Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-04-05
Prairie Fne-Fiend.
Terrible Devastation Wrought
Thereby in Dakota.
BLAoKBNED WASTES EVERYWHERE

Farm and Town Alike Suffer from the Wis
ftatiOn-South Dakota Loses $1,000
900 I'm Property-The Irresistible Flames
Leap Wide Spaces of Plowed Ground
The Ruin at Leola and Mount vernon
Incidents Showing the Remarkable Fury
of the Fire-Destitute Condition of the
Unfortunates
YANKToN, ID. T., AN'il 5-The list OF losses
by Tuesdays prairie fires in this vicinity in
creases, aud the yisitations assume the form
of widespread calamity. Yankton county
alone has suffered to the extent of $50, 900,
and many as seventy-five farmers are
homeless, most OF them losing everything
but their lives and the lives of their FAM
lies. Farmers hereabouts are generally pos
sessed Of valuable improvements. and the in
dividual losses range from s., 600 to 5000
In buildings and machinery. The GAINESVILLE
neighborhood has suffered most severely. 1t
Is peopled with Russians, who had covered
their farms with timber, fine buildings and
fences. These are now a blackened waste,
and the losses are generally without insur-
ance 1t was no ordinary prairie fire In its
fearful force it licked up everything COM
bustible, and grass, stubble and wood broke
into fame seemingly without coming in con-
tact with the fire. The combustion was al
most spontaneous in the dry and
heated condition of the atmosphere.
set in motion by the terrific gale that pre-
vailed. The conditions seemed similar to
those existing at the time of the great fires in
the Wisconsin woods, when the atmosphere
was almost ready to ignite and burn An
illustration is given in the case of a Yankton
county farmer, who placed his valuable pa
pers and money in wood box, aud deposited
the box in the middle of a plowed field. The
box was reduced to ashes. though there
seemed TO be no way for the fire to cross the
plowed surroundings The Yankton signal
station records show that during the gale the
humidity was reduced frJ,u "a. normal, to Z,
almost absolute dryness; an intense electrical
condition prevailed, and to these phenomena
was added wind, the velocity OF which
reached fifty miles an hour All things
considered. the visitation was as remarkable
as it was calamitous.
1t was o'clock in the afternoon when the
people of Mount Vernon saw the prairie
northwest OF them break out into a blaze
The smoke dashed into and through the town
and the flames rushed after. Mitchell was
telegraphed to for help and 100 firemen with
a hook and ladder truck were sent at once
The entire population of Mount Vernon and
the mon from Mitchell met the flames on the
outskirts of the town and fought with des-
peration, but in vain. No lives were lost,
but forty five buildings were burned and 100
families left homeless. .he loss is put at
$500, 900. Outside of the town it is impossible
10 say what the loss is. Lonely little farm
houses scattered over the prairie are wiped
out by the dozens. Stories of loss of life NAV
come in later. As near as can be estimated
the losses In south Dakota will reach s., CO.,
900.
Violin village has only three buildings
standing Olvet, Hutchinson county, was
burned. Pukwanna was wiped out In the
vicinity of GAINESVILLE. twelve miles north of
Yankton, eight farmers sustained losses rum
ming from 81 900 to $1,000 each Around
GAINESVILLE the loss Will foot up SIC, 600 One
man lost 81, 900 which he had in his coat on a
piece OF plowed ground 800 feet from the
grass. At Scotland The Hutchinson Herald
Office was burned and twenty-five farmers
are known to have lost everything One es-
innate says the loss in that county will reach
$500, 1000
The complete destruction of Leola, the
county seat of Mcpherson county. has al
ready been told. Leola was a town of 800
Inhabitants, and the country for miles
around was well settled Out of thirty
places OF business, including two banks two
newspapers, two churches, three or four no.
tells, and all lines of business, but four are
left, and out of from thirty to forty resi-
dences less than dozen remain The loss is
practically complete and will reach $3.50. 900.
The insurance was very light c. W. Old
and Thomas Wardell were horribly burned.
and the couriers say they can not live. Par
ties who drove across the country to West
port, the nearest railroad station, say that the
surrounding country is nearly devastated.
Hundreds of farm houses are in ashes, and
carcasses OF burned stock are lying along the
road 1t is probable that not one-tenth OF
the damage is yet reported. Scores of farm
ers are without seed wheat, stock, buildings,
or implements to commence spring work
The fires were practically irresistible
Flames in some instances leaped 100 feet of
plowed ground All ordinary precautions
were vain. The spring has been very dry,
and the top Of the ground has been almost
baked The atmosphere was practically de-
void Of moisture The wind from the north
east blew between forty and fifty miles an
hour, tanning the flames into fury Under
these conditions wherever fire touched the
grass 1t burst out with flash almost like
powder and shot away across the prairie.
To extinguish the fire by water was out of
the question. Flowing fre-breaks was slow
work and the high winds often drove the
Har,ae