Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1891-09-26
FIGHTING THU FIRES
Prairies and Forests in the North
west Still Burning.
ANGRY FLAMES FIND HUNsy PREF
Pa rnaers and Villagers Have Had , ar !
Work 10 save Their Lives and Home.
From Destruetton--Hsasy Lossss
sustained by Many.


which were expected to quench the
forest fires have not reached eastern
Minnesota, and the awful confsagration
Is still going on for 100 miles along the
border. j. A. Westley. who has large
contracts for government surveying,
came Ia from the upper Mississippi by
way of the Duluth road and reports
terrible devastation along the line.
He says hundreds of cattle are
burned and many horpesteads destroyed.
The train on which he came down
teen men, women and children. settlers
who had barely escaped with their
lives. Unless heavy rains fall at once
all the little villages and homesteads
along the St Paul & Duluth for 90
miles will be burned. There is no
doubt, he says, that many human lives
are lost and expensive logging outfits
burned The country along the Lake
division OF the Eastern Minnesota, par
ticularly south OF Hinclxley, is suffer
ing heavily. The country is generally
sparsely settled, but the railroad has
large forces of rsea at various points at
work in an effort to save their prop
erty and check the flames. The colony
of the Mile Laos Lumber Company,
near Miiacca, has been fighting FIRE for
two days, and still the danger is not
averted. Oak Park. on the ST. Cloud
and Hinckley branch of the Great
Northern, is reported in great danger
and it viii be miraculous il it escapes
destruction
AS to the losses in the vicinity of
Hinckley no reliable estimate can yet
be given. A. J. Lamihers has lost four
lumber camps and the Brennan Lum-
Der Company lo-cs three. a man came
in Thursday night and reported all the
region between here and the lake
burned over. Shullenberg & Berldaw
lumber Company have had about 10. 900,
600 feet of standing pine burned, Lamb
& Son, $4,000, 900 feet and Brennan
probably so, 600, 600. Just what the loss
on this viii be cannot be discovered
until it is possible to enter the woods
and make an examination. 1t will,
however, be not less than one-third,
and may possibly, owing to the ex-
IRENE dryness of the lumber, go as
high as one-half of the whole amount.
WEYAUwEoA, Wis, Sept. 25.-The
fire along the Wolf river is raging ter
ribly, and the seanding timber is one
mass of flames, which is sweeping
everything before it. A number of
farulhouscs are threatened, and there
is no possible chance to save them.
Fred and Herman Middlestadt were at
work on the marsh with team when the
marsh burned, and they have net been
seen since 7. Bozile and a boy were
at work near them and had very mar
row escape, running two horses 1T the
top OF their speed to get out of the
fiery furnace, and it is thought the
Middlestadts persisted in the fire. A
body of men has left this village to find
them or recover their bodies. The loss
of hay and timber is inestimable at this
time. Nothing but a drenching rain
can now stop the destruction OF prop
erty.
NEENAH. Wis, Sept. 25.-At 8 o'clock
p. m. Thursday dense clouds of smoke
arose from point Is miles to west
ward which rapidly increased in vol
ume Later messengers arrived here
stating that Rat river marsh, near
Medina junction, and containing hun
dreds of acres, was all afiame Others
arriving from Waupaca state that
wide strips % fire prevail near that
| city and along the Wolf river The
total burning area is estimated at
500 acres and hay and grain are perish
ing in great quantity. Trains are de-
layed by both smoke and fire, while
the natural heat, ranging from 90 to
| 95 degrees in the shade, adds to the
distress. The fires are supposed to have
caught from sparks thrown out by pass
ing engines Owing to an excessive
drought of many weeks the grass was
easily ignited
ASHLAND, Wis, Sept. 25.-Rcports
from down the line of the Omaha road
state that the forest fires are rapidly
advancing and eating up everything
before them Homestcaders sur
rounded by a wilderness of woods
are being burned out and ar
irving in town tell OF niiracu-
lous escapes from being burned
| to death. The high winds have
been effective in spreading the fires.
! To add to the discontinue of excessive
| heat Ashland is filed with smoke and
navigation is seriously impaired on
Chequamegon bay owing to its density.
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