Bill Bruce on Forest Patrol

by Henry Harley Arnold

Lady Luck was kind and the plane came out into a small timber-covered valley. The fire was some distance away and Bill turned his plane towards it. He had enough ceiling under the smoke to fly around the fire without any appreciable danger. The first impression they had was that only a small area was in flames, but as they flew around it was apparent that this was a large fire. Bill had no idea how Kotok was going to locate it on his map. Just where they were, Bill did not know. He had lost his location when they went up through the smoke twenty or more minutes before.

Judging from the manner in which Kotok jotted down notes, he knew the location accurately. He may have obtained it from the small river which twisted around between the mountains, or it may have been the bald, rocky peak on one of the mountains which oriented him. In any event, this district was entirely similar to all the others as far as Bill was concerned. Bill had to admit that he was lost. He knew that the ocean was off to the west thirty or so miles and he could reach it by flying a compass course. In the same way he could reach the railroad by flying in the opposite direction, but that did not help in getting the accurate location of such a fire as this one was. Bill estimated that it covered at least two thousand acres.

When Kotok had completed his work, Bill again headed in a southwest direction. Suddenly they came out over a small bay opening into the ocean. Bill made several circles to get the lay of the land. He saw a railroad crossing the bay and continuing to the south along the bay shore. He located himself at last. They had reached Coos Bay.

Bill reluctantly left the low ground along the bay shore and headed back into the timber-covered mountains. The smoke pall was not so thick as they progressed to the south. There were fewer fires and accordingly they made better time; with the decrease of the haze, Bill was able to fly at a higher altitude and thus they could cover a much greater strip of the forest in their search. That was more like the flying that Bill had depicted that aerial patrol would be.

They skirted a mountain and came out into a valley. A stream and railroad ran along side by side in the valley. From there on the flight was easy. The railroad led into Medford and they landed about thirty minutes after picking up the railroad. The flight had taken three hours and a half, but even at that they were both on the ground removing their flying equipment before Goldy’s plane came into sight.

“How many fires did you locate?” asked Bill when Goldy had climbed out of his plane.

“We picked up twenty-four,” replied Goldy. “How many did you get?”

“Eleven,” replied Bill. “I can’t very well see how fires can be started in the country we came over. We must have flown for a hundred miles without seeing a single sign of any habitations.”

“I guess you are right at that,” commented Kotok. “The area we flew over and will go over again this afternoon is perhaps the least explored of any in the United States. The southwestern part of Oregon has practically no settlements and there is no excuse for anyone going into it unless he is a timber cruiser or a hunter. A man could get lost there and he never would be found. He would have to find his own way out.”

“What’s a timber cruiser?” asked Goldy.