The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-09-03
THE FOREST ABLAZE.
Fire Sweeps Along the Sno-
qualmie and Skykomish.
SETTLERS DRIVEN FROM CABINS.
Planes Dsvour Many square Milss ~
Tfmbsr-wellingsonI IL Burned
Several Bridges Lost

A great forest fire has been raging Tor
the last three days all through the upper
snoqualmie country and on the upper end
of the Skykomish valley and the summit
of Stevens pass. destroying vast bodies Of
timber. several cabins, county and railroad
bridges and the whole village of yelling.
ton, at the west foot of the Great Northern
switehback.
The fire in the Snoqualmie valley started
on Thursday, according to c. Z. Plimpton,
who came down from the scene yesterday.
1t broke out at the eastern end OF SallA
prairie, and, feeding on dry ferns, grass
and brush as it advanced. spread on all
sides, but chiefly westward and north
ward. generally following the river.
and keeping between it and the
Lake Shore railroad. Il continued all
that night. Friday and yesterday.
and was still burning last night. The dry
ferns and brush made IL particularly hot
and fierce and il swept within a quarter OF
a mile of North Bend, making the heat
unbearable aud sending scorching gusts OF
wind before it. 1t burned over sections
10, 3. IL and IA. in township %. range Z
east. which are in the valley and sur
rounding hills, and destroyed two county
bridges over the river.
The flames had reached the ranch OF q
rancher known as Fritz, near North Bend.
and would soon have destroyed his cabin
when its progress was stayed. A party OF
men went out from the town and fought
the fire back with buckets and by building
counter fires until they had cut it off and
saved Fritz place. In their course the
flames had burned q barn and several tons
nf hau AL 81 70 &, VA
badly scorched his crops and orchard.
The trail between Preston and Kenny's
mines was blocked by fallen trees and fire
for two miles, and A. Reck aud T. Ander-
son were driven from their homes and
went TO Fall City for refuge, the smoke
settling so thickly around their homes
that they had a narrow escape from sufto-
cation. Miss Susie Cook, the teacher at
the Echo lake school, who was at Ander-
sons. went to Monohon to get out of
the smoke, but will return on Monday.
The cabins of l.. w. Gore and A. l.. Ruth
erford were burned and many others have
probably shared the same fate. Further
along the south fork fires are raging and
the wagon road over the pass 10 blocked
and many teams are delayed near the
summit. o. d. Guilfoils logging camp
and skid roads were damaged to the
amount of 81, 600.
North of the town of North Bend the
same havoc is being wrought. The flames
broke out in the scrub timber and brush
on the side of Mount ST, and at night they
could be seen leaping from one patch of
timber and brush to another. They extend
far in the north and middle forks of the
river. and Timothy Niles, who came down
yesterday from the middle fork to Snoqual-
ME, said that that valley had been swept
for ten miles and that at least 60. 900 900
feet of cedar alone had been destroyed.
Hugh Cameron, a rancher ten miles north,
only escaped by digging hole in the
ground and crawling into il.
The fires seem to extend all through the
rugged ranges between the Snoqualmie
and the Skykomish, for even more alarm
ing reports come from near the summit of
the Great Northern railroad. Fires are
raging right across the main divide, and
on Thursday night the whole of the little
town of Wellington, at the west
foot Of the switchback, was destroyed.
Bridge No. II, the first east of the summit
on the switchback, was edrned. and pas
sengers have had to be transferred both
yesterday and Friday, causing a delay OF
three hours in their arrival here. This
bridge was 200 feet long and about thirty
feet high. The fire spreads all over the
main range and some distance down the
Skvkomish valley.
Fires are also burning in the down Sound
country, and they came so near Beileville,
three mile north of Burlington, that some
| freight cars which stood on the sidetrack
there were hauled away to avoid danger.