The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-08-15
'TVIXTFLAME AND FLOOD.
FOREST FIRES DESTROY POP
ULOUS WISCONSIN TOWNS.

Citizens Of Phillips Rush for
Safety to Lake-Nearly a Score
of Lives Lost-A Sea of Flame in
the Lumber Region.
Forest fires ragged over a wide area in
Northern Wisconsin and wiped out the town
Of Phillips, driving citizens headlong into
the lake. Nearly a score were burned or
drowned, and 5000 we're made homeless.
A dispatch from Ashland, Wis. gave the
following particulars Northern Wisconsin
is being swept by tie worst forest fires in
the history of the State. The losses already
amount to millions of dollars. and unless
rain falls speedily this sum will be vastly
increased.
Reports in'icate that several towns have
been burned within a radius OF hundred
miles OF Ashland. To the south, Phillips.
the county seat Of Price County, a thriving
town OF three thousand inhabitants. has
been wiped out. Taylor County, directly
south o: Price. Is being laid waste, and
Shores Crossing has been destroyed.
To the southwest OF Ashland, Mason, q
busy town OF Bayfield, County, has been
burned, while in Forest and Langlade Coun-
ties the flames are making destructive
progress.
It Is reported that twenty persons lost
their lives In Phillips. It Is said that when
the flames swept over the town many per-
sons tried to save their valuabes and house
hold effects, and fingered so long In the et-
fort ast be cut of from every avenue Of es-
cape except small lake formed by the
widening OF the river. They then rushed to
the lake, and while some succeeded In es-
Gaping, twenty are reported to huye been
drowned.
Five hundred women and children from
Phillips are IN the woods near Flfleld, the
next town. without food or shelter. A re-
QUESTION for supplies was sent from Mil
waukee, Wis. 1t is feared many persons
have perished in the woods, as with the fire
burning all around them there is no chance
for the women and children to escape.
The number who have lost their lives will
probably never be known. The list OF dead
lows: Mrs. David Byrden and her two chill
dren. Frank Cliss and child. James Locke
and three children, Charles P flantzer, burned
to death.
Z hole has literally been burned in the
ground over territory one a half miles
long and half mile wide. and the saw
dust, which is all OF four feet thick, Is
still burning, sending clouds OF smoke
over the city to stife the few residents
who have returned and are engaged
in putting up temporary sheds for the pro-
tection OF their wives and families. In the
woods around the city the people have
as the crude houses which they are building
will be ready.
Appeals ior aid to fight the fire were COM
Ing In ali day. Relieftrains were despatched,
but in nearly every instance they encoun-
tered burned bridges and we're forced to re-
turn. Being walled in by the flames 1t was
practically impossible to get assistance to
the towns frantically asking for 1t. Cut of
from all outside succor, rains were the only
source OF relief. The woods are dry and the
flames sweep through them.
There were only three brick buildings In
Phillips, the rest being constructed OF wood.
The lumber industry was the main source OF
wealth and prosperity to the inhabitants.
They hewed an open space In the forest and
built wooden town. Baked for weeks by
a blazing sun, It fell an easy prey to the
flames that swept up to its edges through
the forest.
When the box factory burned the boile-
exploded and shook the entire town. An e1-
plosion Of powder and dynamite occurred
when the lumber companys hardware store
burned. It Is estimated that twenty million
feet of sawed lumber was destroyed.
tanned the heaviest Loss, as Its plant was val
ued at $50O,OO0. A big tannery. several
churches, the Court House, the Wisconsin
Central Railroad station, the public school
and all the business and dwelling houses are
In ruins. A dozen bridges on the Omaha
line have been burned and 1t will take weeks
to rebuild them.
The littietown Of Mason, with Its big lun-
! ber mills was wiped out, wltk loss OF near
ly 81, 600, 900. The fire started IN the !um-
Der yards OF the Write River Lumber Com
pany.
The fire came upon Shores Crossing with
terrible rapidity and residents there lost
everything they possessed.
A freight engine with a caboose arrived
from Mason, and the worst reports OF fire
| there are confirmed. The town Is literally
| wiped out of existence.
Superintendent Collins, OF the Wisconsin
| Central Railroad, said In the morning that all
| the news there was from Prentice, the first
station next south OF Phillips, was that the
town Was gone. As the wind had changed
and decreased in violence, the prospect was
mat lurther progress OF the forest hres
would be stopped.
In various cities throughout the State
steps were being taken to send relief to the
/ sufferers. Provisions, food and money will
be forwarded.
Briefly summarized, the fires have burned
as follows: Phillips Is wholly wiped out )
Mason Is practically destroyed, with the
White River Lumber Company and O.Ooo,-
600 feet OF lumber; the headquarters
Of the Ashland Lumber Company,
near Shores Crossing, are gone; q
! special train on the Omaha, consist
Ing OF sixteen cars and locomo-
tive, was burned. having broken through
the bridge near Ashland Junction ;the camps
OF the Thompson Lumber Company are
burned at White River, along with two
bridges on the main line OF the Omaho Rail-
road and two bridges on the Wisconsin Gen.
trails main line, south OF Ashland.
The damage to timber and logs scat
tered through the woods, to Individual
homesteaders, houses and other prop.
erty, to cut cord-wood, etc., will swell
] the general damage to appalling figures.
| Several parties OF berry-pickers from
Ashland narrowly escaped with their
| lives, and 1t Is almost certain that some
| of the lone homesteaders through the timper
| perished unless they in some providentia
manner escaped through the suffocatine
a,,,o opd cnnnCa