ing May 14th, 1919, with a record of 92 per cent. gales of exceptional violence from 40 to 68 miles an hour and heavy snow storms being encountered and overcome. Out of 1,261 possible trips, 1,206 were undertaken, and only 55 were defaulted on account of weather conditions. During rain, fog, snow, gales and electrical storms, 435 trips were made. Out of a possible 138,092 miles, 128,037 miles were flown. Only 51 forced landings were made on account of weather and 37 on account of motor trouble.

Pilot J. M. Miller, who was formerly a naval flier, made the flight from Philadelphia to New York in a Curtiss R-4 with a 400 horsepower Liberty motor, rising from the field against a 43-mile gale and arriving in New York through a blinding snow storm with a wind velocity reported by the weather bureau to be 68 miles an hour and which was 15 per cent. greater at the altitude at which he flew.

One of the lessons learned from the operation of the Aerial Mail during the year, is that the element of danger that exists in the training of aviators in military and exhibition flying is almost entirely absent from postal or commercial-flying.

Mr. Praeger, in reporting to the Postmaster General the operations for the year, says that the record of the Air Mail Service, which includes flying at altitudes as low as 50 feet during periods of marked invisibility, throws an interesting light on this question. During the year, more than 128,000 miles were traveled, no airplane carrying the Mail had ever fallen out of the sky, and there had not been a single death of an aviator in carrying the Mail.

Between May 15th, 1919, and November 1st, however, three pilots lost their lives, due to bad weather and low visibility. Directional radio will, in future, eliminate casualties from these causes, it is believed. The only other deaths by accident which have occurred were those of an aviator who made a flight to demonstrate his qualifications as an aviator and of a mechanic who fell against the whirling propeller of a machine on the ground. Only two aviators have been injured seriously enough to be sent to a hospital. Other accidents consisted mainly of bruises and contusions suffered by planes turning over after landing.

FOREST FIRE PATROL SERVICE

The total surface area of the timber lands in the United States, including national and privately owned forests, is estimated at 550,000,000 acres, that is, about one-fourth the area of the whole

country. No exact figures are available on the total value of these timber lands, but the National Forests, which on June 30th, 1919, covered 174,261,393 acres, have a total estimated value of roughly $665,000,000.

During 1919 approximately 2,900,000 acres of National Forest lands were destroyed by fire; the damage represented a net loss of $4,500,000, and a cost to the Forest Service of fighting fires of about $3,000,000.

From 1915 to 1919 inclusive fires reduced the area of National Forest lands by 4,196,393 acres, causing a damage of over $7,000,000, to which must be added some $12,000,000 spent in fighting the fires.

It may be seen that fire is gradually felling our wood lands. The burning of approximately 7,000,000 acres of timber during the last five years constituted not only an immediate loss of lives and property, but also menaced the future of the great agricultural and other habitable regions as well.

The Department of Agriculture, through its Bureau of Forestry, endeavored for years to conserve standing timber. It was realized that the denudation of the great water-sheds in the West, permitting erosion and general desolation, would in time, carry ruin to the rich and fertile valleys. Reforestation, so long neglected, could not of itself offset the increasing yearly toll by fire.

The forest ranger was for years the sole, frail barrier between conflagration and American forests. His picturesque figure, afoot or on horseback, was traced over mountain trails. His vision was limited to natural vantage points. Moving slowly, he was unable even to report a fire until it had gained headway. In fighting the flames he was handicapped by his inability to view the menaced territory and station his forces accordingly. The increasing losses in the national forests spoke surely of the inadequacy of the surface patrols.

It was at this critical period that the airplane appeared. The Department of Agriculture took the initiative and requested cooperation from the Air Service. Accordingly, on June 1st, 1919, the aerial forest patrol was established. Its scope of operation since then has steadily increased. So great has been its success, that the fire hazard is now practically eliminated. Daily patrols, at first termed an experiment, are now accepted as indispensable. In five months the people of Oregon and California have come to regard the airplane

The new way of guarding our Forests. Forest Fire Patrol flying over California Canyon (Photo Courtesy Forest Service)

as absolute protection for life and property in the great timber reaches of the Cascades and the Sierra.

The tests by the Government have convinced the private lumber companies that they, too, must have similar service. In Oregon it is understood that they cooperate with the State in bearing expense incident to the patrol. No one more than the lumberman realizes so keenly the limitations of transportation. He spends days on horseback going to and from the railroad centers. Time is an important element in his work. Here, as in the cities, "time means money." What thing more natural, therefore, than for him to combine his private fire patrol with private transportation? Thus journeys of many days in the old way are reduced to hours in the new.

The aerial forest patrol presents an impressive contrast between generations. The ranger is bound to the earth; the aviator soars above it. At best the ranger's horizon is a few miles; the aviator is lord of a vast domain, yet both are typically American.

In the airplane sit pilot and observer. The pilot follows his set course; the observer, with his glasses and map, scans the landscape. After a few weeks he becomes so skilful that he can spot a fire thirty miles or more distant, determining, not only the location, but classifying it as to degree and possible cause. Traveling at an average speed of a mile and a half a minute, the observer must look and think quickly. But, a fire discovered, he can soon report it.

Then again, in actually fighting fires, airplanes have been of great assistance. From a position above the fire an experienced man who knows how to combat the blaze is able to direct his forces on the ground to much greater advantage than if he were there himself, for from his point of vantage he is able to take in the whole situation and see the progress of all sides of the fire at practically the same time. He knows instantly, without either a journey on foot or horseback, over or around difficult ravines and mountains, just how far the fire has progressed, how serious it is, how best to put it under control and how much importance one section of it bears to the rest. Two patrols a day were operated out of March Field, Riverside, California, beginning June 1st, 1919. Curtiss army training planes were used in this first experiment. Especially constructed parachutes were taken along. It was planned to attach a message to the parachute immediately after the observer discovered a fire. The parachute would be dropped over the nearest town or base and the message relayed to the Forestry supervisor by telephone. The para