Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1909-09-17
FOREST fires
NOW RAGING
ROGUE RIVER VALLEY is NOW
ENVELOPED IN SMOKE
VALUABLE II IBER LOST
Supervisor Anderson Talks About
Destructive September and
October Fires.

The smoke. of great forest fires
burning north of this city fairly fills
the Rogue River valley and hides
the mountains on every side. The
sun is yelled and when it shines at
all its color is deep red with car
mine shading. There have been
days and nights of this weather un-
til we are ready to call for a change.
AT the present writing the wind is
! from the west and there Is every in
dication of rain, which, If it comes,
| will put out the fires NJ. j. Ander-
son, the supervisor of the Siskiyou
forest reserve, has been out for sew
eral days giving directions to the
fire fighters. returning Wednesday
night When seen by representa-
tive of this paper he talked interest
ingly, not only of the present fires,
but of those which have occurred in
the past. He said:
This is the second season for
many years that Oregon has been un-
fortunate enough to have September
forest fires and the southwestern
part of the state alone is now suf-
ferer. (Though California is still
burning)
! Nearly every year July and Aug
ust show more or less smoke, but in
these months it Is not every fire in
the woods that does serious injury
to standing merchantable timber,
and for this reason many persons
who have seen a burned area where
brush and debris have been cleared
by fire, without injury to the large
trees, are led to believe that it would
be perfectly safe to annually set fall
fires.
"lf the old inhabitants will search
their memory, or their records. they
will discover that the famous fires
of Oregon took place in September
or October.
"The disastrous fire of 1902 near
Portland, that destroyed Bridal Veil
causing such terror and some loss
of life, and destroyed some of the
Columbia river timber in Oregon
was September fire. and there has
never been a similar season since
that time until the present, and al
have said, this is really only local
The great fires Of the COS tha
burned the vast forest from BandoI
south to the California line (an arei
Of probably 20x100 miles, ar,
shown by all records to have been II
September and October, though full
details about these fires are hard {,
secure.
am not scientist enough to sa,
Just why fires are more disastrou
late in the season, but | do not be
lieve II is altogether the result OF tn
dry condition Of the ground and un
derbrush. During the past tw
i weeks | have paid particular atten
tion to the way a September fire al
4 'acks green trees, and am lead {
believe that after the growing perio
Is over and the seasons growt
more firm, the wood is more ir
flammable. One thing is certain
that the percentage Of green matur
pine and fir being ruined by th
large fire is much greater on IN
same area than has resulted frol
\ fires in the same vicinity, and sim
lar timber, in past years
\ There is another peculiar thin
y about late fall fires that is M
4 probably recognized by the casui
observer. II is well known by III
n fighters in the woods that the be
4 time TO put mp fight is In the evel
n ing or early morning. This is b
4 cause. as a rule forest fires begin
die down about y. m. and do NJ
revive until or 10 a. m. This fai
\ ln late fall forest fires. though
would seem that cool nights won
make the burning hours shorter.
4 late fires, and the later the mo
marked ESPECIALLY In heavy timber
n the fiercest burning Is from 9