The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-09-22

tayad eIoicneu and often with blis.
of eetea nahds. faces and feet. On & space
J "a seven miles on one road six persons @
ooau and oying were found. One family
uGnslsted ,.;.s OF the husband nearly dead
WIN hair and whiskers gone and face
anu nands peeled. but his feet protected
Iy nlPn boots; his wife lying near had
ner clothing burned off up to her wa;st
ano her legs siIged their two children
%hom they were trying to save wero
oead; Probably number of narsnto MO
could nave saved their own lives hrt
TRYING TO SAVE THEIR c1,unDrr
The awful fury of the fire is shown in
so;, slS eiecls u upon the earth. In places the
SOL Sol, Is actually burned to a depth of sew.
eiai ,nches. Acres and acres of land
,nsc aiss. oeen Invested of every living thing
ciear down to the ve.y roots in tie
ground, leaving the country as bare as a
ueserI ana strewn with ashes. In manv
Eases Eases one cannot tell by the looks the
alherehce between q ploughed field and
on one on which there was q dense wood
chere ere square miles of lands all ready
ior the plough, cleared as thoroupbly 20
II years of labor had been extended
| upon them, and there ale other so',ara
miles where the pioneer can now make
iarm BY removing few scattered
chunks, not wholly consumed. and NIT
ting up fences. There are places where
tue telegraph lines were 80 eiTectuallv
destroyed that one cannot even find q
vestige of the iron wire.
Inc section n which the fires ragged
most furiously and were most destructiye
20 liie ana property embrace the larger
part OF Huron county, most of SaniIac
county, and q large tract in the north.
east, east and southeast Of Tuscola coun.
W, and some territory in the northwest.
ern portion Of Lapeer county. The fires
were also very disastrous in Genesee
Saginaw and Midland counties. but in
comparison with the widespread destruc-
! tlon III Huron, Sanilac and Tuscola the
losses are Insignificant. An idea of
THE EXTENT OF THE DEsoLAT1oy
III the shore counties may be formed
when 1t is said that from back of Port
Austin, or from GrinGstone City, in the
extreme north of Huron county, the fire
has cut swath of from ten TO thirty
miles In width down to the southern Dor
tion 0f Sanilac county, distance of
sixty miles. Hundreds of square miles
OF territory were burned over, and the
number of the destitute reaches thou
sands. Tie townships in Huron county
bordering o. Saginaw Bay seem to have
got of most lightly, but the central aud
eastern townships suffered heavily. Some
of the shore villages escaped, but others
received severe scorching, and of some
there is scarcely q vestige left. Reports
have been received showing that every
township in Sanilac county suffered more
or less injury. The whole interior of the
county had been laid waste, while the
townships of Tuscola bordering thereon
have sustained severe losses. The three
counties Of Huron, 2aaiac and Tuscola
were rayaged by the great fires of 1871,
but the osses then, great as they were,
do not equal those occasioned by the fires
| OF this week. The three counties named
had, in round numbers, population in
1870 Of $1,000, and in 1880 of $4,000.
They have therefore doubled in popua-
tion since the destructive fires OF ten
years ego, while as respects ,eir agricul-
tural developments, the rate OF increase
was much larger. The loss will reach
hundreds of thousands of dollars, and.
next to the loss Of life, its saddest feature
is that it deprives hundreds of all means
Ot sustenance.
Pillar OF Fire and Smoke-The Wild Ride
OF u Maniac-Fl;ght OF ws,d Ar,.nals-
The Charrcd RemaIus.
Detroit Free Press Correspondence.
On Saturday, the Sd instant, along the
eastern shore of Michigan thin clond
of smoke rested over the forests and gave
the lake hazy look. On Sunday this
cloud was thicker. Cattle and horses
| in strange manner.
For ten days past fires had been burn.
ing in Sanilac, Huron and Tuscola
counties, but no one apprehended any
danger. Farmers had set fire 10 slash
ing to clear the ground for fal wheat,
but this happens every fall, aud the fact
that not drop of water had fallen in
from fifty to seventy days was not cOn
sidcred by those who saw the smoke
clouds and replied that there was no
danger. There was danger. Behind
that pail of smoke was greater enemy
than an earthquake, and it had tornado
at it's back and 200 miles of forest in the
front.
| Monday morning the smoke cloud was
| thicker. Far out in the lake it settled
down until lambs on shipboard had to be
lighted 10 sec the compass and there
was a weirdness about it which made
| sailors fear. At noon, on land, no mid
night was ever darker. Lamps we're
powerless to light even a small room.
All business was suspended in the streets
| of the towns, and in the country the far
mers gathered their wives and children
about them, and whispered that it was
the coming Of judgment. Hot waves
swept through the forests and over the
farms, parching the green leaves as If
they had been placed in hot ovens.
Smoke was eyerywhere-thick, bitter
smoke. which blinded and suffocated
children in their mothers arms. From
noon until 2 o'clock strange terror held
the people in its grip. Then all of sud
den. the heavens took fire, or so it
seemed to hundreds. In some localities
| it came with the sound of thunder. In
others it was proceeded by n terrible
roaring, rs if tidal wave we're sweeping
over the country. Almost at the same
minute iho flames appeared iii 11!eiiy
snot over a district of country thirty
miles broad by hundred in length.
A billow of flame ten-thirty-fortiy
and in some places sixty feet high,
famed by a hot and brisk southwest
wind, rolled over this track and left be-,
hind it charred bodies of hundreds OF
people, thousands Of live stock, and o, one
can c hardly tell how many homes, The
very air was in flame. a gas formed
ahead of the wall of flames, and this
ocI conrnhn6