In short, the camping spot was not only left as it had been found
and as one would want it to be found again, but every trace of
fire was destroyed.
And all this, be it known, is more than a mere rule for campers.
It should be their sacred creed. If one is not thoroughgoing
sportsman enough to make his camp-site scrupulously clean, at
least there is one detail he should never allow himself to
neglect;--a detail whose omission should be punished by a term in
prison: Namely, the utter extinction of the campfire.
Every year, millions of dollars' worth of splendid trees and of
homes are wiped out, by forest fires. No forest fire, since the
birth of time, ever started of its own accord. Each and every one
has been due to human carelessness.
A campfire ill-extinguished;--a smolder of tobacco not stamped
out;--the flaming cinders of a railroad train,--a match dropped
among dry leaves before spark and blaze have both been
destroyed,--these be the first and only causes of the average
forest fire. All are avoidable. None is avoided. And the loss to
property and to life and to natural resources is unbelievably
great.
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