Bisbee daily review., 1914-04-10
FOREST RANGERS IN THE CHIRICAHUAS
 LIVE NOVEL LIVES
KEEP THEIR VIGIL IN LOOKOUT CITATIONS HIGH UP IN THE
 CURTAINS.

One of the prime duties of the for ester isN to protect his timber from disastrous fires. The National For cst Service for years has made every offort Co secure tho greatest possible efficiency in it's fire protective organ i2a;icn. In thls work 1t has to con '"id with ;ar greater difficulties thai lhe fire departments of the cities which have dozen of telephone con necdors with every block in the city and get word the minute q fire is dis covered. which is easily reached ovci paved streets and by horse or moto' driven vehicles.
 On the Forests miles of riding is often necessary 10 reach the nearest telephone in order that the Forest Rangers or Guards may bel notified and in getting to the fire instead of paved streets, usually only trails. oft en rough. rocky and steep. can he fol lowed. Horses and burros are substi. tuted for motor driven vehicles to carry fire fighters and supplies and very frequently walking must be re- sorted to for miles when the mount aims become so steep or the under blush SO dense that even trained pack and saddle animals cannot make fur there progress.
 Notwithstanding these difficulties, the precautionary measures now in use and the thousands of miles of tel ophone lines and trails which have been built on the Forests. together with numerous fire lanes and lookout towers at high mountain peaks, have greatly reduced the enormous dam ages formerly caused by fires as well as materially decreased the area that is annually burned over
 In Southern Arizona and New Mex leo forests occur only in isolated mountain ranges where moisture con ditions are favorable for the promo ton Of tree growth. They are not as extensive as forests in the central and northern portions of the States, yet their products and resources are needed here just as much as else where and more so owing to the dem slty of the population and it behooves us to do everything in our power to save and protect them from destruc- tive fires.
 With this end in view there have been built in the Chiricahua Range during the past few years four look out towers where men are stationed turing the summer whose chief duty it Is to promptly discover fires and no .ify the nearest Forest Ranger Over one hundred miles of government owned telephone lines connect with these towers and fifty miles of trails in addition to those already existing have also been constructed. and a large number of tool boxes contain ing shoyels. rakes, mattocks, and oth- CT equipment needed by fire fighters placed at centrally located points. In addition every ranger station has fire protection.
 The life of a lookout at nine or ten thousand feet elevation. though some what monotonous, is nevertheless in- teresting and certainly healthy. He enjoys the purest of water and air and when village and town in the valleys are sufiocating with heat the atmosphere at his station is cool and comfortable. On clear day the top of the lookout tower. all of which 1 are higher that the neighboring tim Der. affords magnificent view for radius of several hundred miles.