Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1877-07-04

CltdIlnS tHt GROUND LTelnDleu rs III uIu
around Gettysburg when 500 pieces Of
artillery thnndered 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 running
full against stumps. The smaller ami
mails roared and parked. and fought
each other, and several rabbits found
our retreat and rushed in among us.
When the flames reached the edge
Of the clearing, 800 feet from our cave,
the ground in front Of MS fairly baked.
The wild animals fell down and died,
steam rose from the green stumps in
clouds for a moment, and then fire
broke out. We wondered if the flames
would leap the clearing, but that ques-
ton was speedily decided. The wall
Of fire roared and quivered, rose and
fell, and next moment WAS driving
ahead on the other side. The flames
seem TO have reached right over the
ten acres and grasped the forest be-
You'd.
Our cave was like an oven. The
earth on the roof was soon baked as
dry as powder. The green logs began
to stew and burn, and III ten minutes
we were almost as wet as if we had
fallen into the river, and were hard
pressed for breath. Buried in the side
of that hill, we were in the center of
an ocean of flame, of acres Of the hot
test kind Of fire. For miles to the
west the fire was eating away at trees
and logs, and into the very ground.
The walls of fire which had reached
its red arms over the clearing was now
miles to the east. North six miles,
south six miles; and the pioneer and
his wife knelt beside the gaspng,
choking babe and went and prayed.
That was an awful night. The heat
did not abate until after midnight, and
almost every minute we could hear the
dull thud Of the mighty trees as they
yielded to the fire and fell among the
great heaps of Goals. From ten o clock
to midnight we existed only by lying
flat on the ground to secure breath.
The babe seemed constantly ut the
point of death, but the other children
suffered less than the grown people.
Next morning the worst had passed.
Before us was cleared space, with
every stump burning, and the ground
covered with ashes, Goals and burning
branches. Beyond the clearing the
forest was strange, lonesome sight.
Some trees had burned, some were
burning, and others had been robbed
nf al l,g
the blackened trunks a landmark to
appal the hearts of future settlers.
We could not leave the cave that day,
nor that night, and next morning
everybody was nearly dead with thirst
and exhausted with hunger. The
pioneer and myself carried wife and
little ones nearly half mile over the
baked and smoking ground to II creek,
and were fortunate enough to find the
half-roasted body of deer in the
blood water. The animal had
lain down in the water to avoid the
heat, and had been literally roasted
alive, as the water WAS not over six
inches deep, and the heavy fringe of
bushes ON either side OF the creek had
bla2ed liercely.
1t was walk of eleven miles to a
hamlet-a place which had escaped
only by a change of wind and the con-
tlnued efforts of desperate men and
heroic women. Thousands of acres of
valuable timber had been ruined. \
green wilderness. through which the
deer bounded and the fox and rabbit
softly made their way, had given place
to such picture of deSOlation IS the
human eye seldom rests upon. Owens
of pioneers had lost everything.
Dozens Of capitalists had suffered Sc
we're losses. The l6wly thoru-apple,
the towering pine, the cabin, mill and
yillage-all had melted away before
that awful wall of fire. and it had cir
cled away to create further desolation.
--Ho1rord city (Nich.) Cor. CiHci11-
matt Enquirer.