Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-05-10
Fled for Their Lives.
Perils of Living in the Woods in
Upper Michigan.
A HOLOCAUST BARELY AVGRTED.

of 1s71-New Settlements Swept by the
memorable Flames and Their Inhab-
itanbs Forced to FIy-Some Details of
the Terrible Devastation - Desperate
Fight Against the Fire-Towns Laid in
Ashes.
MATQUETTE, Mich, May 10-Full reports
of the forest fires that have ragged in the
northe IN peninsula during the past week
were received here yesterday. But for the
interv sntion of a heavy rain the fearful holo-
caust Of 1871, known as the Peshtigo disaster,
would have been repeated in the new home
stead districts The forests had been exceed
| ingly Try for weeks and on Tuesday last a
| fierce not wind swept over the whole PENN
sula with such violence as to PROSTATE all
| telegraph wires. All that part of the coun-
| try XII own as the Marquette, Houghton, and
Ontonagon land grant, into which hundreds
| of families recently rushed for settlement, is
| an I'm broken wilderness of timber, and for
miles and miles devoid of sufficient clearings
to break the fury of forest fire.
Fuel for the Flames.
Towns have sprung up along the line of
| the extension of the Duluth, South Shore and
Atlantic road, which pier ces to the center of
these homestead lands, and there is scarcely
a quarter section within the limit that does
not contain rude log cabin and small
| clearing still covered with brush and slash
ings. Many small streams form a net work
all through these lands, but as they are small
=, and lined with dead underbrush they tended
| to feed rather than retard the progress of
| the flames. Among these towns are Bruce's
| Gross n.y. with a dozen or two buildings;
Matchwood, the headquarters of the Dia-
mond Match company, with a large mill and
dozen or two other houses, each containing
family; Ten Mile Camp, less pretentious
| settle nent; Anthony, a numbering camp,
and many other settlements of from two to a
| dozen buildings
The Ravager Approaching.
| About O'Clock Tuesday morning the peo-
pie of Bruce's Crossing saw dense smoke
coming from the southeast. This soon be-
came so dense as to be suffocatipg. The in
hibitants at once realized that tho forest was
| on fire. The smoke grew denser and the air
hotter, until a terrible fear seized the people,
who saw death approaching in its worst
form A hurricane swept the country at
the rate of thirty miles an hour. Refugees
from the nearer homesteads began to arrive,
breathless and exhausted with their race for
life before the flames, which left in their
track nothing but blazing ruins. The inhab
itants were miles from the open land, chok-
| ing with smoke and i'll danger of absolute
| crem alton.
Flying from a Horrible Fate.
In A short time the railroad track, which is
cleared only wide enough for the trains, but
ditched on either side, was lined with weep
ing women and children and terror-strickeI
men. As the heat increased they sought the
bitches beside the track, and face downward
attempted to survive the wild sweep of the
approaching fire Everything at Bruce.
crossing was wiped out except one small
store At Matchwood the women and chill
dren were lodged in the root cellars, which
are hreproof, while the men fought the
flames at the edge of the clearing until hops
gave way to dismay, and they sought refuge
in the marsh These same scenes were on
acted all along the line of the fire fronts.
Saved by Heavy Rain.
From o'clock in the morning until in
the afternoon the fire held full sway in thu
fastn essss of those unbroken forests. During
the afternoon dense cloud swept over the
scene and it became as dark as night Thi
filled the people with new fear, but it wa:
of short duration, the cloud soon burst int
a heavy rain. The flames were quenche,
by sill more furious rains which lasteC
fully an hour. Up to O'clock last night the
rain was general, and completely extin
guisi ed the flames everywhere The wire
leading into the homestead district are still
down, but through other sources it is learned
that no lives are reported lost, though none o
the searching parties who started out owe
the interior from the railroad tracks has a
Yet returned.
At Norway and Vulcan.
The villages of Norway and Vulcan wer
surrounded by flames for twenty-four hours
and fears were entertained that both place
would he burned. Norway, however, wa
savei, but not SO the mining town of Vulcan
two miles distant. The wind carried the fir
into a huge pile of cordwood adjoining tn
Vulcan Mining company's engine house. tn
, wool, several thousand cords, was quickly
mas of fame and, despite the efforts of tn
citizsns and the fire department. the fire wa
not stayed until the engine house and twent
houses, the homes of miners who lose every
, thing, were in runs The loss there is abou
$50, 600
Anxiously Awaiting News.
There is one river running through por
ton Of the burned district, and party VIII
arrived in the city from there yesterday say
that probably all within two miles of th
river on either side escaped by getting t
the stream ahead of the flames. The fir
SWEPT over a space ten miles in width an
tweI ty miles in length. nearly every qual
ter section of which contained a family or
single settler Tidings from there are await