New-York tribune., 1891-05-26
THE CHICAGO PRAIRIE FIRE.

The whole country Will Jnls morning oonsi"'"
late 5000 inhabitants Of Chicago over their es-
cape from a terrible death. Happily the horrors
of n Johnstown were not repeated in Chicago
bv another element. We have. before this, spoken
Of the dangers of life on the Great Plains of
Chicago which were annexed to the city year
or 50 ago Our readers cannot have forgotten
tho account of the hardships Of man named
Spaulding who was lost on the prairie in the
western mart of the city, or of the thrilling chase
of the mounted police after bank-robbers across
the omen prairie in the southern portion of the
citv Rut these were mere incidents compared
with the latest adventure on the Chicago Plains.
which is nothing less than the narrow escape OF
about 4. 600 persons from fierce prairie fire.
r. appears that these people went out Sunday
afternoon from the more thickly settled portions
of the city around the postofiice, to within sew
eral miles of the city limits TO attend sale Of
building lots at place now called Calumet
Heights. though better known by it's ante-annex-
ation name of Coteau des Prairies. To the south
lies the great Lano Estacado, or Staked Plain,
while it is skirted on the north by Les Mauvalses
Terres. or Bad Lands. comprising the One-hundred-
and-nineteenth and Observation-Disclosures
Wards. The lots which were on sale were cut out
of the Rosebud Butte horse ranch, the land hav-
ing been ceded by the Powder Horn Indians In
1887 II was an ideal day for auction and
the sale proceeded briskly. Prairie dogs chirped
from their hillocks. and little pack of coyotes
lurl(ed near by watching the crowds with curious
interest. A party of Flat Head Indians who had
the day before drawn their rations at the Audi
torium Building were separating their beefsteak
bv the aid of blasting powder on neighborlng
knoll. The auctioneer had just knocked down
corner lot to prominent citizen at $500 per front
Oa1 N driving
tbe prairie dogs off it with his umbrella when a
dozen terror-stricken jack-rabbits dashed through
the crowd from the north. Too well the people
l.new what it meant Instinctively they glanced
TO the north. great cloud of smoke roll
ing ND from that direction. A prairie-fre had
been started in the Bad Lands, probably by some
careless cowboys and in another moment it would
be down upon them. There was wild stampede
for the west fork of the Cheyenne River mile to
the south.
H. was O race for life. The buffalo and blue
Joint grass stood waist deep, and there was stiff
breeze which urged the fire forward at fearful
rate Frightened anteopes, jack-rabbits and other
wild animals plunged among the people, driven
out of their haunts by the flames. Somebody had
presence Of mind enough to send in an alarm of
fire but the nearest engine-house was four miles
away in Ibsen Avenue. Nearer and nearer came
the hot breath of the fire. 1t seemed as If the
people must surely be overtaken by the flames
The auctioneer attempted TO jump on fleeing
Maverick steer, and thus ride TO safety, but he
did not succeed He got occasional bids for the lot
he was selling when the stampede began, for even
fire cannot wholly put down the enterprise of the
Chicago business man; but generally speaking. the
sale dragged. Nearer and nearer came the fire,
but also shorter and shorter became the distance
Ia the river The flames singed the nap from the
silk hats of the buyers, and the flying coat
tails of a member of the Local Directory of the
Worlds Fair were Tapped up by the devouring
element But the people kept on, and just as
the roaring flames seemed 10 shout with glee over
their fendish success the entire company leaped
into the shallow water of the West Fork and waded
across no safety. A moment later PlOw Co.
No. 2l5 and Wet Blanket Co No. $40, of the
Fire Department, dashed up and eXtinguished the
fire. The sale was resumed, considerably better
prices being realized, owing to the Improvement
in the land from the fire having killed or driven
away the prairie dogs, badgers, coyotes and so
forth.
The fire naturally produced great excitement in
Chicago, and anxious friends crowded the tele-
graph Offices downtown to learn particulars The