Weekly Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1908-1909, 1908-11-20

posed upon any man who refuses 10
give his services in time Of need"
| 1t is realized that the railroads
through their spark-emitting locomo-
| tives constitute one of the chlef
sources of forest fires and consequent
| " one of the first moves which has
been made by Uncle Sam in the pres
ent undertaking was to invite the rail-
roads to make common cause With the
federal government against forest ire
menace. There have been prepared
articles Of agreement for a cO-Opera-
tive working arrangement between the
government and those railroads whose
| lines traverse the national forests in
the West, and this is believed to be
but a beginning Of a better under
standing between some Of the parties
most concerned. Without the unset
fish aid of corporations the United
States government will have uphill
work in it's crusade against the forest
fire menace.
When it comes down to systematic
methods of fighting forest fires, the
subject does not happily, present a
wholly Cnexplored field. For some
years past the United States govern
ment has been rapidly developing an
efficient patrol and fire-fghting system
on its own forests, and inasmuch as
| Uncle Sam now controls about one
| fourth Of the forest area IN the Unit
! oil Ctotac If 0op no that 70
tiOnal authorities have had an excel
lent practice ground on which to try
out their theories on q large scale.
The realization brought by the forest
| fires Of 1908 Of the crying need for
organized effort in fighting forest fires
throughout the entire country, comes
| just at a time when the government
has It's own system practically perfect
ed, and there is no doubt that this
will be used as a model that will be
copied by State and county authori-
ties, corporations and private individ-
uals, who are owners Of extensive tim
| Der lands.
Under the forest patrol system main
tanned by the United States govern
ment on it's own land a ranger or
guard travels on foot or on horseback
over the district of which he has
charge at regular intervals and keeps
a careful lookout for any fires that
may have started since his preceding
patrol. This nomadic fire warden
makes especially frequent trips along
the wagon roads, trails or other fire.
quented routes Of travel through the
forest and not only keeps his eyes open
! for incipient fires, but cautions all per-
sons who may be travelling through the
forest. to be sure that any fires that
they may light are fully extinguished
| before the camp ground is abandoned
The arteries of travel through the
| forest are also extensively posted or
| placarded with printed notices warn
ing hunters, campers and the travelling
public in general against the dangers
of starting fires except when absolute
| ly necessary, or abandoning a camp
| site while the embers of the camp fire
are still aglow. Not only do the for
est rangers, or government patrolmen,
| paw lhCIL bCdlo liilOuSu IuC forest,
but every now and then each of these
guards climbs to commanding eleva-
tons or lookout points within his dis
trict to survey the whole situation,
and, if the existence OF a fire is dis
covered, the ranger either puts it out
himself, if he is able, or, if the flames
are too formidable for ;lis unaided eff
! fort, he summons the assistance Of
other rangers. A complete system Of
| telephone communication throughout
| Uncle Sans forests enables the rally
ing of good-sized fire-fghting force
at short notice. Finally, these very
busy rangers follow railroad trains
If their districts be traversed by the
steel-tracked highways and extin-
guish the innumerable small fires that
constantly originate from locomotive
sparks.-St. Louis Globe-Democrat