Arizona republican., 1908-09-18
LATE FOREST FIRES
 INTEREST SERVICE
The Disasters Have At Least Focused Attention Upon the Forest Fire Problem.

Washington, Sept 12.-(Special Cor | respondence of The Republican )-ThC forest fires which have just laid waste 1 whole countries in Minnesota, Michi- | gan, and extended into Wisconsin, de. ! stroying many towns and making | thousands of persons homeless. have | focused the attention of both govern | ment and state forest officers on the i 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 ter ritory extending from coast to coast | the reported destruction by forest fires | has been terrific and 1t is likely that | the year will go down as one of the worst in the last quarter century. Il seems that no part of the country has ! escaped the work of the devasting 1 flames. The latest disasters in Mime Sota, Michigan. 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 Pacific | coast, the Rocky Mountain and the New England states. and Canada have had a thorough. and in some cases. a continuous experience in fire fighting Officers in the United Arrest service here say that it is doubtful if this years actual losses from forest fires in all parts of the country will ever be ! known, but it is certain that they will
 run mp so high in the millions that the country will be startled when a compi-
 lation of statistics at the end of the
 season makes it possible to give even
 the most conservative figures. Suffice
 it to say, were all the timber burned
 up this year in all parts of the country converted into cash, it could provide
 for a good sized navy of first class battleships.
 The fires have done good in one
 way; they have focused the peoples attention on the seriousness of the
 forest fire problem. practical foresters
 say. and have started a wide spread movement in many states to check them by adopting rational systems of fire protection. Among thinking peo- pie there has been awakened an in tense interest in throwing a better pro- tection 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 a force to battle with the flames as soon as discovered has held the losses down to a point where they are utterly insignificant when one considers the fearful destruction which would have come about had there been no protection.
 Although the fire menace has been serious in all sections, officers of the forest service estimate that the total cost of the forest fires on the national forests for the season, exclusive of the salaries of forest officers, will not be more than $3O.OOO. This sum is small when it is remembered that it means fire protection for approximately 16S.- 000,00O acres of national forests, less than twO-tenths of a mill per acre. Progressive state fire wardens and for est officers. individuals and private corporations having large timber hold inEs have organized fire fighting forces along much the same line as the gov ernment in many cases. and in this way they have given protection to mil lions of acres of timber which might have been destroyed had it been left unprotected.
 MERCHANT IN MANY PLACES F. $. Jones, a merchant of Wicken- burg and the surrounding towns, was in the city yesterday.