The Democratic advocate., 1894-08-04
SWEPT BY FIRE.
Towns Destroyed and Railroad Trains
Stopped in the Northwest.

Ashland, Wis, says: Forest fires are
producing great suffering and loss through
out this vicinity, and railroad companies
have never before experienced such dam
age from fires.
On the Wisconsin Central road it is
impossible to move trains. Phillips, the
headquarters of the John r. Davis Lum-
ber Company, manufacturing town of
1000 people, is totally destroyed by fire
and only a few buildings remain standing.
A dispatch just received from Fifield
says that five hundred women and children
from Phillips are in the woods there with
out shelter They sent request for food
and supplies, as the supply at Fifeld is
very short. The train that started from
here this evening was obliged to return, as
bridges are totally destroyed few miles
south. Communication with Fifeld is now
shut off and it is feared that town is also
on fire.
Along the Omaha line the fires are raging
with terrible ferceness. Shores Crossing,
a little village, was destroyed this after
noon; not a building remains standing and
the homeless families were brought to Ash
land. The railroad bridge near there was
destroyed, and at o'clock this afternoon
a fast Omaha freight and sixteen loaded
cars were entirely burned. Both the en-
gineer and fireman were injured and the
brakemen are missing. Loss to cars and
freight many thousands of dollars.
Mason, on the Omaha line, caught fire
at two o'clock. The White River Lumber
Companys mill, with forty million feet of
lumber in the yards, was destroyed, and at
six o'clock, the latest report received here
says, the entire town was destroyed The
Omaha bridge across the White river at
Mason is burned Railroad officials say
the loss at Mason is fully a million dollars,
with $3.50, 900 insurance.
Homesteaders in the outlying districts
are fleeing to the nearest towns, leaving
their homes to the fury of the flames. So
far no loss of life is reported. The fire
department is carefully guarding the out
side limits of Ashland, and the city is not
in any immediate danger.
Ed. Ensign, prominent lumberman,
telegraphed to the mayor here from Fifeld
for "bread and meat to be sent down at
once. There are 500 women and children
between Fifeld and Phillips without food
and the fire raging fercely around them.
1t is feared that many lives are lost, as
with the hundreds of women and children
in the woods and fire all around them,
some must perish.
News from Hurley states that town has
been enveloped in a dense cloud Of smoke
all day, with fires on nearly every side.
A disastrous blaze started last night near
Lower Brule Agency, S. D., burning over
1000 acres and destroying valuable hay
stacks. 1t is still burning, headed toward
Rosebud Agency.
Another fire near Pierre, caused by
lightning, resultedin the death Of one man,
several horses and destruction of large
amount of hay.
HOT WAVE IN THE NORTHWEST.
ST.. PAUL, MINI, July 27.-Today has
been nearly duplicate of yesterday as re-
CARDS temperature throughout the North
west, but promises are now for cooler
weather and already drop is reported
from Montana and Dakota points.
In addition to injury to grain the intense
heat has dried up the prairie grass to an
extent that the least spark from passing
locomotives causes serious fires.
Forest fires have nearly destroyed all the
timber in SLOGAN county, Canada East,
during the last ten days. The towns of
Three Forks and Watson have been burned,
and George V. Hughes, as contractor and
mine owner, lost $4,000 besides horses,
wagons, harness, &c.
Great damage has been done by the
forest fires in the northern counties OF
Wisconsin and on the Mesaba range. The
600. foot bridge of the Northern Pacific
Railroad across the Amnicon river has
been entirely destroyed, and it will take at
least week to replace it.
THE LATEST.
At least 10 people have lost their lives
and over 81 $50, 900 above insurance has
been destroyed.
1t is a remarkable coincidence that all of
the terrible fires in Northern Wisconsin
have occurred July %. 1t was on July
u, 1892, that Iron River, in the extreme
northern part of Wisconsin, was totally
wiped out by the flames and all the State
responded promptly to the call for aid.
Fifeld, another saw-mill town, was almost
totally wiped out by fire July q, 1893,
and now comes the total destruction Of
Phillips on Friday, July q, 1894, and
possibly longer.
Briefly summarized, the fires have burned
as follows The city of Phillips is entirely
wiped out; the city of Mason is practically
destroyed, with the White River Lumber
Company and 30,000,000 feet of lumber;
Headquarters of the Ashland Lumber Com
pany, near Shores Crossing, is entirely
wiped out; special train on the Omaha
Railroad, consisting Of sixteen cars and the
locomotive, were all burned, having broken
through the bridge near Ashland Junction;
the camps of the Thompson Lumber Com
pany are burned at White River; two
bridges on the main line of the Omaha
Railroad and two bridges on the Wisconsin
Central Railroad, both on the main line
south of Ashland.
OSHKOSH, Wis, July 29.-The lumber
district on the east side of the river was
with total destruction by fire
yesterday. The loss was confined to about
six million feet of dry lumber and five
tenement houses. The Stanhilber and
Amos Company loses $4,000, fully in
sured, and the Diamond Match Company
$500 only partially insured.
MINNEAPOLIS, MINI, July 29.-A
special from Washburn, Wis, says:
"Forest fires in this section have proven
very disastrous. The Omaha Railroad
bridge, five miles south of this place, was
burned last evening. A special freight
train, northbound, ran into the burning
bridge, and the engine and sixteen cars
were completely destroyed. The screw
escaped. At Shore Crossing, a logging
camp, six miles south of here, every thing
has heen demolished.