Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1877-05-23
FIRE m CANADA.

It is one Of the curses of this Otia.
"a districr that the farmers uevsr lesru
anything BY experience. Spring xfter
spring comes upon them and wet or dry
they continue clearing aud burning
along the ground, making it ready for
the next years work, and utterly re-
gardless Of the drought they let the
Eres creep on until the fences are in
flames aud the "bsd master, good ser.
want" runs on to the next farm, and
perhaps the houses and barns of a
nsighbor ale destroyed, or if not. the
families are choked with smoke, work.
ing night and day fighting the fire.
Hardly a summer goes BY that this does
not happen in a great OF l.ss extent.
After the FIRE in the summer of
1870, when hundreds Of families wsre
made homeless and had to escape from
the flames BY wetting the clothes and
wading 10 the Ottawa AID 6afeBesu
rivers BY the shore, the burning trees
and flying Goals singeing their hai: the
while,- one would think the lesson we'll
learned. On the day the poor creatures
reached the Capital, half naked and
starved, taken into houses and ho.els
TO be fed and sheltered, they found the
city already black and gloomy, business
suspended, every store closed and every
man, high and low, turned out to fight
the 6res, to wet the roofs Of houses and
watch and report further disaster. The
m,lls were stopped, the men all employ
ed, day and night, to keep damp the
lumber at the Chaudiere-s23 acres of
piled plsnks. Tie city had no FIRE en-.
gine then, the steam power on two of
the river boats was employed, and Og-
densburg and Montreal we're both sent
to for engines. The smoke was SO thick
10 the city that . carriage could not be
seen q block ahead, and the darkness
increasing all the while. Not speck
of blue sky had been seen for four
weeks, snd Some Of the terror. stricken
who feared the city would be consa1s-
ed, were calculating the strength Of the
Parliament buildings to resis. the ksc
or praying and crying alternately. The
Ere was travelling fact and was within
Two hours Of the city when, as last
resort, the canals were cut and oil
around the city was foodet. In rev
Edinburgh, the village nearest the CITY,
where is situated Lord Dufferin's resi-
dsnce. the people had their carpets and
their furniture taken out and buried,
or else packed in boxes ready to sink
o, already suuken in the river. One
merchant, Allan Gilmour, lost 6,000,-
900 feet Of lumber. A farmer named
Robinson, in flying through the woods
with five children, was forced to drop
two Of them on the way.
Many of the incidents of the FIRE
we're hearreuding and terrible. The
railroad tracks were torn up and the
telegraph poles we're burned down. l
was In the city the day the excitement
was at its height, and spent some time
in the hotel in which most of the suf.
ferers had taken refuge. The sound Of
weeping was heard all ove' the house.
| remember one poor woman clingiug
to her husband in terror, oeseecbing
him not to leave her, for be was going
out with some other men to a scene OF
distress to carry food and blankets for
some of the hungry and sick. He was
handsome, manly looking young
Scotchman, and though he did his best
be could not quiet her by telling her
that he strong man and could not stay
there idle when SO many needed bis
help. He told me afterwards that they
had lost their "beautiful home" and
all that was in and around it 10 . few
hours. A great many of the poorest,
Who were taken in By the generosity of
the people had insufficient clothing and
no money with which to buy any
Many of the citizens sent in webs of
calico to make them dresses. Some Of
the ladies At the botel essayed to work,
but did very little for crying, and kept
saying that perhaps they would never
live to wear them. There was pretty
settlement of private residences = few
miles from OTTAWA, "BslI's Corners"
that was burned to the ground-noth-
ing saved-in less than four hours !;
houses and barns burnt like, indeed
quicker than punk. Before night closed
the city became calrer With the assur-
ancs that it was out of danger, but the
ssrrow for loss Of property and life
will long be remembered.
Ottawa has provided itself with FIRE
engines and other protection since then,
and its builders have been generous Of
their stone, such frm foundations are
replacing the little log cubarre once
characteristic of Ottawa when it was
on the map As "Pytowu." There is
little danger, though much discomfort,
now from the fire, they are probably
City miles off-albeit, the room in
which write is uncomfortably redo.
FILL l.