The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1910-10-27
RANGERS BLAME
The RAILROADS
Inquiry Into Recent Destruc-
tive Forest Fires.
TINDER ALONG ROADBED

Old Ties and Refuse Gathered In
Heaps Furnished Most Combust biz
Material for the Flames-OfficiaI Re.
port Places Loss of Life at Twenty.
nine and Property Damage at Five
Millions Of Dollars.
st. Paul, Oct 27.--General C. C. An
drews of the state forestry board has
received a comprehensive report from
George S. Chaplin and Frank Curtis
of Roosevelt, Mimi, two forest rangers
whom the board ordered to investi-
gate the forest fires which destroyed
Baudette and Spooner, Mimi, and
devastated the surrounding country.
The report places the blame for the
fires on the Canadian Northern rail-
road and the carelessness of many
locomotive engineers. 1t says that
the country through which the fires
travelled is wild and sparsely settled !;
that the fires in many places did not
entirely destroy the trees, merely
scorching them enough to kill them.
These trees will fall this winter, ac-
cording to the rangers, and make con-
ditiOns as dangerous next year as they
were this if the debris is not cleaned
up. The dry weather of the summer
also is responsible to a great extent
for the fires, for at no time accord
ing to the report, was there water
enough to put out the fires in the peat
bogs, which were burning frequently
to depth of two feet"
Eight Prosecutions Pending.
The report calls attention to the
state laws regarding railroad regula-
tiOn and care in a forest country.
These laws, according to the report,
were frequently broken. Accordingly,
it says, 1--WE brought eight prosecu-
tions for earlier fires in Beltrami
county. We secured convictions in
each case, but the suits were appealed
to the district courts on points of law
and have been pending there since
Sept L."
Mr. Chaplin says regarding the
source of the fires:
''The fact that we proved that three
fires were set by locomotives, that
twenty others were reliably reported
to us as having been started in the
same way, and the carelessness noted
N nf nt a
gineers, fully satisfies us that the rail
road company is responsible for all
fires that were discovered after they
had been burning for several hours
and which showed by their paths that
they had started from the railroads s
right of way"
Allowed Timber to Pile Up.
Also the report declares that the
lowing combustible material to ac-
cumulate along it's right of way. Mr..
Chaplin says: DRY bushes and shrubs,
old and decayed ties, extending to the
roadbed, furnished in this year sure
food for any spark that might fall"
The rangers report fixes the entire
list of dead at twenty-nine and adds
that the reason it was not greater was
that many of the settlers had dug-outs
and root cellars for just such emer-
gencies. The financial loss is placed
at $5,O00,0O0, $1,700,000 of which was
in the towns.
Although arraigning the railroad for
IL a 4
measure for the destruction done by
the fires the report concludes with an
acknowledgment of the excellent re-
lief work done by the road after the
fires became dangerous. Mr.. Chaplin
says the railroad officials did all In
their power to alleviate the suffering
and aid the victims.