The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1890-04-02
A Sea Of Fire.
From the New York Press.

From the New York Press.
1t Is great relief to learn that no hui
man lie. so far as known, was lost in the
terrific prairie fires that have been sweep
Ing over parts of Kansas. Even the des-
truction OF animal life was not so heavy
rs has been feared; and. although fully
S2SO,OOO worth of farm products is said
to have been consumed. winter wheat
seems to be uninjured and the outlook
for the agricultural season is good. Upon
the whole there is much reason for re-
J"icing at the comparatively slight ruin
wrought by what threatened to be an
awful disaster.
1t is hardly possible for the people in
this part of the country to understand.
even by imagination. how a great west
ern prairie fire looks. Few spectacles i'm
nature are more grand, sublime and awe
inspiring. When, as in this instance. no
tradgedy is commercially included. our
miads may dwell with interest and de-
gree of pleasure upon the descriptions
given by those who speak from personal
observation. Four counties in Kansas
were almost simultaneously visited BY
prairie fires during the latter part of last
week and the beginning of this. The
area of cOnfiagratiOn was twenty miles
square. This was by no means excep-
tional. 1t is in the early spring that de-
vastatiOns Of the kind usually occur.
Last years immense growth of wild
grass has been all winter losing its
sap and is at length fallen. clotted.
packed mass of fire. dry fibre that may
be compared in cOmbustible quality to
carpenters shavings. In early spring
there are strong winds blowing almost all
the time, usually from the south, over
the wide extended prairies. Nothing is
wanted in any sparsely settled region
but spark to kindle these shavings into
a cracking, roaring. rushing, mighty
fire. sending lurid flames and clouds of
black smoke skyward, and sweeping on
before the wind at speed that too often
OutStflpS man anu OeaSt.
Kansas prairies are flat only along the
valleys of the water courses. The uplands
are diversified by hill and dale, bluff and
bottom land. interpersed in many Sec
tons by wooded streams; presenting. al
together. charming picture to the eye
of traveller, especially in the summer
seasons. The same region, under great
prairie fire, if it can be viewed from
some safe and elevated vantage ground,
afford a spectacle seldom surpassed on
land or sea. The fire moves, not uni
fOrmly. but here swiftly. there more
slowly, now covering hill top with Il
sudden blaze of glory, then rising in one
bank of Il stream. advancing, receding.
dying out in places almost as suddenly
as it leaped into existence, starting up
without warning far off in an unexpect-
ed quarter, the inky blackness in the rear
of the gigantic torches standing forth
with kind of frightful distinctness I'M
der the ever shifting gale.
Poets have many times compared the
prairies to the oceans. Under no Ordi-
nary circumstances does that comparison
appear SO striking as when a vast sea of
withered grass is on fire. The noise of
the devouring flames is like what st.
John describes in the ApOcalytical vision,
1.-The noise of many waters The bill
lows of flame rise and fall. The tide of
fire GIBBS and flows. On the burning
prairie, as on the stormy ocean, are eX-
hibited the littleness of man, the limit
full in their fury, sublime in their gran
deur. Alike they bless always. and
curse sometimes. Scientists tell us that
the sea storms keep the waters sweet.
Settlers tell us that the prairie fires en-
rich the virgin soil and clear the way for
the young grass blades to spring forth
and cover the surface of the land with
pasturage for flOcks and herds.
But there is this fundamental differ
ence. The ocean is thing of yesterday.
to-day and Tomorrow. The far stretch
ing expanse of unbrOken prairie. dotted
only by the dwellings of man as ships
dot the sea. is thing of yesterday and
partly of to-day also. but will be gone
after 4 few more tO-mOlrOws. Such
prairie fires as we have tried to describe
are coeval with the buffalo and wild In
dian. The places that know them once
will soon know them no more forever.
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