would have TO be es-
tablished in order to properly carry
out the purposes of the chief forester.
Mr.. Proctor-Mr. President
The Vice President-Does the senator
from Montana yield to the senator
from Vermont?
Mr.. Clark of Afontana-Certainly.
/ MI. Proctt-If the senator viii al
low me. l wish to correct him. The
amendment proposing Improvement IN
the forest reserves was disagreed to-
The pending amendment is for the or
binary running expenses and care, not
for the general improvement of the for
est reserves.
Mr. Clark of Montana--I understand.
Mr.. Proctor-It does not cover tele-
phones.
Would Require Enormous Sum.
Mr.. Clark of Montana thank the
senator for that explanation. At the
some time I understand. Mr.. President,
il will be largely in the discretion of
the chief forester and his corps of as
| sistants to DO win this money what
ever they may see fit. and It has been
contended here that, the establishment
of telephones is one of the things nec-
essary to be done. Mr.. President,
should like TO know how it is proposed
to establish and maintain system OF
telephones in forest reserve? We all
| know that il costs considerable money,
$500 or $3.50 per mile, to erect proper
telephone line. and we likewise know
tod
ever there is a large amount of timber
| is constantly out of repair. because or
falling trees. 1t would require an enor-
nous sum of money, first to erect tele-
phone systems that would be of any
utility over such large areas OF land,
amounting now / believe to 121,000,0OO
acres. and their maintenance would be
/ so great a charge as to make the ex-
penditure enormous.
1t is also proposed to construct roads
| through the mountains in order to car
! ~ out the plan for the administration
of forest reserves. Mr.. President, 1t
would be absolutely iEpraeticable TO
build a system of wagon roads
throughout that vast region of coun-
try. 1t would cost millions of dollars
to build them in the first place and
hundreds of thousands of dollars be-
sides annually to maintain them
Government Scheme That Failed.
THE government undertook a
scheme of road building in the Rocky
mountains as far back as 1859, under
the supervision of Lieutenant Mullen
Of the United States army, who is now
a resident of this city. plan was
proposed, and the bill passed congress,
for the building of wagon road for
military purposes from the headwaters
of the Missouri river. at Fort Benton,
now in Montana to Walla Walla, now
i'm Washington. About s250000, / be-
lieve, was expended in the building of
the road The most difficult part of
construction was through the Couer
Alene mountains. in the now western
part of Montana and Idaho, extending
a distance Of perhaps something like
i25 miles. After the road was complet-
ed it was found that every storm that
came bleU trees across it, and they
came to congress asking for appropri-
atoms of $4,000 or $4,000 per year TO
maintain the road. / believe congress
granted one appropriation and after
wards the road was abandoned. A few
years later / crossed the Mullen pass
and the road was scarcely available for
parties on horseback
/ Could Not Be PstroIIed.
THE question of protection against
fire in the forests has been widely dis
cussed. and reference has been made TO
a proper system of control. / would
like to know from some of the gentle
men who claim to be familiar with con-
ditions in the Rocky mountains, al
though some of them may have only
passed through in Pullman cars, how it
is proposed to patrol forest reserves,
say in the state of Montana. where
there have been about 100000 acres
withdra wn. Allowing $4,000 acres for
each patrolman. and / believe that
would be much more than he could
properly attend 10. it would take about
1,091 patrolmen in order to look after
or exercise any control of the fires that
might occur in that state. and then
only would they be able to accomplish
ANYTHING during the incipiency of the
fire. Fires that occur in forest regions
arise as a rule, from campfires. No
body purposeiy sets fire to the forest
Long before white man set his foot
in that country. as is known by the
SCARED mountains that were burned
over. forest fires occurred. They still
occur, ard will continue to occur as
long as the forests last. Something
may be done in the way of preventing
them, but, as l said. ii. would take an
army OF men to follow around all
through the great forests, watch hunt
ers anc prospectors and camphres, and
to see that the fires were extinguished
When a fire once gets started, trees
having foliage of resinous nature are
so infiamnable that the flames Leap
from tree TO tree and go on burning
and it would be impossible for any
body or anv number of foresters- II
there were thousands of them there, &c
ever stop one of those fires. They GO
on burning and sweeping over vast
fareas of country until the rains of hea-
ven come at last and put them out II
was said yesterday that there are nc
longer any forest fires in the western
! country: that the skies of heaven were
no longer obscured by smoke arising
from them. Mr.. President l have lived
in the west for a great many years
and l am positive that last year, ane
the year before. there were forest f1res
raging in many places in that country
Notwithstanding the heroic efforts Of
the forest rangers and of the employees
OF the great timber and lumber inter
ests operating there. 1t was impossible
TO prevent them.