Exceptionally rich body of white pine forest in township 66, range 18. This tract was taken under the homestead law! Do not throw all the Annual Report of the Forestry Commissioner of Minnesota. Photographed for 1 Walter Mulford FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE FORESTRY COMMISSIONER (FORMERLY CHIEF FIRE WARDEN) OF MINNESOTA AS REQUIRED BY CHAPTER 22 OF THE REVISED LAWS OF MINNESOTA, 1905. FOR THE YEAR 1908 ST. PAUL, MINN. 1909 STATE OF MINNESOTA OFFICE OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER, Hon. S. G. Iverson, State Auditor: } SIR: As required by Section 3 of Chapter 22, Revised Laws of Minnesota, 1905, I have the honor to submit, herewith, my annual report for the year 1908. Very respectfully, C. C. ANDREWS, Forestry Commissioner. 10 VIMU AMBORLIAO UNIV. OF CALIFORNIA FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE FORESTRY COMMISSIONER OF MINNESOTA. My Special Report of the 28th of December last on the forest fires of 1908, is herewith repeated and occupies pages 3-20 of this report. Since the Hinckley forest fire of 1894, in which 418 persons perished, there have been several very dry seasons in Minnesota, but none so dangerous as during 1908. April and May of this year were very dry in the northwestern part of the state, and many forest fires occurred in the counties of Cass, Crow Wing, Becker, Beltrami, Hubbard, Morison, Ottertail, Todd and Wadena. A more protracted period of dry and windy weather, however, prevailed during August and September in the extensive territory of about 6,000,000 acres, comprising the counties of Cook, Lake, St. Louis, Itasca, Carlton and Pine. Practically all of the inhabitants of the north shore of Lake Superior were occupied for weeks in fighting forest fires. Their situation was one of distress and terror. DAMAGE BY FOREST FIRES, 1908. From all reports received, the damage done by forest fires in Minnesota in 1908, exclusive of the destruction of the village of Chisholm, was $503,633. Including the loss at Chisholm, which according to popular rumor was $1,500,000, the total loss by forest fires was $2,003,633. The number of acres, mostly cut-over land, burned over or partly burned over, was 405,748. The cause of many of the fires was as follows: Burning brush, 15; burning meadow, 9; campers, 11; clearing 301942 land, 47; fishermen and hunters, 16; from adjoining town, 17; railroad locomotives, 29; other causes, 6; unknown, 180. The number of persons who fought fire was 5,277. NORTH SHORE. An urgent appeal for help in fighting fires having been received by me from the village of Hovland, about thirty miles east of Grand Marais, Cook county, at my request Mr. J. T. Black, chief engineer of the fire department of Duluth, promptly organized a crew of forty men, who, with proper supplies and under the charge of Captain C. W. Wilson, left Duluth on a steamboat September 13th and were gone a full week. Finding they were not needed at Hovland, they stopped at Lutsen, a point about twenty miles west of Grand Marais, where they rendered effective service day and night. At the same time Adjutant General Wood, on the U. S. Steamer Gopher, with a detachment of Minnesota naval militia, was doing everything possible for the relief of the settlers. Grand Marais was one of the places most afflicted. The principal damage to standing timber by all the fires was on the Pigeon River Indian reservation, comprising the eastern portion of Cook county, and which is separated from Ontario by the Pigeon river. Mr. L. W. Ayer, of Belle Prairie, an experienced and reliable cruiser, who was employed by this office to visit the burned regions and investigate the origin of the fires and amount of damage done, reports that the total timber loss by fire on the north shore, including the Indian reservation, was $325,000. Further west, hundreds of people were engaged successive days in fighting fire on the outskirts of Bovey, Nashwauk, Hibbing and Virginia, which places, on account of high wind, were considered in danger. |