Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-09-16
DESTRUCTIVE FIRES.
Acres and Acres of Valuable Forest
 Land Destroyed.


 Acres and Acres of Valuable Foresl
 Land Destroyed.
 Washington, Sept 16,-The forest fires which have just laid waste whole counties in Minnesota, Mich igan, and extended into Wisconsin, destroying many towns and makink thousands of persons homeless, have focused the attention of both gov ernment and state forest officers on the enormous losses of forest wealth which will be checked up to the year 1908.
 In the whole northern half of the United States throughout the vast territory extending from coast to coast the reported destruction by forest fires has been terrific and u Is likely that the year will go down as one of the worst in the last quarter century. It seems that no part of the country has escaped the work of the devastating flames. The latest disasters In Minnesota, Mich, igan, and Wisconsin are the worst of the many that have visited the Lake states this year Other sec tions have also suffered from forest fires during the spring and summer months, and the people of the Paci. flc coast, the Rocky Mountain and the New England states, and Canada have had thorough, and in some cases, continuous experience In fire fighting.
 Officers in the United States forest service here say that 1t is doubtful If this years actual losses from forest fires in all parts of the country will ever be known, but 1t is certain that they will run up so high in the mill lions that the country will be star tied when compilation of statistics at the end of the season makes it possible to give even the most con- servative figures. Suffice 1t to say, were all the timber burned up this year in all parts of the Country con- verted into cash, it could provide for a good sized navy of first-class bat tleships.
 The fires have done good in one way; they have focused the people s attention on the seriousness of the forest fire problem, practical forest CTS say, and have started a wide spread movement in many states to check them by adopting rational sys- tens of fire protection. Among thinking people there has been awak', ened an intense interest in throw ing better protection around the forests, which grow more important as a natural resource as the timber supply dwindles.
 The government has had lot Of work in the fire fighting line on the national forests, but serious as the fires have been, careful patrol and the organization of force to battle with the flames as soon as discov- cred has held the losses down to a point where they are utterly insigni- ficant when one considers the fear full destruction which would have come about had there been no pro- tection.
 Although the fire menace has been serious in all sections, officers of the forest service estima.a that the to- tai cost of the forest fires on the national forests for the season ex- elusive of the salaries of forest of ficers, will not be more than $3O,- 900. This sum is small when 1t Is remembered that it means fire pro- tection for approximately 16S,000,- 900 acres of national forests, less than two-tenths of a mill per acre. Progressive state fire wardens and forest officers. individuals and pri- vate corporations having large tim Der holdings have organized fire fighting forces along much the same line as the government. in many cases, and in this way they have giv- en protection to millions of acres of timber which might have been de- stroyed had it been left unprotected.