Wichita eagle., 1889-04-05
AN AWFUL RECORD
Fire and Wind Desolate Whole Counties in
Dakota and Minnesota.

MITCHELL, Oak. April Nobody but a
man who has ST o before a.pial:le ire and
tried to stop its awful roar when IL Is led
by fierce winds can realize the great
amount of suffering brought to Dakota
the last few days. Flames in some cases
leaped 100 feet of plowed ground and
rushed away again on their career of de-
struction. All ordinary precautions were
vain. The spring has been very dry and
the top of the ground has been dusty or
baked. The signal observer at Iankton
saws the humidity of the air was but per
cent Tuesday, a condition OF dryness never
before attained. The mean annual humid
ity is 40 This shows the atmosphere
was practically devoid of moisture. Then
the wind from the northeast blew between
forty and fifty miles an hour tanning the
flames into fury. Under the conditions
wherever fire touched the grass 1t burst
out with flash almost like powder and
shot across the prairie like an arrow, its
course ever widening. To eNtlnguish IL
by water. of course. was out OF the QueS-
ton: blowing fire breaks was slow work
and high winds often drove the names
across them.
1t was O'Clock in the afternoon when
the people of Mt Vernon saw a wide spread
ing prairie fire mort Invest of them break
out into blaze. Smoke WAS dashed into
aud through the town on the wings of the
wind. The flames rushed after with savage
fury. Mitchell was telegraphed
10 for help and 100 firemen with a nook
and ladder were sent at once. The entire
population OF Mt. Vernon and the men
from Mitchell met the furious flames on
.he outskirts of the town and fought with
desperation, but in vain. No lives were
lost, but forty-five buildings and lG0 fami-
f.. L l. =.
600. Outside OF the town 1t Is impossible
vet to say what the loss is. Lonely little
farm houses scattered over the prairie are
wiped out by the dozens. Stories of loss of
life may come in later. As near as can be
estimated this morning losses in South
Dakota will reach S2.0O0,0Oo
LOSSES NEAR YANkToN.
YANKToN, Oak, April 4-The stories of
the terrible losses by hurricanes of fire
that swept over the country north of here
continue TO come in. Columns might be
written of the horrors of the last few days
and the heroic struggles TO save home and
property that the farmers have worked so
hard TO secure. Violin village has only
three buildings standing; 0hyet, Hutch
inson county, WAS burned Puckwanu
was wiped out. Losses in Iankton county
are those of NJ. NJ. Joanson, Il. Anderson,
T OFT, Mrs. Stockwell, r. Pringle, j. f.
Olsen, David Perley. James Hoxing. John
Hundershot, Leroy Jencks, NJ. Holhrook,
f. 5. Violin, II. L. Violin, Joseph Beck
meyer, Henry Rake, Charles Stencil. Viii
liam Randall and j. N. Howe. In the
vicinity of GAINESVILLE, twelves miles north
of Yankton, eight farmers sustained
losses running from 81, 600 to 5000 each.
Among these were y. johnson, Charles
Houk, Wallace Brose ana X. c. Cook.
Around GAINESVILLE the loss will foot up
$4,000 One man lost 81 600 in money
which he had in his coat on piece OF
plowed ground three hundred feet from
the grass. Two new wagons were burned
one hundred feet from the fire. Sixty
miles of Western Union wires were blown
down between Centerville and Huron.
TIE LAND LAID WASTE.
BLUNT, Oak, April I.-The stories Of the