St. Paul daily globe., 1893-06-22
THE ROASTED RANGE.
Two Men From the MeSaba
Iron Country Tell Of
the Fire.
Towns Touched by the Hot
Blast We're Practically at
It's Mercy.
Mining Machinery Not the
Least Part of the None
tapy Loss.
Rebuilding to Begin Immedi-
ately and on a Substan-
tial Basis.

s.This blessed rain is worth $50
minute to almost every man in my sec
tion if it Is falling up there in the same
volume it is here" The speaker was
Richard Downey. a resident of the
Mesaba range. Like all new settle
ments. and good many old ones, for
that matter" he continued, 1--WE were
utterly liable to cope with anything like
a large fire. At Virginia City, for
instance, there is splendid lake and a
small waterworks system; but when
the pillows of fire came rolling in
from the surrounding forest there
was no possible chance to stay
their progress. OF course, the flames
were temporarily checked by inces-
SAINT and herculean effort. but only to
begin afresh in some other spot. The
men up in that country are hardy, fear
less and resourceful. Yet it was like
attempting to lower a lake with pail
to think of arresting the sweep OF the
fire tiend as he charged in almost solid
column ON the frame structures Whlch
constituted the town.
ut was an extremely fortunate cir
cumstance that Lon Merritt'S depot
building was out of the range of the
u.
come from the Mesaba range as would
stir the pity of the world. While
seemingly unintentional. everything
has been done with well-conceived
design by the builders of the Duluth,
MisSabe 81 Northern, and the towns
along its line. This is shown by the
results of this great fire. Virginia City
itself was built Oh parallel streets run
ming from the forest towards the lake.
Only by blowing from one certain dlrec-
ton could the wind carry fire through
ii. Unfortunately that was the way it
blew, and little remains of the town.
Mountain Iron is located III
far more. dangerous position, al
most completely surrounded by
timber. and there is heavy
belt between the town and the railroad
track | shall not be surprised if Mount
ain Iron is wiped out by the fire which
is now being so stubbornly fought by
the residents, unless. as L said before,
this rain aids the fire fighters and ena-
bles them to rest and recuDerate after
the terrible struggle they have already
experienced.
lin che immediate vicinity of Virginia
City are many OF the best mining prop
critics Oh the range-the Minnewas,
Mesaba Mountain, Lone Jack, the Ohio
claim and several others. AS yet there
is comparatively little machinery there,
which is fortunate for the owners, who
will suffer very heavily, even as it is.
The Lone Jack was fitted up with costly
hosting apparatus and protective stock
ade. All this is destroyed. as it stood.
right in an opening which had been
cleared. but was covered with stump.
age, dry brush, fallen trees and prepared
tn
property, practically in virgin
state, SO that the loss to eX-Goy. Camp.
| bell's syndicate will not be hundredth
part of thatsustaind by the MerilttS and
others. The rich MinnewaS is equipped
with complete machinery for elevatlng
the ore, and there are also at this mine
well-built camp buildings, as well as a.
| substantial trestle OH which cars were.
run up to receive their loads from tue
dumping platform. By freak of the
| fire. little or no damage was done to this
| property. Several mines Immediately
adjacent to the Minnewas were entirely
dismantled by the fire.
..Will the people rebuild? Why, of
course they will. Never say die is the
| slogan up there. Such thing as de-
| feat, or lying down under misfortune,
| is never thought OF for moment. And
| perhaps, after all, it is fortunate thing
| that this baptism of fire has come at
this time, before any very substantial
| buildings have been erected. The lesson
| learned by bitter experience will be re-
membered for years, and from the ruins
of poorly constructed shanties will rise
| good, substantial towns. One encOurag-
| ing feature of the case is the fact that
| there is lumber of all kinds at hand in
unlimited quantities. There are saw
mills at Mountain Iron and Virginia
which have been unable to supply the
demand heretofore. Now they will
| nave to hustle more than ever to turn
out material for new buildings. Never
yet did wind blow which prof
| feel assured that the saWmill men
| will not be the only ones to reap benefit
from the fire. Much has been said
about the lawless classes turning them
selves loose to do mischief since the
| trouble began; but there is good deal
of eXaggeratiOn in those stories. Like
all other new places, the MeSaba range
is frequented by some tough people,
] but the law-abidiug classes are vastly
| in the majority. Even on Sunday,
when all the men are idle and the
saloons wide open, you will find little
OF no lawlessneSS. The coolers are
wooden shacks that look aS II they
could be kicked over, but the men who
are charged with the preservation of
the peace cannot be trifled with, and
the bad mem know it,"
+t+
Druggist 81. A. Sodinger, of Virginia.
| the big mining town of the Mesaba
range, which has just been burned out,
was in st. Paul yesterday for the pur-
| pose of buying new stock OF goods.
| He is not cast down by the setback. and
reports that all parties concerned are
proceeding to rebuild as rapidly as they
| can secure material. I'm region
where business is so good and prospects
afford to sit down and bemoan the visi-
tations of fate. While the loss is un.
questionably heavy and will bear very
| hard on some, every one is full of the
spirit of victory, and Will not succumb
even to this seemingly crushing blow.
| We will soon be rebuilt better than
ever, and the task of recouping our
losses will be tackeled with hopefulness
and vim."
"Uncle Charley'' McEwen. who rep
resented Renyille county in the last
legislature. VIZ in the city yesterday.
Although Sc ty-lhree years of age.
Mr.. McEweu is robust. cheerful and
generally well preserved. He opines,
with sly droop of the eyelid, that this
is probably owing to the fact that he has
always liked good preserves. "Uncle
Charley was the ''serious joker of the
last house, and when he rose to speak,
at infrequent intervals, every member
held his breath so that he could
laugh all the harder. The old
man has been up to Dakota to see
son vino settled UP there some years
ago. mo, that country did not surprise
me- y said he in answer to an innlirY