The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1910-09-02
pINcHoT sLAmEs HEYsoHN'
LARK AND OTHER WEST
ERN SENATORS.
onposed Appropriations for Prop
er Equipment OF Forest Rangers
Inst Such Emereencies-Lesson
e clear and Former Forester Hopes
II Will Be Needed.

T
.,o government forest service, in a
statement holds that the loss of prop
u.r and life in the recent and present
forest fires was unnecessary. The
disastrous results, he says are trace
.ho to unpreparedness to deal with
tho situation. He scores members of
congress who have opposed appropri-
o+ions for the proper equipment of
Forest rangers, and in that connection
names Senator Hepburn of Idaho,
ubose home town, Wallace, suffered
sorious loss: Senator Carter of Mon
tana and Representative Mondell of
wyoming. The statement follows:
81 am proud of the splendid work the
men of the forest service have been
doing against the western forest fires.
uanv of them have given up their lives
N protect the homes of settlers and
the forest on which the prosperity of
the western people depends. To my
mind their conduct is beyond all praise
Like City Fire Fighting.
"A fire in the forest is the same
kind of a thing as fire in the city
There is only one way to fight either.
The fire department of every city is
organized with the prime idea of get
ting to the fire when it is young. So
with forest fires. The time to conquer
them is before they grow strong. II
forest is equipped with roads, trains,
telephone lines and a sufficient number
Of men for patrol there is more like
lihood that great fires will be able to
get started than there is that great
con1agrations like the Chicago fire
will get started in city with modern
fire department. Under rare circum-
stances they may, but the chances are
against it,
Fixing the Blame.
"The forest service has done wond-
ers with it's handful of men. 1t has
put out every year many thousands of
small fires any one of which under
favorable conditions might have de-
veloped into a conflagration which
10000 men could not stop. This year,
because of the great drought, there
were many fires and the rangers were
too few.
The lesson from these fires is per-
fectly clear. When city suffers from
great fire it does not retrench in it's
fire department, but strengthens it..
That is what the nation must do In
the national forest.
The men in congress like Hepburn,
Carter and Mondell, who have made
light of the efforts of the forest service
to prepare itself to prevent just such
calamity as this, have in effect been
nghting on the side of the fires against
the general welfare If even a small
traction of the loss from the present
nres had been expended in additional
patrol and preventive equipment, some
Or perhaps nearly all of the loss could
nave been avoided.
l believe our people will take this
lesson to heart and insist that the set
uers and their wives and children, the
mmbermen and the millers and the ST.
VVOVOOOO0 worth of property in the ma
uonal forests shall be equally pro-
tected."
spokane, Aug. 29.-Reports of rain
a. occur d'Alene City and in the Clear
wafer region, in Idaho, coupled with
Tue Increase in the force of fire fight
eis and cessation of wind, make the
s'uatlon in that region of blazing
lumber more hopeful than at any time
.Or a week. Only one new fire has
appeared, a small one, comparatively
speaking, in the st. Joe country.
ioaho militia ordered to the fire
sOne probably will all be withdrawn
Soon
c seattle, Aug. 29.-J. B. Nelson, the
s.attle agent of the Associated Press,
-, suo has been in Spokane, directing
tae work of the correspondents in the
tte'ri'ory visited by the forest fires. re-
'0 . to this city last night.
"nen left Spokane Saturday night
~ - was estimated that 125 men Of the
les s.est service had lost their lives in
~ sae forest fires," said Mr.. Nelson. "The
h ,srlct forester's office at Missoula
rau made up a list of sixty-six known
.e1ims, most of them killed along the
bn seSs emptying into the st. Joe river
s; ~, mad not included in the list the
rs snteen dead men of Ranger Lee Hol
faa ssnead's party or the eight men SUI
M. Mated in the Bullion mine tunnel
Dr.; Ontana, or the thirteen killed on the
Dig Dig FORK of the Occur d'Alene. The
~;e au men were hardy outdoor laborerf
"''nout homes or families.
Cur, More Forest Trails.
e., "hen the forest officials say thu
ths could have been ayerted By trails
o. ough the forest, they mean not wag
M. roads or even pack trails, but JUS
th afks on the trees to guide mel
ough the now painless woods. 4