FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CHIEF FIRE WARDEN OF MINNESOTA UNDER THE ACT OF THE LEGISLATURE ENTITLED "AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF FORESTS OF THIS STATE FOR THE YEAR 1895 ST. PAUL, MINN.: PRINTED BY THE PIONEER PRESS COMPANY. 1896 Hon. R. C. Dunn, State Auditor and Forest Commissioner, SIR: I have the honor herewith to submit my First Annual Report, as required by section 3 of the Act for the Preservation of Forests, etc., approved April 18, 1895. Very respectfully, C. C. ANDREWS, Chief Fire Warden. FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CHIEF FIRE WARDEN OF MINNESOTA. The forests of Minnesota like those of Michigan and Wisconsin had periodically suffered from destructive fires but never from any so memorable as that of Hinckley, Pine county, Sept. 1, 1894. The period from May to Sept. 10, 1894, was exceedingly dry and forest and prairie fires prevailed to a fearful extent. The damage to property in this state from such fires was immense; and in the Hinckley fire there perished four hundred and eighteen human beings, old and young, to whom life was dear. It could hardly have been otherwise than that the Legislature would notice such a calamity and take steps tending to prevent if possible the recurrence of any similar catastrophe. Naturally it was difficult to know just what measure to adopt. Perhaps it would have given our state honorable distinction if in a spirit of sacrifice it had devised and put in operation a scientific and thorough-going system of forest management, and such a measure would have been in some sort a fitting memorial of those worthy settlers who lost their lives in the appalling fire of 1894. But there were some strong reasons for not adopting such a plan, chief among them being the fact of the great extent |