Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1871-10-12
FIRES IN THE NORTH WEST
ERN FORESTS.
/ 5000 Square Miles Burned in EVKscOn-
sin. Emmemse Fires ia Minnesota.

extended across Fox river, and cover
a strip of Thirty miles wide in Shaw
anee and Oconto counties, and the big
numbering towns of Marinette and
Peshligo are threatened with destruc
ton. The fires are now raging over
three thousand miles of territory. One
hundred families have been burned cut
of house and home, and the refugees
are in Green Bay and other towns. and
at least one hundred families are in an
| equally bad condition. Houses, barns,
farm buildings, bridges, fences, abso
lutely everything, has been swept
away. Thousands of square miles of
valuable pine forests have been de
stroy ed. The bears and other wild
beasts have been driven in dismay from
the woods, and are fleeing in every di-
rection across the fields. The entire
population are fighting the fires, with
out success, and many have fallen |
down suffocated by the smoke, and |
been carried by their comrades to a
place of safety. All supplies of food |
for men and beasts, through at least |
fifty townships have been destroyed, |
and starvation during the coming win
ter stares them in the face
GREEN BAY, Wis, Oct. 4.-The fires
which are now prevailing in the six or
seven northeastern counties of Wis
consin have never had parallel since
the settlement of the country. The
drouth which has prevailed since ear
+ ly in August has dried up the springs
and streams, and vegetation, and has
parched the ground to sUch a depth
below the surface that the soil itself
acts as conductor, and living trees
are falling from the action Of the fire.
which undermines them. All outstand
} ing property is swept away, there be-
ing so little water in available situa-
; ton to stop the fire. Barns and their
I contents, hay stacks, corn. wood and
other property, together with hun
, dreds of miles of fences are burned,
+ as no resistance can be offered to the
! approaching fires There is as yet no
r authentic account of the loss of life,
although a family in Kemanee county
, and some Indians in Shawnee county,
. are reported burned.
The hardest fights against the flames
q were made at Many's saw mills, which
are located among the pine forests in
: this region, but many of them have
n been burned. All the available force
p which could be obtained from the adj
! iacent places has been called to the as
n sistauce of the threatened mills and
settlements, in some cases with avail
n and others not. The work has been
O so long and harassing, and the men SO
: tired with the smoke and fatigue thai
e in many places the contest has beer
! given up. In places where there was
e no water the only available plan ha:
~ been to dig trenches around the prop
: erty, but the least wind carries large
;. pieces of burning bark through tht
!. air. thus rendering such means useless
/ The advocate of to-day, has ac
" counts of the fire in the counties o
!. Brown, Kewane, Door, Oconto, Oota
n gamie, Manitowoe and Shawnee. I
~ estimates that an area of one hundred
v and fifty miles is being burned over
Three saw mills are definitely know
n. to be burned. Others are said to b.
lg burned out, but the reports need con
re firmation.
lis In Kewanee county from sixty t
lp eighty dwelling houses and barns hav
gs been burned, and the inhabitants ar
IS fleeing to the lake shore for safety
n. At Horns Pier q store with goods
tn six dwellings, and shops, with til
lg barns and other buildings, wer
70 burned, and it is said the inhabitant
ne saved themselves by fleeing to the pie
n and taking up the planks commun
IS, eating with the shore Two rivers
Is, two creeks, Ahaupee, Kewanee, an
II other villages have been more or les
y, damaged. In Do or county, the mex
IS north, great quan titles of cord wooC
IN, railroad tics, telegraph poles, and otf
he er property got cut for shipment, hav
n been destroyed. In addition to tn
an LOSSES of barns, fences &c, on th
IL west side of Green Bay and Fox rive
ct the flames extend from Memonee
re Oshkosh, a distance of I2O miles i
on length and 80 in breadth. This re
ST gion is one of alternate pine and haT
v. wood timber, and is thickly setRe'
S. with milling and farming settlers. Ha
er stacks, fences and the bridges on ii
v road, are mostly gone, and in SON
he cases large lots of pine logs in drie
,er up streams have been burned. Yer
nt little travel is practicable, and it
ire with difficulty that definite particula
I'd. can be obtained. Along the line {
civ the @. & N. w. Railroad, the fire e2
Cd tends up close to the track, on eth
ed. side for many miles, between Depo
let aDd Appleton, threatening bridge
ed culverts, burning fences, ties, cor
Ike wood, and requiring the closest Wig
lance in operating the road. Alor
of an extension of the same road, no
- building northward, considerab
ger amount of ties have been burned.
10 Deer and bears come out on t
raj railroad and wagon roads, and cou
ak be shot, but nobody has time to do
On the line of the Green & Lake Pep
nth Railroad grade half mile of cordur'
far substructure, three thousand ties al
ing one hundred cords of wood, belongil
yer to the road, were burned; besid
md property of much greater value |
ing longing to the farmers. All
ngs bridges along the line of the Ma
lar- towoc road for twenty miles east
,ps, Green Bay are consumed. Alder
Circus passed over them only Fl
vey hours previous on its was to Ma
hat towoc. The fire extends to the ci
de- limits of Green Bay on the east, a
lol- running over the adjacent marsh'
ion The city is not regarded as in dang
/ be though the cjnders and ashes are fs
ing in the streets. The smoke is
ave dense to- day buildings two blocks q
ion tant are not visible. On the west I
in fire has approached the village lin