The Mineral argus., 1883-08-30
THROUGH MICHIGAN WILDS.

ola voyager down the river Au SABLE,
to the New York Evening Post:
An area of ten counties in he north
eastern corner ofthe southern peninsula
Of Michigan may-though on a much
more ample scale-be hkened to the
Adirondack region Of New York state.
The tract includes a region Of not less
than 500 square miles, or nearly twice
the area ofConnecticut. Vast land tracts
covered by scrawny oaks and under-
brush are succeeded by bills crested
with pine. Then came tangled forests
ofmixed growtbs or dense cedar swamps, |
almost impossible even to the foot OF
the hardened backwoodsman. One may
travel for dozens OF miles without seeing
a house or other sign Of human habita-
ton, and whole counties in some
instances contain only a few hun
dred settlers altogether and not a single
village worth the name.
Dnr nc a four days water trip for q
distance of 40 miles, the traces OF man
were scant and at far intervals. Three
, or four farm-houses, a tented party from
Detroit with whom we passed a hosplt-
able hour, and a small lumber camp
were the only visible human signs.
Every half mile or 50 brings to the signt
of the floating voyager on h Au sable
an omen space in the forest many acres
I'm extent. There are thick. 6lackened
tree-trunks on the ground, ~prctruding
in ali directions from their shroud Of
green underbrush. A more Impressive
spectacle are the dead pine trees still
standing in these open areas, black
around the roots, but reaching, straight
as a dart, for a hundred ieet IN air,
These are the gaunt skeletons OF what
were onoe splendid living pines, nov
killed by the forest fires which perlodl-
cally sweep through the Michigan WOOD
lands during drought. Not far below
the mouth Of the Au Sable, and on the
other side of Saginaw bay, is the region
where the deadly fires two
wears ago devastated the
wood lands so terribly, causing the loss
of hundreds of lives and million OF dol
lars worth of property. A well.informed
resident of Michigan, who lives but a
few miles away from the scene OF that
horror. has described IL to me, not as a
burning forest in the ordinar : sense,
but a cyclone Of fame, marked by char
acters of fire by many Of the Phenome-
ma of wind tornadoes. In some way the
forces generated a powerful volume
of air. hlled with gases in combustion,
and penetrated with almost supeTnatur-
Al heat. IL was a sort Of earthly coun-
terpart of those tornadoes OF merry gas
which men Of science tell us sweep oVel
the incandescent envelope OF the sun
Wherever il touched the ground THU
flaming DESTROYER consumed. Woods
fences, houses, cattle, and human being
were not merely burned but almost va
ported. Often the whirlwind left be-
hind a marked track Of ruin, with clear
ly delineated sides. One man would DC
taken; another q few feet away let
; Half Of a line Of fence W uld
+, he destroyed utterly, while
the remaining half would not be
! even scorched. The whirlwind Of heat
! like a cyclone Of wind, sometimes
!. bounded from the earth only 70 descend
apain and lick 10 the house and forest
IL leaped open fields and rivers in an
4 instant, converting the surface 1ateri
: into steam, and finally stopped its ca
\ reer of destruction, not because OF laci
! Of fuel, but because its strange hsIS en-
ergy was in some occnlt way exhausted
As proving its peculiar cyclonic quailty
! there Is a Well-authenticated story OF
? farmer who had left his pantaloons II
, the middle of a ten-acre lot. In IN
pockets we're Eve trade dollars, ant
: when he returned after the swift pas
Z sage Of the flaming whirlwind he foun'
onIy a lump of melted silver where b
had lef. the coins. Looking upon tn
enormous masses of pine trees and yes
citation which line the Au sable, cor
/ ceiving their iniammable conditio
dnring drought, and then glancing anel
at the open burned spaces, with thei
e huge charred tree trunks, u eoul
Z easily imagine that the stories about IN
= Michigan forest fires were neither ial
ciful nor exaggerated, .
= To the Eastern eye how rough in j
,s outfit and how pathetic in its lack
II comforts is the home OF n of these ?
- oneers. The one l have in mind stanC
a close to the brink of the river, so nei
"a the waters that the rise Of last spriI
swept up to the door sills. IL is mao
II Of logs squared and fitted at the end
~ with the long interstices between q
ii Gbers closed by wooden wedges ar
mud work. Two or three rugged on
houses similarly constructed give shelf
to the farm cattle. The half-clear'
. tract Of 1850 acres, taken bv the settl
Ve under the Homestead Act, is thick
Scared with hlaeNened stumps, betwe'
ce which rise struggling patches Of grass
in grain. Nearer the dwelling is a scrub
garden covered with d weak growth
carrots, and the whole cleared tract
circled by the ghost-like array OF tho
lis dead pines which all Owe Michigan !
-el cord the sweep of the forest fires. II
"a dismal environment Of the settle
home has its counterpart in the roul
''e walls. the uncarpted floor, the squal
oil children chasing each other from corn
as 10 corner, the flock of frowsy chicks
he that enter and 20 out at will, and, me
no pathetic of all, .he housewife, VIC
with toll and c Id. bearing, who, wi