The Evening standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1910-1913, 1910-10-21

that a man who has just cmptied such
flask is a menace TO the timber
should II be In the woods and that the
forest service will not permit saloons
In the forest because sobriety Ia
there, as elsewhere. necessary for
safety But In this case, the flask had
lain there many months. empty and
seemingly impotent, while the grass
grew dryer, the sun grew hotter. and
advanced northward and changed the
angle and intensity OF Its rays: fin
ally one day the sun reached the
point where its rays. falling upon tho
flask, were focused as a burning glass
upon particularly inflamable bit Of
tender dried vegetation and forest
fire was the result
One hot afternoon, I rode along
trail which wound around a hill
side facing the sun Ny companion
rode ahead. after him our pack mules
and at an interval OF about 100 Yards
/ followed, The narrow, rocky trail
was lined with grass. dry and dead
Suddenly between me and the last
pack mule, noticed a fire spring up
in the scaDty grass. | called to my
companion and we put IL out When
the excitement was over the ques-
ton arose, How did 1t start? There
was no fire there when my compan.
ion passed along Ia few seconds be-
fore. He had not been smoking or
had he struck a match or course,
our pack mules had too much self
respect to use tobacco and only oc-
casionally INDUCED in nasal profanity
of the hee-haw dialect The eXplana-
ton was simple; the shoe OF one OF
the horses or mules had struck fire
from a rock in the trail, like steel
flint, and the spark had fallen upon
the inflamable cotton which nature
had planned TO wing the flight OF some
weed seed.
Recently a crest officer told me
how riding along the road In his dis
trict he found where n camping party
had deliberately driven off. leaving
their campfire burning near a lot Of
inlamable material. where 1t was al
most certain TO spread and reach pro
portions uncomfortable He beat the
fire ont as best he could. unDaclled
his horse and, taking the coffee-pot
from his pack, carried water from n
nearby creok and poured il upon the
spot until he was certain IL was safe
The next thing was To catch the
guilty party That seemed easy as the
wagon tracks run down the canyon
where for several miles there were
no dlverging roads. Our ranger start
ed in hot pursuit after the criminal.
hot. tired, dusty, eXasperated and de
termined. He had been fighting fire
for over month and had little pa
tienct with any one who could be so
thoughtless and indifferent to the
country's laws and the value OF prop.
erty. Riding down the canyon at
breakneck speed. STORMY determined
to arrest the offenders no matter what
resistance they might make. he sud
denly rounded curve In the road and
came upon the desperate criminals
1t was n party of eight girls from the
high school of the nelghborinG town, |
who, In the mild excitement and con-
fusion OF their only picnic OF the sum-
mer, their concern at driving on old |
farm team, fearful of mice and very
thoughtful of rats, had utterly forgot |
ten their campfire. The ranger was
Instantly disarmed; this was no place |
for him 10 use his Colts automatic |
and arrest the offenders In spite of
any show OF resistance. The girls |
We're badly frightened when the rang
er. wiping the sweat from his brow,
explained the trouble, and loss which |
which might have RESULTED from this !
They wero still more
badly frightened when he told them
that the penalty for deliberately start
ing forest fires is fine of $4,000 and
five years In the penitentiary, If the
fire Is the result OF carelessness the
penalty is a fine OF $1,000 and one
year in the penitentiary That was
two years ago, and since then no pic.
mic party. Of which any of those girls
uas member hae over failed to OK.