The farmer and mechanic., 1915-07-27

foothills Of the Cascade Range in Cen
tr.li oregon stands a little white
CABIN. the still waters Of the Des-
rer-hued pines stand guard on every
.ltc For three summers this was
INV home, and every afternoon in the |
dry. summer months from June until |
October, my duties as District Ranger |
carried me up the winding trail that !
circles the little butte half a mile up |
thc river from my cabin. Here, five
hundred feet above the surrounding
pines. ! spent an hour or two each
day searching the hills with field
glasses for signs Of smoke. 1t was
a task that never grew monotonous.
Forthward the foothills melted grad
ually into sage brush plains. To the
east across the valley, the rugged
peaks of the Paulinas hid from my
sieht the rolling prairies and brown
deserts that stretch away into Idaho
on he highest Of these peaks
ranger watched for the fierce sage
brush fires that often sweep up into
the hills. South. lay the long. level
valley of the Deschuetes, it's green
carpet Of pines broken only here and
there by "A glimpse of the silver
reaches Of the river. or the yellow
dust cloud of trailing sheep herd
West, the foothills rose, step by step,
80 the glistening tanks Of the snow
clad peaks Of the Cascade Range. On
Maiden Peak, to the southwest, and
on Black Butte. twenty miles north,
other silent guardians of the forest
Kept am all-day vigil. their points of
observation commanding much
greater area than my own. How any
man. looking down day after day
upon that gorgeous panorama, could
fail 10 love the mountains or fail in
his duty to them is inconceivable to
me
\o smoke, however small or dis
taut escapes the trained eye of the
rangers on lookout. Immediately on
discovering a smoke from his lookout
he takes it's direction by compass
checks this on his field map estimates
the probable size of the fire, and
phones in the result to the Distric
Ranger. Within a few minutes, sim
llaF reports come in from other look
out points. The District Ranger
checks the various compass reading
on his own map, getting a fairly accu
rate idea of location; notifies the su
pervisor's office by phone; organize
his crew Of fire fighters from nearb
camps or ranches; and, in a remark
ably short time, is off to the front
That is brief outline of the Fed
eral system of patrol. Each range
district each individual fire, present
It's own problems that must be me
by the ranger in charge. Camper
must be watched, roads and bridge
patrolled, trails kept open. tools KEEP
handy; but the greatest help to tn
ranger is in the increasing miles @
telephone and trail constructed an
nually, opening up hitherto inaccess
Die country. eliminating many Ions
hard rides and. perhaps days of de
lay in reporting and reaching a fir
Cooperative fire patrol association
copy the methods Of the ranger, bl
81 was many years before the timber
men concluded that the Forest Sci
vice was producing results. that tn
rangers job was not sinecur
FINALLY, some nine years ago. a fe
Progressive timber men in northeI
Idaho, alarmed at the increasir
number of fires that swept their hole
ings annually, put their heads t
ðer and formed lCcal organic
hun whose object was to patrol ar
protect from fire the private timbe
lands of it's members. For ten yea
prior the Federal Government h;
eeen building up it's system of pr
lection on the national forests. as ia
as limited appropriations would pe
inli. but the Idaho association w
'he hrst step to be taken by priVa
interests. Today a perfect chain
cooperative patrol associations Gov
we Northwest, and. working hand
hand with the State and Federal
sututlons, gives to that region, wi
hS immense wealth in timber, I
most efficient system of fire prote
huu in this country.
Necessity forced the timber m
81 the West to take the first step
Operative fire protection, a
proof that this need was not peculi
:" hat region alone is shown by t
tact that similar organizations ex
III thirty States today. Oregon /
sixteen active organizations, emplt
ing over 800 patrolmen, spendi
thousands Of dollars annually
roads and trails and telephone lin