Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1881-09-15

towns of Marlette, Flynn, Argyle, Ever.
green, Moore, Lamotte, and Elmer
Sanilac county, and thirty-two persons
known to be dead. Men who travelled
through the burnt district yesterday
report the fires mostly out and the in.
habitants sitting about the ashes Of
their burnt houses, many burned and
otherwise injured They are disconso.
late and almost bereft Of their senses
Provisions, clothing, bedding, and other
necessaries are being constantly for.
warded, and men are travelling through
the burnt sections distributing supplies
and taking the names of those who
are in need. Many persons are still
missing in the burnt district, and the
exact llss can not be known for some
days.
Sixty-fve burials have already been
reported in six towns, and it is said
that twenty-seven dead have been
found in the country between Bad Axe
and Port Hope. Trains are now run
ming regularly to Sand Beach and Mar
lette. The old-settled towns have suf-
fered no losses to speak of, but it falls
on the poorer class of people that are
Just starting in the newer townships
A good deal of suffering is reported
from the back part of Tuscola county,
adjoining Sanilac, where as near as can
be ascertained, some scores of families
are com pletely burned out, and it is
feared some loss of life has occurred.
though it is believed to be small. The
worst destruction is probably at an end.
The work of relief must now be ener-
geticaily and systematically prosecuted.
In many instances these poor people
must be cared for through winter and
supplied with every necessity of life.
The territory burned is the peninsula
bounded on the west by Saginaw bav,
extending as far south as the south line
of Sanilac county. 1t is peopled by at
least $4,000 inhabitants, one-half of
whom have settled here within ten
years. The conditions which made
the fire of Monday last so destructive
were these: Fully two-thirds of the
timber over the entire burned tract
was destroyed by the great fire in 1871,
and was piled up in miles of windfalls,
or, if standing, was mere kindline
wood. The settlers preferred burned
lands as being easily cleared, and hun.
dreds OF new homes were surrounded
by great tracts of fallen timber. The
roads were lined on either side by it,
and many who persisted were caught
on these roads and hemmed in by lab
yrinths of this burning hemlock, black
ash, and pine. There had been no
rains over this region since spring to
wet down any depth. Even swamps
which were usually covered with one
or two feet of water had become dry as
finder, For weeks there had been no
heavy winds. The prevailing winds
had been from Lake Huron, with
which fires did not run. On the day Of
the great fire there was not square
mile in all the burned region that did
not hold more or less fire. Monday
morning opened with a cloudless sky,
the mercury gradually rising to 100
ar over. The wind was south, run
ming to southwest, and by noon in
creasing to a ffty-mile gale. At noon
in many places lamps had to be lit, and
sticking sense of fear and impending
calamity overspread the whole popula-
ton. About o'clock the wind as
sumed the violence Of tornado. The
flames were of CHASTITY blush hue,
giving no light, but licking up timber,
houses, barns, stacks, animals, and peo-
pie with q resistless fury, and this at
places where no fire was known to be
for miles around in the morning. On
Tuesday the extent of the horror began
to be known-dead men, women, and
children at what had been their door
steps, at their gates, in the fields, and
on the highways, some untouched by
fire, others charred and blackened.
The living, with burned feet ears, or
hands, and many women and children
entirely naked, were separated from
the rest of the family, blind, hopeless,
and despairing.