Democratic messenger., 1881-09-24
AFTER THE MICHIGAN FIRES.
The Desolated Region Described.

: uSdfIy Tue eutlFe DufneO ulStricJ III hu-
ron, Tuscola and dSanilac counties, Mich
igan, writes as follows:
Approaching the desolated region, the
earth, sea and sky presented an unusual
appearance. At Port Huron the sun
was very red and rose in a cloudless but
murky sky. As the steamer passed out
into Lake Huron it ran into a dense at
mospheric ocean of smoke and haze that
was very painful to the eyes, injurious
to the lungs and creating a cloud so
dense that at MONDAY the sun merely
made sickly, yellowish smear in the
air. This vast cloud of smoke covers
the entire lake where it is eighty to one
hundred miles wide with haze so DIFF
fused that navigation is difficult and
dangerous The vision extends scarcely
one-eighth of mile from the boat. The
shores are invisible, and unseen steam
ers are heard sounding their fog whistles
in various directions. To find and enter
port is q sort of guess work, often only
possible by the aid of whistles blown on
shore to direct the boats. Tens of thou
sands of dead birds float upon the waters.
In run of one hour counted over one
hundred and fifty dead birds of various
forest varicties-namely, woodpeckers,
cat birds, bullfnches, robins and blue
iays-that passed by the boat. If the
whole lake is as thickly covered there
must be several hundreds, if not thou
sands, of the corpses of birds IN the lake.
Besides birds the waters are fiecked
with drowned forest insects of every de-
scription. These winged citizens of the
woods were not slain by the fire, but
driven by the heated air, flames and
sparks. The latter were carried to great
heights. The birds and insects sought
the clear air over the lake and were lost
in the smoky haze, probably hurt by the
foul air and finally dropped, tired out,
into the whelming billows and il the
winged birds died it may be certainly
concluded that the animals and the peo-
pie could hardly escape. The fire APP
pears to have taken its victims by sur
prise. 1t may be thought strange that
with forest fires known to be in the Vi
cinity, with the losses of ten years ago
remembered, and with other instances
daily heard of, that any one could be
surprised. But there are wood fires
yearly; they rarely amount to much.
Then all hoped to escape and were will
ing TO believe that the worst was over.
The people did not make preparation !;
they often packed their valuables to take
away they set back fires they plowed
furrows about their farms they resolved
to fight bravely for their homes. The
danger sent out forerunners the earth
was parched, the cir heated, everything
dried up generally. There had been
brisk winds, but rs the fire approached
the winds died away, creating delusive
hope Of escape. Then, finally, preceded
by showers of burning cinders, the fire,
after lingering long on its road, per-
haps, suddenly rushed forward with the
speed of q fast trotting horse and the
roar of railway train. The dead wind
sprang up and blew q hurricane Just in
front of the flames. Every barrier was
leaped, the very air seemed ali ON fire.
There was no resource save in swift
fight FOR the lake or the nearest living
water SO awful was the heat, and the
shower of cinders that man placed in
the centre of newly plowed field of
twenty-five acres would inevitably burn
to death in short time. A dense and
deadly smoke clung to the ground. In
flying for life along the roads, the fall
ing trees made it necessary to abandon
teams, even if the frightened animals
could be managed.
ROADSIDE HORRORS.
The dense smoke made it dark as night
in the day time, but the roads were the
only paths to safety. One man, riding
toward the fire, found it suddenly be-
hind him, and only escaped by aband-
oning his horse aud buggy to the
flames. Those who escaped come in
with their clothing scorched and often
with blistered hands, faces and feet,
On space of seven miles on one road.
six persons dead and dying were found,
One family consisted of the husband,
nearly dead, with hair and whiskers
gone and head and face peeled, but his
feet protected by high boots his wife,
lying near by, had her clothing burned
off up to her waist and her legs singed /;
their two children, which they were
trying to save, were dead. Probably a
number of parents could have saved
their own lives, but they died III trying
to save their children. The awful fury
of the fire is shown in its effects upon
the earth, in places, the soil is actually
burned to a depth of several inches,
acres and acres of land have been di-
vested of every living thing, clear down
to the very roots in the ground, leaving
the country as bare as desert and
strewn with ashes. In many cases one
cannot tell by the looks the difference
between a plowed field and one on
which there was dense wood. There
are square miles of lands already for the
plow, cleared as thoroughly as if
years of labor had been expended upon
them. And there are other square
miles where the pioneer can now make
a farm by removing a few scattered
chunks not wholly consumed and putting
up fences. There are places where the
telegraph lines were so effectually de-
stroyed that one cannot even find a
vestige of the iron wire.
RUIN OF LIFE WORK.
A typical case of the ruin wrought to
those who escaped with their lives, was
that of farmer named Carr. He had
large, rich farm, with over one
hundred acres cleared; large barns,
with stone foundations q handsome,
well furnished house, half a dozen
horses, number of cattle, sheep, hogs
and poultry, a fine orchard, 1000
bushels of wheat, nearly dozen stacks
of hay, plenty of oats, corn and pota-
toes. In short, he was what is called a
rich farmer, with farm twenty to
/ - IL