The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-11-24
THE WISCONSIN FIRES.
A Summing Up Of Loss Of Life and Pro.
perty: =, ,x,

| A Summing Up Of Loss oil Life and Fro.
| perty.
A correspondent Of the Milwaukee
Wisconsin, who has travelled through
the burned regions III Wisconsin, thus
sums up the loss of life and property
in the country through which he
passed:
"After making a deduction for exag-
geration, | supposed that 500 would
cover the number of dead on the west
side of the bay. now learn from re-
liable sources that the actual number
of interments up to Monday night,
counted up to 504. Add another 100
for remains of ashes and charred bones
at Peshtigo, and | think we have not
far from the true number on the west
side. Add $50 for the east side-mak-
ing $50 in all-and the death roll is
nearly complete.
Z" 1t is impossible to figure the aggre-
gate losses of pine timber and farm
property with any degree of closeness.
1t is to the Interest of mill men to un-
derrate the amount of fallen pine that
must be secured this winter to save it.
A medium estimate of damage to pine
lands in the Green Bay region is
500. 600 The damage on the Wolf is
figured at 100000. The loss of the tif-
tern sawmills burned is put at 1925, O00
The loss of cordwood, ties, hemlock
bark, ETC., is set at 100000. The loss Of
fencss, buildings, wagons, cattle, crops,
among the 600 farmers cannot be less
than 5000, 000-making total aggre-
gate of more than $3O00,000, aside from
those of Peshtigo.
The country through from Brown
county north to Big Sturgeon Bay, for
400 square miles, is utterly devastated.
At least four hundred farms in this
tornado section alone are left desolate-
stripped of every Improvement
Fences, barns, dwellings, implements,
furniture, wagons, harness, and crops,
all went up in "whirlwind of fire"
1t will take thirty years, in that cold,
hard soil, for their timber to grow
again. In the aggregate their losses
must foot up to 81 900 a family. Far
; mers here have saved half of their
teams. that were let loose in the woods,
and third of their stock. But they
have no hay, straw, grain, or feed of
any sort-not even the poor chance Of
browse in the woods. Nearly all, with
large families, have lost their last cow
and pig. In ride Of six miles, on
nearly straight line, saw but three
hens, and a tanning mill-the only
farm implement left in the town. In
the Belgian settlement, on Red River,
81 families were burned out in row |!
Not house, not a shed, not coop
not one fence rail left upon another.
The families had fled, almost naked,
and breathless, to the few cabins on the
outskirts that were saved.
"There are 300, or more, wounded
sufferers remaining in hotels, boarding
houses, and hospitals about the Bay.
Fifty of the Peshtigo sufferers were at
the Dunlap House, Marinette. Half of
them were able to be about. Burned
ears, faces, hands, and feet were COM
mon to nearly all. Many in rooms
could hardly stir in bed. There were
women with great burns on the sides
and limbs, with faces like kettles, and
hands like claws, burned to the bones.
Men could fight better, and dare more
than women. Most of them persisted
by suffocation. Little children are sad
ly manned in their feet and faces.
saw one with heel gone, and another
with an eye. Nearly all will recover
without loss of sight or limb. | could
fill book with stories o" the hospital.
Most of them suffer more from hurts of
mind than body. Ihave a sad memory
Of poor widow who lost her crippled
boy who went on crutches, and q
sprightly little girl who fell between
the burning logs. They were all of her
family. The screams Of BOTH she
said, seemed forever sounding in her
ears There is future, and no
doubt, compensations for all these suf-
fering ones.
Most of these cabins that are left
are crowded with two and three fami-
lies each. | saw one with four men,
five women, and sixteen children-two
of them suckers. They had just re-
ceived an outfit OF clothing-warm
stockings, knit hoods, thin shawls, thin
CATERS, and light colored dresses for the
women and girls; old-fashioned hats,
bursted boots, thin jackets, and sum-
mer coats and pants for the men and
boys. There was some occasions of
laughter, but none of ridicule; all were
glad and surprised at getting what they
did. | saw no immediate want of pro-
visions. Flour, pork, and hard bread
are distributed to all, packages of tea
and coffee to most. There are nearly
potatoes enough in the country, if dis
trbuted Their stock that is left has
been driven off to meadows and fields
: not burned over. One large hearted old
farmer was keeping eighty odd cattle
belonging to his unfortunate neighbors.
Without stopping to consider the ways
of Providence, or the uses of philoso-
ply, these supplemented people seem
to have understood the art of helping
one another.