The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-08-13
ELK RIVER VALLEY FIRE.

There is some satisfaction to be
found in the fact that If a confiagra-
ton of like proportions to that which
has swept the Elk River valley had
swept the timber region of the coast,
the loss would have been very much
greater, but this is offset by the fact
is sufficient to make such a fire al
most impossible.
Those who are familiar with the
deep woods, either through holiday
visits or such descriptions as Holman
Day furnishes in King Spruce" are
very probably inquiring into the origi
of the fire and specializing concerning
it. They are well aware that the most
serious menace to timber is found in
the "slashings." Three years ago the
federal forester. Clifford Pinchot. draft
ed regulations for the use of forest re-
serves which the secretary of agricul-
ture approved and established in eff
feet. The sixty-third regulation deals
with this matter of "s1ashings."
''Lumbermen and settlers within for
est reserves are cautioned against
making dangerous slashings and must
not fire them in dry weather. If it is
necessary to make slashings, or to
burn them. ample notice must Away
be given the nearest forest officer be-
fore burning so that he may reduce
the danger to a minimum. II notice
is not given. or If the rangers instruc-
tions are not followed. the person re-
sponsible for the burning will be held
strictly responsible for all damages to
. he n in
cases, to criminal prosecution"
In dangerous districts where the pre-
cipitation is light. such as the devas-
tated region. 1t would seem as If there
should be a more stringent law passed
by the state or government in control,
and perhaps such laws have been over
looked. Whatever the origin of a fire
may be. the "slashings'' are 1.-The prin-
cipal cause of its spreading. Limbs,
tops and branches, the most inf1amma-
BILE part of the cuttings. are left in
great heaps through which the flames
may rush too madly to be checked. In
it's regulations concerning ex-
penditures for flre-fighting. the forest
service calls attention to the fact that
a fire which cannot be controlled by
twenty or forty men will run away
from a hundred or more, since heat
and smoke. in such cases make a direct
fight impossible. Since this is the
case, as every one even slightly ac-
quainted with the woods knows it is,
there should be strict law either
"slashings" or compelling
timber men to burn them and to do it
in wet weather.
l. fv-ta fox-t.x 81. d,
not one OF the most important sources
of timber supply. although at the pres
ent stage in forestry proceedings,
every timbered region is important. Its
principal market is at the mines of the
Alberta coal district, and especially
that part of the district known as the
Crow Nest coal field. When 1t is re-
membered with what difficulty tn.
mines of China and other deforested
areas are worked, the concern of the
coal interests over this confiagration
can easily be calculated.
F'ernie will be rebuilt, of course,
and like all other afflicted commune
ties with a necessity for existence and
a future before them it will be better
built. but the loss by fire is a dead
loss. What has been reduced to
smoke and ashes cannot be reassem-
bled into standing timber and more
important still, the seedlings are de-
stroyed, leaving a vast area to be
replanted. 1t may be that the Fernie
fire will be an object lesson to stimu-
late interest in forestry and caution in
forest protection that will be worth all
it has cost both to the United States
and Canada.