The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-08-12
THE FOREST FIRES.
The CONGREGATIONS Still Raging Many Fam
lilies Rendered Homeless.

MILWAUKEE, Aug. ia dispatch from Green
Bay says fire is still raging throughout the woods
in that vicinity. Reports from the towns Of
Eaton. Bellevue and Deeper report much loss
and distress Nineteen families in the vicinity
of Woodruffs old mill were burned out The
Cause family, of five, saved their lives by get
ting into the well The loss at Pensaukee is
estimated at $4,000 Reports from Laney and
Anglican, in Shawany county, state that the
fire is very bad. Five families were burned out
and their crops destroyed. The mill near An
gelica burned. Fred Regain. near St Nathans,
Oconto county lost five buildings and his crops.
Several of his neighbors suffered likewise The
bridges OF the Little Suanfco river are gone.
People In the burned district are terrified The
warning of the flames in the woods can be heard
two miles away. Big Suamico is out Of danger,
but Little Suamico is having hard time now.
Several families were burned out in the town of
Denmark and stripped of all their possessions
Around the postoffice the residents are packing
their goods, and there Is regular exodus to
Green Bay and Manitowoc.
The streams are drying up and cattle are dy-
ing of suffocation. Their bodies can be found
on the roads at intervals Twelve miles from
Green Bay, in the town of Humboldt, the fire ia
raging iercely. Several residents were burned
yesterday. Trenches and fire breaks do not
sent to- the sufferers from Green Bay to-day,
and contributions would not come amss
Though the forests in. the northern tier of
counties in this State ara still abaze, and are
likely to remain on fire until rains quench the
flames the danger to the villages and towns is
over, unless heavy gales should sweep down upon
them. While not over a dozen cases of human
cremation are reported, it is believed that many
backwoodsmen and families, remote from settle
ments cannot have possibly have escaped. The
fat fn ivo hoon farr
dreds of charred bodies at cattle lie on the
blackened track of the devagtations of the fire.
1t is estimated that in Calumet, Clarke.
and few adjacent counties five
hundred families are rendered homeless
and destitute, and will suffer unless imm ediate
relief is sent them. Many of these penple had
narrow escapes from death, having hidden in
wells or submerged themselves up to their necks
in streams, with wet blankets covering their
heads until the fire passed. In some places the
fire swooped down 30 suddenly upon the people
that they barely had time to seek this method of
safety In other places the roar Of the flames
was heard for miles, and the terrorstricken peo-
pie fed madly before the flames to neighboring
villages and towns. The loss cannot even be
estimated. Hundreds of homes, dozens Of saw
mills and lumber camps and millions of feet of
timber are in ashes. Acres upon acres of ripen-
ing grain were laid in waste. To nights
considerably by running into clearings and be-
cause the wind has died out However, fears
are are entertained if high winds prevail before
rain appears. Along the valley division of the
Chicago, Milwaukee & st. Paul railroad heavy
rains to-day extinguished all the flames saving
the largest cranberry marshes in that section.
To-day the suffocatng clouds of smoke from the
burning forests were borne by winds as far
south as Milwaukee. On this lakes, near Green
bay, Sturgeon bay and even further south, the
smoke clouds are 80 dense that the sun is OBJ
scured and vessels experience extreme difficulty
in navigation it being impossible to see 400 feet
ahead at midday