River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1891-05-14
AWFUL DEVASTATION.
Tremendous Area in Michigan and
Other States Swept by Forest Fires.

Tremendous Area in Michigan and
Other States Swept by Forest Fires.
DETROIT, Mich, May l2.-The hoped
for security from Sunday nights rain
did not materialize for the panic-strick-
en- inhabitants of the burned district
Some idea of the enormty of the fire
district can be gained from the fact
that almost any two of the doz-
en- counties now filled with fire
is as large as the whole
state of Rhode Island The Toledo,
Ann Arbor & Northern Michigan rail-
road has been obliged to abandon all
attempts to run ears north of the Clare
county line A freight train and crew
had a narrow escape from cremation
Monday morning. The ties in many
places were so badly burned that the
rails spread when the train went over.
Three of the train men had
badly blistered faces. The wind
shifted late Sunday night and drove
the battle line of fire To the south
0ceana counties. Cooks station and
Barton, both in the line of the fire,
have not been heard from and are sup
posed to be destroyed. The sparks
struck barn in Lilly early Monday
morning and shortly after set fire to
three other buildings. The 200 people
did all in their power to stop the
flames but were unable to save any
thing. Every building is now in ashes
Everything in Park City, another pine
woods town, has gone, the people losing
everything. The railroad fences and
track from Park City to 0tia or
Duigrian station is said to be gone, and
0tia, village of 800 inhabitants, is
known to be wiped out West Troy,
few miles north of Otia,
has been environed by fire since early
Monday morning and is supposed to be
in ashes. Reports from Cadillac, Wex-
ford county, state that the inhabitants
of all the villages in the county have
been out fighting fire for the past
three days and many of the
smaller places are wiped off
the face of the earth. Where
Nivarna and Fremont on the
Flint & Pere Marquette road once stood
there is nothing now but piles of ashes.
The village of Lake has not been heard
from since its last appeal for help Sun
day. Seas of fire are sweeping through
the woods near Red Cloud, Newaygo
county, while more than 100 miles away
across the state the little hamlet of
Taft is in a gulf of flame. Monitor, in
Wexford county, above Cadillac, is cut
off from communication with the out
side world. The latest news from
Traverse City is to the effect that the
entire population is out fighting fire.
Millions upon millions of logs are
burning all over the center of the
state, and at last reports 0sterhout &
Fox's S25O,0 plant and lumber yard
was on fire.
IN PENNSYLVANIA.
PITTSBURGH, Pa, May 12.-News has
been received here through Erie rail
way trainmen of the destructive work
done by a peculiar forest fire near
Randolph, Cattaraugus county, on the
western division Of the Erie. The fire
started in a large tract Of old bark,
where the dead hemlock, felled
and standing, afforded material
on which it fed and spread with fear
full rapidity. Millions of feet of lumber
and thousands of cords of bark were dc
stroyed in short time. The Allegheny
Lumber Company alone lost 20,00O,00O
feet of lumber and between 5000 and
20 900 cords of bark. This will be a
money loss of between Sl50,0O0 and
$500, 900 with no insurance. Smaller
concerns in the burned district
lost in proportion, the total loss being
estimated at over $500, 900 within an
area of few miles
IN WISCONSIN.
MILWAUKEE, Wis, May 12.-Evening
News specials show that the total dam
age done by the north Wisconsin forest
fires was nearly $500, OOO.