The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-13
FOREST FIRE LOSSES RUN
 HIGH IN WEST VIRGINIA
Mir. Maxwell Tells of Destruction Wrought by Recent
 Floods

Washington. Dec. 12.-(Special.)- )- "The unprecedented destruction this seaeson by forest fires in West Vir- ginia has called the attention of the people. as never before. to the neces- sity of better protection to woods and watersheds" says ETu Maxwell. chair man of the West Virginia Conserva- tion Commission. "The relationship between denuded mountains and floods is better understood than formerly, and the problem of a future timber supply has ceased to be a question for academic discussion.
 Every one of the fifty-fve counties had one or more fires. some being small and spreading through few woodlots only, others covering more than 50,000 acres. The areas burned aggregated 1,7O0. 900. acres. approxi- mately one-fifth of the wooded area of the State Timber burned amounted to more than g43.B00, ,000 feet, board measure, about per cent. of the en- tire estimated standing timber, large and small. in the State. or two-thirda of the output of all the saw-mills of West Virginia In 1907.
 Money losses were heavy The value of timber burned was $2.9Oa. 800 IneE6 were IOSBCb lumber, tanbark, building and other Improvements amounting to s49o.175. This year there was an unusually heavy damage to undergrowth and soil, and this has been placed at s1 an acre for every acre burned, making loss of s1,703.S50 in the State. These losses total up to s5,097,S25. The reported expenditures by the State and individuals for fire fighting form an fnf n tha foaa nf than S5, ,0O0.000 The amount which county treasuries and companies are reported to have spent to suppress fires was only $645: individuals and companies are reported to have spent about Ss9.000.
 '"The injury to the soil from fire was much more severe this season In West Virginia than ever before. not alone because the burned area was larger than in any former year. but also for the reason that excessive dryness ex- posed the humus to q greater depth. Ground fires have been unusual here- tofore in this State, but this season they were common and widespread. l. Two human lives were lost in the fires.
 '"rhe mountain people fought fires in the past, when they fought at all, by raking the leaves and sticks from a fire lane two or three feet wide and back firing. That method failed this year. Fires crossed the lanes by burn ing the humus beneath the surface. and then started up on the farther side. The fires burned So deeply in the hu- mus that an unusual phenomenon was presented when a snow fall came early in November. The snow apparently extinguished the fires. but 1t went away quickly under the influence of a strong. dry wind. and the fires came up and out of the ground and were soon spreading again. I saw an interest ing example of this. In the morning the snow in the woods was two inches deep, and no fire was to be seen. Be- fore sunset the snow was gone and the leaves were burning.
 Large tracts of land on the high mountains were denuded of soil down to the rocks. Over much of the area where the Pottsville COngIomerate is the surface formation. there never was much mineral soil. Beds of moss, Hch- en leaves and decaying wood formed covering for the rocks which gave anchorage to the roots of the forest trees. over extensive tracts, soil of that kind were absolutely destroyed"