The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1914-06-25
Removing Stumps at Moderate Cost
Ashlock Of the Washington State College Gives Much
Valuable Information.


len gravel will thaw and fall down, thus
keeping the fire lightly covered all the
while. In burntover clearings it is a
common sight to see here and there a
stump which for some reason had burn
ed down into the ground.
Each of the cases cited is an example
of fire working precisely in the way it
works when burning underground in the
roots of big stump.
Twenty years ago a settler in the
western part of Oregon allowed con-
siderable amount Of litter to collect in
a pile near his barn, which, during a
dry season, caught fire and burned. The
man noticed that where the litter had
been piled around an old stump the fire
continued to burn for several weeks.
His curiosity was aroused, and upon in
vestigating he discovered that the
lstump had been transformed into bed
tof charcoal The largest roots had been
consumed in this way several feet un-
foreground.
However, much Of the force Of this
lesson was lost for the time being. Men
in that neighborhood who saw what had
occurred later attempted to fire stumps
by heaping straw, brush and other in
lflammable material over them, and
their endeavors failed quite naturally
|snce charcoal burning is not effected
|by an open flame.
| Taught by Sea Captain.
Fortunately a man heard of the &C
eurrence who knew something of the
behavior of fire when burning under
ground. He was an old sea captain, E
lC. Cruise by name, and is now living
near Castle Rock, Washington. Cruise
after a great deal of experimenting
sueceeded in firing stumps. He taught
, Harry Yount, of Woodland, Washing
ton, how to do it. Others learned tnt
trick, so that two years ago there were
lin northwestern Oregon and western
Washington perhaps a dozen men WHIT
knew fairly well how to kindle fir'
which would burn stump root an(
base.
A singular fact is that up to the yer,
recent development of the method, no
enough interest could be aroused to in
duce neighbors of the few successful
men to learn the process and use it il
their own cIearings. This lack Of in
terest was certainly not due to any lacl
! of stumps.
In the summer of 1909 H. W. Sparks
who had just been elected supervisor 0
demonstration farms OF the State Co
e lege of Washington, was on a tou
s through the tlmbered counties Of wes'
n ern Washington, and while in WOOD
b Hand saw Harry Yount burning stump
n Sparks like many other men, had a
r ways believed that fire is the nature
+ means with which to destroy stump
r But he had never been able to kindle
e fire so that it would destroy STUN
n root and all Many times he had see
1t a fire follow a piece Of timber far vi
t, derground, but it had never occurre
r to him that such timber could as we
n be, so far as the fire was concerned, tt
biggest root Of stump. But the idt
a dawned upon him with force when
is saw what Harry Yount was doing
q Legislative Appropriations.
= The eleventh session of the Washin
- ton legislature met during the wint
~ - Of 1909, but instead of appropr It'll
10 10 funds to the state agricultural expel
- ment station (Which is an arm Of ii
- - State College Of Washington), for Il
purpose of investigating the logged-o
. land problem, passed Senate Bill IL
:" which authorized the U. s. Bureau
- Plant Industry to spend as much
~ ~ 81, 900 for this purpose from funds
~ - the State of Washington, imposing t
~ ~ condition that the Bureau should dup
10 cate the amount thus expended by e
% penditures from its own congression
Appropriations. The twelfth sessl
convened during the winter of 1911 a
oh fo;lad IN make any appropriati0n VIII;