Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1891-05-15

n rohl1oS " IAE bthSiSo AREA.
OF its destructiveness. 10 struck the
little town of Fields, or Fields
siding. on the Chicago & West
Michigan railway, and burned the
Of the lumbermen's families 1t burned
Kinney'A another lumbermen's settle
ment, and also destroyed the Kinney
sawmill near Woodville. bingham
post Office. or Otia. as it was former
~ called. in Newaygo county.
was third victim. and . number
If little places unnamed on the map,
caught from the sparks and were quick
ly swept away. Wednesday 1t was re-
ported that Alton. little town in the
lower end Of Mecosta county, had been
burned and stories ars thick of the I'M
pleasant position of number Of north
ern settlements which are hemmed in
bv the fire lines
The places mentioned above are the
only settlements wholly destroyed in
this old umbering section. but many
others were in peril at one time. Bald
win. In Lake county, was badly scared
after hard fight, and houses were
burned in Nirvana. near by. The
people Of White Cloud, an I'm
portant junction town of Newaygo
county. had hand 70 hand fight with
the Gre no longer ago than Tuesday
night. The town is surrounded with
hemlock and pine forests and here and
there cedar swamp Saturday or
Sunday these were swept into the
train of the onrushing flames
and for hours White Cloud lay
In the center OF . circle of flames.
The smoke was SO dense over the
town that men in the streets were I'M
able 10 see half a block ahead of them
at noon and lamps were lighted ia the
houses. Every man, woman and hoy
in the place was called into service
Bucket origades were organized and
they kept the roofs wet while other
citizens were building the little bon
fires that the Old lumbermen's
years OF forest fre-fghting have
demonstrated as the best posi-
BILE weapons. The town was pro-
tected by these back fires, rs they are
called, till Tuesday night. when the
wind made q shift and drove the flames
north and west The fire In the vicin-
ity of this town. including the counties
OF Newsygo. Mecosta, Osceola and
Lake, has about burned itseif out IL
l. still burning all through these coun-
ties and the smoke lies like q blanket
over the trees. but 10 has little more TO
feed on. and the dying out Of the wind
has largely destroyed its power of mis-
chief.
There is no authentic report ~ loss
Of life in the section thus far. though
there are many rumor& One of these
has II that the crisped body of . man
supposed 20 be n tramp was found In a
strip Of hemlock in Lake county. The
body was said 20 have been pinned by
a falling tree. but the mans name or
the nsighborhood of his death place
could not be learned from the railroad
man who had the story. The people
from ths burned villages named had
plenty Of time 80 escape They lost
what little personal property they
owned. hut that IL not much In q lum-
terman's family. None of them arc
suffering from want The timber com
panies and the people in the saved
towns have done everything necessary
for them.
While the fire 10 burning estimates Of
the loss in detail viii be hard TO ret. A
lamser dealer Of this town put the dam
axe tshrough the stats to standing tim
her and drsssed wood at more than -.
ouo. 600 thus far. and the assertion was
ventu~-d -hss Il would double that sum
n unchecked In the places visited
the loss IL figured IN detail - fol-
lows Newsygo county. 500. 900: Me-
costa county. COCO: Lake eounty.
SIS. ooos osc~oia coanty, $4,000. oceana
county. 60. eco. total for ave counties.
ssos. 100. This IL The estimate If a man
who hss spent great many years in
this section. and u h conservative. IL
it 4. nearly accurate snd the cowutics
I'm which most Of the god pine has
h<ru taken out are damaged over .
quarter Il million. The loss of the np-
Ter tiers where there are vast acres "
uubroken flores. waiting The AZ VIII
Car exceesi ~ 100 COZ.