New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-10-07
FIRE.
IT'S STRANGE WAYS ON THE PRAIRIE.


seen dispatches from somewhere In Dakota, Nebraska
Western Kansas other place on the great plains
describing death or loss by prairie fire. The dcstruc-
ton wrought by such fire cannot be realized by one
| who has the autumn flames among the tall
rank grass of the fertile portions Of the western
| praries, when the very ground itself IS baked and
| hardened by the dry summer weather and when the
| flames urged onward by q strong wind as IS
| usually the case
| So large part Of the prairie is broken up in
most places that the fires have lost much Of their
odtimc size grandeur; but the very fact Of the
settlement makes the danger to property and life the
| greater. When tho country from the Gulf OF Mexico
to the northern boundary Of the United states, and
even beyond, was almost, or, for that matter en-
tIrey unsettled, great fire could sweep almost from
one end OF 10 to tho other and do no damage except
10 the game 1t might ovcrtahe in rs mad chase With
settlement the danger to man begins, and long
there any considerable stretches Of prairie there
is always danger unless the farm buildings and vii
lagos carefully provided with fre-breals.
In 1875 some hunters started prairie fro in Bon
Homme County, OAK. opposite Niobrara, Neb. There
was strong southeast wind and II swept away TO the
! northwest for two hundred miles, licking
| up the dry prairie grass and rolling up great
columns of smoke the soft September air for
| upward OF a week. This comparatively
| narrow, being kept from spreading to the West
| progress to the east at first by the "Jmr River.
| and later by the wind, which shifted more 10
/ the east; but IN some places the tract burned
| over reached width of scvonty-fvc miles, land
1t averaged, perhaps, fully fifty. 1t found few
| streams to impede its progress on that side of
| the Missouri: what few 1t did encounter II had
difficulty in leaplng Indeed, the distance that
the fire will Jump In crossing these prairie streams,
whore the grass grows rank and tall to the very
| waters edge, seems almost past belief and during
| the fall, Of course, many OF the creeks arc dry
| for the greater part OF their courses and in
fire cannot GROSS in one place there is usually
| some other place where IL can and so II PUSHES
on, frequently leaving large unburned irregular
A-shaped places along tho streams or lakes, but
| leaving the country whole black, barren and
| forbiddng This fire took week to go
| rather more than two hundred miles. This may
seem slow, but several things must be taken into
consideration. In many places the grass was short,
which necessarily hlndercd It's progress There was
little wind during the nights so H. OF course,
travelled slowly then At other times, when 1t got
| among stretches Of blue Joint other tall grass,
IT, like any other prairie fire, travelled at such a
rate that horse, be he fast, could not
long keep ahead. Tho front was, Of course, very
| irregular and usual, It would frequently happen
| that two long advancing arms would Join several
miles ahead Of the main line OF fame and rush
onward, forming front and leaving a rapidly
left Of the mighty advancing column OF flame
retarded the second third day In passing through
the Bijou Hills Later the right became tangled
among the Washington Hills and fell behind II
| finally died out among the coteaux close TO the
Missouri River in the neishborhood Of the lie Beau
| and Bots Cache creeks. In fact, Il the river
| that stopped IT, for had it not been there, or
had the wind GIT into the south, 1t would have
swept on two hundred and fifty miles further out
Of Dakota and on into the British Possessions, no
one knows how far. There were no settlers In its
track, except perhaps, few rappers and traders
close to tho river, and no damage was done
This not the largest prairie fire ever known
in that country by any means. simply cited
1t as an example and because I happened 10 be
familiar with the facts connected with it than
with some OF the others. As late 1879 fire
swept down from the British Possessions through
Northern Dakota with front, when 1t reached the
Northern Pacific Railroad, Of one hundred and TWEEN
y.nve miles. Further to the north 1t was per.
haps two hundred miles in width, having been
narrowed down by the Missouri River One Of the
grandest sights possible to witnessed by
the passengers the Northern Pacific trains during
the two or three nights It raging at different
places Its track The great tongues of flame
seemed TO be leapng up higher than the cars and
almost reaching them, though they were really
further away than they lSRked being held back
Dy The companyS nleDreaK, or burned Strlp along
the track There sleep the trains pass
ing that fire. but the windows and platforms
crowded with the passengers, eagerly watching the
rolling leapng flames. Antelopes, deer, prairie
wolves, foxes jackrabbits and other animals could
be in great numbers hurrying before the flames
and crossing the track 1t frequently happened that
some of them struck by tho train and killed
Those that reached the south side Of the track
found safety for the time being at least, the fire
did not Later in the season. however, the
usual smaller fires prevailed south Of the road.
Seven years before this fire rolled across Dakota
from the southwest II reached Fort Toten and Lake
Kampcska, two hundred and fifty miles apart, on
the day, and it thought to be the
ire-that there unbroken line of flame be-
tween the places II supposed to have been
started by the Indians, according to a previous ar
rangement, a number OF separate fires along the
Missouri River In 1877 a party of railroad pros
pcctors followed along behind a slowly moving fire
for two weeks. Three years later a party
of Texas stockmen were looking up cattle ranges
along the Missouri, and camped near the
Painted Woods Creek They careless in COW
cring their fire, and after they went to sleep the
wind blew out a few sparks and started a prairie
fire II stampeded their horses and they found
them week later among tho Turtle Noun
tains, hundred and twenty miles to the
north, having been driven the entire distance ahead
Of the fire. In 1876 great fire swept over West
the Sidney trail to the Black Hills The fires
times peculiar course among the Nebraska
sand hills. Coming up from the fer
tile prairie to these great barren tracts,
ealy little but pillows of sand piled
up by the wind, It does not find the scanty
vegetation sufficient to sustain It except in the few
widely scattered and narrow valleys winding I'M
certain and serpentine course among the hills Follow
Ing these, where the grass is Frequently luxuriant
Will flow onward, OF different fires winding
around among the hills. each little. lost wandering
fire, seeking among the labyrinth of sand dunes-a
OF Sitting. moving Sandstone outlet TO tho world
from which II came. Gradually these vagrant fires,
sometimes rushing along with the wind and some
times slowly beating against IT, viii come together as
the valleys Join until at last they may all Join in the
larger valley OF some stream and pass along and
escape from the weird. solitary, lonely sand hills
The West has Of late years settled up rapidly that
there are now but few places for the prairie fires 10