Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-07-22


good duty at the fire Hundreds or men
were lying around with the hair burned oil
their heads, and when they attempted to
tell how they fought the fire, it could be
seen that they suffered intense pain. Hun
dredS of them We're 50 badly used up that
they were compelled to leave the fire.
ORIGIN OF THE FIRE.
The fire broke out on the northwest cor
ner of Colonel Caleb Dorsey ranch, about
five miles from the river. 1t is supposed
that two men were smoking, and that the
fire from their pipes caught the grain. and
before they noticed it it got under such
headway that no one could go near enough
TO put it out. W. c. Carmichael was the
first one to discover it. He was going to a
neighbor's, and came upon the two men
standing looking at small fire near by.
He called to them TO come and help him
put the fire out, and the three went to
work at once. But there was a high wind
blowing, and it soon became evident to Mr..
.Carmichael that the alarm would have to
be given. He ran to Colonel Dorsevs resi-
dence, and i'll Il few minutes the dreadful
news was flying from farm to farm. and
men gathered from all parts of the county,
DESTRUCTION BEGUN.
BY this time it was under full headway.
and they saw that no power under the sun
could save Colonel Dorsey's large ranch.
Men rushed in with wet sacks, and many
pulled off their coats, but the fire moved
along faster than horse could walk. In a
short time it had spread over Colonel Dor
Sey's fields, and 1000 acres of the finest
grain i'll the county was burned to the
ground. The fire then spread from Colonel
DOrsey's to |. l.. Grainger's ranch, consist
ing OF about 500 acres. At this point T. w
Gilmer met the raging flames with band
of men and began to blackburn, that is, he
plOwed several furrows and started new
fire. Mr.. Gilmer and his men worked so
effectually that only 120 acres of his grain
was burned. From there it spread to w.
NJ. Muncys ranch, consisting of 900 acres.
The men fought bravely, but no power
could save it, auu TIE Whole Held was In
flames i'll few minutes. By this time Ike
Watson's ranch was reached, and 900 acres
of his fine grain was destroyed. The next
place doomed to destruction was r. Robin
sons. Mr.. Robinson lost about 200 acres.
THE FIRE CHECKED.
BY this time the whole country was alive
with men, and they were 50 thoroughly or
ganized that the flames were stopped. The
fire started about 10 o'clock and it was not
under control until $3.50. During this time
it had run about five miles and covered a
country three miles wide, destroying some
of the finest grain in the valley. 1t was re-
ported that several farm-houses had been
destroyed. Colonel Dorsey lost one of his
tenant houses and the barn, valued at 5000.
He also lost thrashing machine and one of
Shippee's combined headers and thrashers.
valued at about $1,000
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRE
]. W. Gilmer, who superintended the
fight with the fire, gave good description
of it. He said to your correspondent: Il
never saw anything SO grand and terrible
in my life. l arrived on the scene short
time after the alarm was given. The flames
were leaping from field to field al such a
rapid pace that one could hardly keep up
with them. One would think that fire
would make more rapid headway in stand
ing grain than it would in stubble, but it is
not so. Wherever the fire struck field
that had been headed it would run on the
field rapidly. The wind was blowing quite
a gale, but that did not do so much damage
as did the whirlwind, which seemed to
come mp at almost every step
" How many men do you suppose were
at work?' asked your reporter.
Z" should judge there were very near
1000. They came in header-wagons. bug
gies and on horseback for miles around :.
some even came over from Stockton, and
all went right to work as soon as they came
on the field. AT first they worked without
any system, but they soon got down to
business and we got the fire under con-
troll"
" How did you fight it,
Before we got organized we fought with
wet sacks and blankets, but as soon as pos
sible we went to back-burning. This was
the only way we could do to get it under
control Talk about a hot place Why, it
was like bake-oven."
"Were many men burnt?'
"0h, yes; quite number were burnt,
but none seriously. The most OF them are
III town.
cARELEssNEss OR DESIGN?
" Do you think the two men who were
standing near where the fire started set it
on fire ~
That is a hard question to answer.
After we got it under control, quite a num-
Der believed that those two had something
odo with it, but hardly think SO. You
know that it is very easy for fire to get i'm
der headway from small spark. l under
stand that they were on their way TO town
and stopped to wait for some one and were
smoking When Carmichael came up to
them. The most suspicious thing about it
was the way they acted. Instead of going
to work they were standing looking at it
without making any effort to check it..
When Carmichael came up they were
the first ones TO see it of course
And why they did not get to work at
once | can't understand. The chances are
ten to one that they could have put it out
had they wished
''Who are they and what became of
them ~
q don't know their names, but they
were working for McKew, so ] was told.
There is no telling where they are now. 1
think it would have been advisable to have