Henry Harley Arnold

“ A sheet of flames covered the tops of all the trees in that particular part of the forest so completely that the green foliage below was completely hidden.
“It’s a wonderful but appalling sight,” said Bill. “It fascinates me, but makes me shudder to see such widespread destruction. It is almost human in its method of operating. Think of the wasted force and power. Those giant trees are stripped and destroyed as if they were match sticks.”
“I don’t see what can be done to stop that,” said Bob. “It is far beyond control. It’s a monster of a fire!” ”

“ Then other open spaces in the velvety green stood out to greet his eye. These were also in many cases the work of man, but from such far different causes. Large white snags stood like gaunt tombstones marking the glory of once mighty trees. These snags could have resulted from only one thing—forest fires. Where the fires were of recent occurrence, the ground was still burned black, but in the older fire areas the second growth timber had made its appearance and the ground was covered by the small trees with which nature hoped to restore the forests to their former grandeur. ”

“ The forest fires, the fight for their lives in the clouds the day before, the other troubles which had bothered them during the routine performance of their duties, the drizzle which made them wetter and wetter, were all forgotten.
“How about pulling in for this island for lunch?” asked Earl as they came abreast of a large island in the river.
“I am ready to eat,” said Sam. “How about the rest of you fellows?”
“I am ready any time,” said Bill and Bob together.
A fire on the shore in the lee of a large tree trunk, baked potatoes, roasted corn, Earl swinging a steak—what more could a man desire? ”

“ When a pilot is flying a forest patrol, he cannot always fly the direct route. He diverges from his course to accurately locate and secure the limits of each fire which he sees. Then, again, the smoke pall may obscure the tops of the mountains and require for safety’s sake that the plane be flown through valleys or around peaks to reach the destination. Thus on most patrols, while the flight could be made in two hours if the sky was clear and there were no fires located, during the fire season the plane might be out as long as three or even three and a half hours. ”

“ Prior to their reaching the smoke cloud, the sun had reflected itself from the bright leaves of the trees, but now there was just a red glow which marked the position of the sun.
“We must be getting close to it now,” said Bob after a while. “The smoke is so thick that one could cut it with a knife.”
“It’s probably farther off than we think,” replied Bill. “The wind is blowing from the East and bringing the smoke toward us.
“I think that we had better stop here,” said Bob. “I don’t want to lose this car, and if we get too close the fire may burn it up before we can get it out.” ”

“ It is a sort of lonesome feeling to fly out over the ocean in a land plane. The pilot always realizes that if his engine quits, he must land on the water, and that his plane will float for not more than four hours after hitting the water. Accordingly, Bill wanted to get as much altitude as he could and at the same time accurately observe the falling shots. If his engine quit, he would then be able to glide at least part way back to shore. There is always the possibility of having to swim after a forced landing in the water, as boats are not always conveniently available for rescue work. ”

“ In a short time they were all in Sam’s automobile headed up the Umpqua River. They drove about fifteen or eighteen miles up the river and stopped at the hatchery. Neither Bill nor Bob had ever seen a hatchery before and immediately began asking questions.
“Tell me something about the hatchery and what it is for?” asked Bill.
“I hardly know where to start,” said Earl.
“Why do they have hatcheries?” asked Bob.
“To increase the number of fish which are incubated from the eggs,” replied Earl. “The salmon lay their eggs in the sand and gravel in the bottom of the rivers and creeks. ”

“ The smoke and clouds joined together into an impenetrable mass of murky haze. That made the flying much more difficult, but did not assist in limiting devastation of old fires nor in preventing new ones from starting.
“I wonder how much longer this dry weather can continue?” asked Simmons of Bill as they stood out in the airdrome looking into the sky. “There are plenty of clouds, but not much rain that I can see.”
“The weather map gives every indication of rain within a short time,” replied Bill. “One day’s good soaking would put out all the fires that are now burning. ”

“ Once he ran into a tree before he saw it when the trail turned sharply.
Bill’s feet seemed so heavy that he doubted his ability to walk another step. He turned around to look at Bob and could not see him in the semi-darkness. That made him feel better. Bob must be as tired as he was. Sam Crouch was walking along with the same swing that he had used when they first met. The man was not human. It was physically impossible for a man to work as hard as they had for a whole afternoon and part of the evening and then be as fresh and energetic as Crouch was. ”

“ Bill saw the Willamette Valley open up ahead just as he reached Cottage Grove. It was the first real open country that he had seen since leaving the Medford Valley. The other valleys had been so narrow that they looked entirely too small to amount to much from the airman’s point of view, but Willamette was wide and had numerous farms, orchards and open spaces. It was a real valley, but after their flight from San Francisco to Roseburg the pilots knew that such wide-open spaces would seldom be found in the Northwest woods. ”

“ An entire forest of those trees can be destroyed in a few hours through the carelessness of a man who is enjoying a vacation in the woods.”
“I never knew that trees grew so large,” said Bill. “I have seen the giant Redwood trees in California, but I thought that they were freaks of nature—that they were abnormal in timber life.”
“These trees are not as large in diameter as the California Redwoods, but there are a great many more of them,” replied Cecil. “We have mile after mile of trees as large and larger than these in Oregon and Washington. ”

“ CHAPTER XXI—THE EUGENE AIRDROME The three days’ vacation at Roseburg passed much too rapidly for Bill and Bob. They would have liked to stay there for a much longer period. Earl Simmons wanted to get back to Eugene. He liked this form of recreation as much as either Bill or Bob, but his real interest in life was the protection of the forests.
Each day along the Umpqua gave additional surprises to the two young aviators. It seemed that there were no end to the things that the oldtimers in the Northwest woods knew and the tenderfeet from San Francisco had to learn. ”

“ Bill and Breene entered the small one-room shack and saw a woman sitting at a large table. The sides of the building were open, enabling her to overlook the forest for miles in all directions.
“I believe that the lost are found,” she said when she turned and saw Bill and Breene. “Are you the two aviators who dropped into the woods near Diamond Lake yesterday? How did you find this place?”
“We are the same,” replied Bill. “I saw something shining in the sunlight when I was on a mountain top about ten miles back there.” ”

“ In the case of a large one, the forest supervisor mobilizes as many men as he can from the surrounding country and they try and localize it. In this way it burns itself out.”
“What do you mean by a small fire and a large one?” asked Bill.
“A small one is usually caught as soon as it starts,” replied Cecil. “A large one may cover thousands of acres and take hundreds of lives. The Hinckley fire in Minnesota burned over 160,000 acres, destroyed property valued at twenty-five million dollars and took the lives of four hundred and eighteen people. ”

“ One can never tell at what they will strike. Some days they will strike at flies similar to those you see flying over the water. That is, if white flies are flying low over the water, use an artificial white fly. However, that rule doesn’t always hold good. I have been fishing when there were millions of live white flies all over the water and the trout would not even rise for the one on my line, but when I put a dark one on, I caught all kinds of fish.”
Cecil walked back to the trail along the river and secured his rod and line from his car. ”

“ In spite of the fact that this timber is worth money, most of the fires in the forests are caused by the carelessness of man.”
“You don’t mean that they deliberately set the woods on fire, do you?” asked Bill.
“They don’t mean to, but the results are the same,” replied Cecil. “A camper forgets to put out his fire, he throws away a cigarette butt without extinguishing it, or he lights a cigar or pipe and throws the match down on the ground and the spark ignites the surrounding dried leaves. Then a fire is started in the woods. That is the reason for the campfire permits. ”

“ In order to protect these trees, the government has set aside certain forest preserves which are called National Forests. There are 152 National Forests in the United States. Each of these National Forests has a supervisor in charge. He has under him wardens, rangers and lookouts. These men all work to detect and suppress fires.”
“That is a large organization,” said Bill. “Why are so many men needed?”
“The forests in the United States cover a large area,” replied Cecil. “About twenty-nine per cent of the land area of the United States is covered with timber. ”

“ About sundown they stopped for a longer rest period.
“When do we eat?” asked Breene.
“Right now if you want to,” replied Bill.
“What will I eat?” asked Breene.
“You have an emergency ration, eat some of that.”
“I am not that hungry,” said Breene. “I tried one of those some time ago and it tasted like sawdust mixed with sausage finely ground and then baked. I’ll save mine until tomorrow.”
“It probably won’t do either one of us any harm to go without eating tonight,” replied Bill. “We still have a long distance ahead of us before we get to civilization. ”

“ It is bad enough to have to follow a railroad through a twisting, winding valley with barely enough room to handle the plane, but when that railroad runs into a tunnel, then the leader of the Flight is up against it to know just what to do. ”

“ As you may judge, I am a regular bug on this forest fire business. I like the woods and am always working to protect it. Nothing would suit me better than to be able to continue with you on your fishing trip, where I could really enjoy the woods, but I have to get up to the Supervisor’s headquarters in the Cascade Forest. They had a bad fire there yesterday and it may be burning now. I may see you on the way back. Much obliged for the lunch. Don’t forget to put out your fire.”
“We are much obliged to you for starting us out right,” said Bill as Cecil walked over to his car. ”

“ CHAPTER XVI—A LOOKOUT STATION IN THE MOUNTAINS Bill found it rather hard to get to sleep. The pine needles were not as soft as they seemed at first. Then there were the usual noises that are ever prevalent in the forests. The creaking trees, falling branches, small animals wandering through the darkness hunting for food, and occasionally a larger animal coming down to the river for water. Each in turn gave Breene a start and he was continually calling to Bill. ”

“ That enables us to efficiently locate our fire lines. It is always better to stop a fire on a natural barrier such as a stream, the crest of a mountain, a road, or an already burned-over area than in the middle of a forest. The forester in the plane can also get the wind direction and nature of the wood burning. It makes a big difference if the fire is in second growth timber, virgin woods or brush.”
“That is an easy request,” said Smith. “A plane will be ready any time. Bruce, I am going to send Goldy and two planes from your Flight down to operate from Medford. ”

“ You probably have noticed the signs posted up everywhere cautioning people to use every care to prevent fires.”
“Can you always extinguish a fire with man power?” asked Bill.
“It is sometimes very hard in the case of some of the larger fires,” replied Cecil. “At times when we are about to throw up our hands in despair, a providential rain will save the day. Then, on the other hand, we may have a bad thunder storm and find as many as twenty or thirty new fires burning where trees have been struck by lightning.” ”

“ Bill led the Flight toward the railroad, for he knew that it made its way through the mountains and he hoped to follow it. The planes reached the clouds and dropped down to thirty-five hundred feet to get under them. From that point on Bill followed the tracks. On both sides the mountains rose well above the railroad.
As they progressed the ground rose and tended to meet the clouds until they were soon flying along with barely any space between the planes and the timber-covered mountain sides. The railroad tracks followed the course of the stream, which flowed down the valley. ”

“ Soon after leaving the airdrome Bill found that the flying conditions were exactly as he had anticipated. The smoke joined with the clouds to form a brownish gray mass of mist and haze that prevented his getting more than three thousand feet above the floor of the valley. If the ceiling did not get any higher than that, he would never be able to make the jump over the passes from one valley to another. However, he would make a good try at it and do the best that he could. He headed the plane toward the Middle Fork of the Willamette River. ”

“ He fired, and almost immediately the fish began to struggle in the water and then floated to the surface. Sam pulled it into the boat.
“Now you see that it can be done quite easily,” said Sam.
“It’s easy enough if you know how,” replied Bill. “One thing is sure: either we have phony ammunition or we don’t know how.”
“You are absolutely right, it is easy enough if you know how,” said Earl. “It’s like cutting a pencil with a dollar bill. Everything is not done exactly the way it looks. Maybe the pencil is actually cut with the dollar bill and maybe it isn’t. ”

“ It had the distinct odor of burning timber. The Flight had entered the dense smoke pall which covers the Northwest section of our country during the forest fire season. It has not the appearance of clouds, but is just as impenetrable to the eye. Clouds vary in color from white, through gray to black. At times they have a distinctive greenish tinge which always is indicative of hail being present. The smoke pall has a dirty, grayish brown color which tends toward a golden hue when the sun shines on it.
By this time Bill had led his Flight quite some distance from the railroad. ”

“ For some time the low smoke cloud had made it necessary that they follow the Middle Fork of the Willamette River. The sky cleared materially by the time that they reached Diamond Peak, but did not allow them to get as much altitude as Bill would have liked. They picked up several small fires, which were sent in by radio after Bill gave Breene the data in code form. It was too much to expect that a mechanic could accurately report on forest fires while flying over absolutely strange country. Breene was now finding it just as hard to locate himself accurately as Bill did on his first trip. ”

“ Bill had barely reached his position abreast of the target when he saw the splash of a shell as it hit the water. The shell struck just short of the target and then ricocheted and made another splash beyond the target. It then bounded along the water’s surface with ever diminishing leaps until it finally sank beneath the water’s surface. Bill was so much interested in watching the shot that he forgot to hand back a sensing to Breene. ”