Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-08-18
A TERRIBLE SCENE.
Prairie FIrea i'm nriehfEan.

"Thank God :" So exclaimed a
hundred thousand Michiganders the
other day when the clouds poured
down torrents of rain hour after
hour-enOugh to drown out even a
forest fire. ~sft 81 JUS
Your correspondent was in OsceO-
Ia county when the fire first began.
In the midst of a wilderness of pine
and thicket, miles away from viii
lage or hamlet, was pioneers cab
in. The clearing around it COM
prised about ten acres. Some of the
ground was ready for corn, and some
of it had been sOwed and planted,
while the forest around was so damp
and green that one would have
smiled at the idea of great sheets OF
flame climbing those tall trees and
waving fifty feet above them. One
night some hunters built grand
fire against heap of dry logs. The
next day they were miles away, and
the fire had begun to creep. Little
tongues of flame reached out after
dry sticks and limbs, larger tongues
followed them, and before night the
fire had control of an acre of forest.
That was start enough. At mid
lAElAA A2lG W AlN NaAAAAC AANoAAf eAAAN
the heat of the fire drove through
the forest, scorching and baking
trail for the red flames.
- Pm afraid there Is a fire in the
woods to the west of u.s." said the
pioneer one morning as we stood at
his cabin door.
We could scent the OdOr of burn
ing trees and leaves, and there was
l., l. - 4
the odor was stronger, the smoke
denser, and the live stock around
the clearing began to exhibit signs
of alarm. When the oxen were I'M
YOked to be fed they turned their
heads to the west, and scented the
air for a moment, and then charged
across the clearing to the east at full
speed; being out of sight in two
minutes.
That means danger" said the
pioneer in a low voice, and he turn
ed pale. He believed the fire to be
n large swamp ten miles away, but
hardly thought it possible for the
green forest to ignite. Wesat down
to dinner, meaning to hunt for the
oxen afterward, but before the meal
was over there was a fresh cause for
alarm. A buck and two does dash
ed into the clearing closely followed
by a fox, a score of rabbits, and a
dozen. eoons and wOOdchucks. The
deer ran to the far edge of the clear
ing as we went out, but the other
animals scarcely noticed us.
You go forward as far as you
can, and see what the danger is, and
wife and will get ready for a run ~
said the pioneer as the smoke grew
thicker.
At that moment Il fresh alarm
and a new warning reached us.
There came Il roar such "a the sea
gives out when rushing in upon a
broken beach. We had not heard it
before. 1t was a steady, terrible
roar, rising above all other sounds.
\ coming whirlwind might have
created the same sound. The rush
of a vast heard of buffalOes might
have created such a roar. 1t was
awful The ground trembled, the
smoke became blacker, and the heat
was like the rush of air from hot
oven.
&" 1t isn't mile away-we must
run for our lives ~ shouted the
settler.
lie had three children. / picked
up Il boy of seven. The pioneer
seized his little girl, two years young
er, and the wife took the sleeping
babe from the cradle. There wasn't
time to take down a spare garment
from the wall-tO pick up cherish
ing gift or a treasured relic.
-"rhis way-hurrylo Iheard the
pioneer call out and graSping for
breath and blinded by the smoke,
rushed on after him.
The roar was lOnder and more
terrible. Falling upon us and around
us were little branches of fire, away,
was wall of flame a hundred feet
high-a wall which was coming
down upon the clearing at the rate
of six miles an hour. The wall of
fire was twelve miles long, and the
waters of Lake Erie would have
scarcely drenched it out.
\ deer ran against me as | stag
gered after the pioneer. More than
once | stumbled against the small
wild animals rushing here and there
through the clearing. My hair and
whiskers were scOrching, and my
clothing was on fire in a dozen places
when we reached the outdoor eel
lar, a place dug into the hillside
about 400 feet from the house. 1t
was part cave, part structure, but
we'll covered with earth, and almost
free from smoke. The two children
had passed through all right, but
the babe was 50 nearly SuffOcated
that we had hard work to save its
life.
Just before the flames reached the
clearing the ground trembled as it
did around Gettysburg when five
hundred pieces of artillery thunder
ed away for hours. The smoke
drove ahead, leaving me a pretty
fair view of cabin and clearing for
five or six minutes. Birds dropped
down and died. The deer rushed
around in circles, sometimes run
ming full against StumpS. The
smaller animals rOared and barlIed
and fought each other, and several
rabbits found our retreat and rushed
in among us.
When the flames reached the edge
of the clearing, five hundred feet
from our cave, the ground in front
of us fairly baked. The wild ami
mails fell down and died, steam rose
from the green SU1lllpS III clOuuS Tor
a moment, and then fire broke out.
We wondered whether the flames
would leap the clearing, but that
question wasSpCCdily decided. The
wall of fire roared and quivered,
rose and fell, and the next moment
was driving ahead on the other side.
The flames seemed to have reached
right over the ten acres and graSped
the forest beyond.
Our cave was like an oven. The
earth on the roof was soon baked as
dry as powder. The green logs be-
can to stew and burn, and in ten
minutes we were almost rs wet as if
we had fallen into the river, and
were hard pressed for breath.
Buried i'm the side of that Hill we
were i'm the centre of an ocean of
flame, acres of the hottest kind of
fire. For miles to the west the fire
was eating away ut trees and logs,
and into the very ground. The wall
of fire which had reached its red
arms over the clearing now miles
10 the east. North six miles, south
six miles; and the pioneer and his
wife knelt beside the gasping, chOk
N1vnuf lpoI vol