The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1894-08-02
FOREST FIRES RAGE
GREAT DESTRUCTION IN NORTH.
WESTERN WISCONSIN.
Phillips, a Manufacturing Town
and Mason Are Entirely Destroyed
nd Other Towns Are I'm Danger
Many Lives Probably Lost.

and Mason Are Entirely Destroyed
nd Other Towns Are fn Danger
Many Lives Probably Lost.
Ashland, Wis, July 28.-Forest fires
are producing vast suffering and less
through this vicinity, and the railroad
companies have never before experienced
such damage by fires.
On the Wisconsin Central it is impossi-
ble TO move trains. Phillips, the head
quarters Of the John X. Davis Lumber
company, manufacturing town of 1900
population, is totally destroyed by fire,
and only few buildings remain stand
ing.
A dispatch just received from Fifeld,
small station a few miles this side of
Phillips, says that 500 women and chill
dreL from Phillips are in the woods there
without shelter. They sent request for
food, as the supply at Fiield is very
short, but the train that started from
here last evening was obliged to return,
as the bridges are totally destroyed few
miles south. Communication with FL
field is now shut off and it is feared that
the town is also on fire. Along the Oma-
ha line fires ragged with terrible ferceness
Shores Crossing, a little village eight
miles west of Ashland, was destroyed to-
day. Not building remains standing,
and the homeless families were brought
to Ashland. The railroad bridges near
there were destroyed and fast Omaha
freight train was ditched aud the engine
anal sixteen loaded cars were entirely
burned. Both the engineer and fireman
were injured and the brakemen are miss
ing. The loss on cars and freight is
many thousand dpllars
Mason, a small town on the Omaha
line, caught fire to-day. The White River
Lumber company's mill, with 100000
feet of lumber in the yards, was de-
stroyed. The entire town was threatened.
The Omaha bridge across White river at
Mason is burned. Railrosd officials say
the loss at Mason is fully $1,000, 600,
with $250,000 Insurance. The mill be-
ionged to the Weyerhauser syndicate.
Homesteaders in outlying districts are
all fleeing into 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
outside limits of Ashland. and the city is
cot in any imminent danger. A dispatch
from Hurley states that the town h 5
been enve!apcd in dense cloud Of smyke
all day with fires ON neatly every sile.
The mayor and a committee are low
gathering supplies which will be sent tc
Eiheld iii the morning if the train can get
through the flames raging between here
end there. DR.. Bartoe, whose family
reside at Phillips. received the following
message from Fifeld: "Your wife aud
baby are in the woods near Phillips with
out food and clotl ing" He is half
crazed with grief, but is unable to send
any help. 1t is feared that many lives
are lost, as with hundreds of women
ard children in the v,ods and fire all
around them, some must surely perish
The tanncry and immense numbering con-
Germs at Phillips are among the ruins,
so that the loss will be sppalling The
Central passenger, due here from Mil
waukee, is at Chelsea, unable TO pass
Phillips The Omaha freight train de-
stroycd near Shores Crossing was loaded
with wheat. A wrecking crew is now at
work, but the only part of the train will
be the engine. The fire came upon Shores
Crossing with terrible rapidity, and
many residents there lost everything they
possessed. Not structure of any kind
remains staEding. A dozen bridges on
the Omaha line have been burned, and
railroad men say it will take two weeks
to rebuild the one destroyed at Mason.
At 10 o'clock a welcome rain teg IN
falling, the first in many days, but un.
fortunately lasted only few minutes, 50
that it will not put out fires 10 any ex-
tent. 80.
A freight engine with eaboese has
just arrived from Mason, and the worst
rel orts of the fire there are confirmed.
The town is literally wiped out of ex-
istence. The fire started in the lumber
yard of the WLite River Lumber COM
pany from sparks from forest fires, and
though the 400 employees worked nobly
i'll defense of their homes, the resistless
flames swept through the town.
Hayward, Wis, July 2S.-Bridges ut
Mason and Forest City have been burned.
The wires are down and no definite in.
formation can be secured. The country
surrounding this town is all on fire, and
the smoke is very dense. If no rain falls
soon there is imminent danger to all
towns in this vicinity. A crew is goins
On special train to repair the bridges.
Twenty-Five People Perish.
Ashland, Wis, July 3O.-Millions OF
dollars of property destroyed in the TIVE
cities of Mason and Phillips ard several
villages, including Coolridge and Shores
Crossing, in ruins; an immense tract of
standing pine in state of desolation:
several freight trains burned to frag.
ments, many railroad bridges wrecked
and score or more of lives lost are some
of the results of the terrible forest fires
ho} So
consin. At Philips seventeen persons
met death in the fire. Most of the deaths
were caused by drowning, but several
persons met death flom the effects of the
intense heat and smoke. When the fire
first struck the town it spread with
imazing rapidity. No one had time to
secure his personal effe, is, and when the
box factory, in which the water plant
was located, caught fire there was a mad
rush by the inhabita1 is to seek places of
safety. Most of them started for the
werls, but many of them Sc, lred boats
nj lmrrovised r"fts and rushed out into
the millpond. 1t was upon these people
in boats and RATS that the storm c. fame
bent its greatest fury. The pond 5 hut
small one, and though the boats We're
in the center, the livi,s einders fell on
every side, burning the boats to the
water's edge and forcing those unable to
swim t. seek wattry grave,
Those who escaped by oling.ng to pieces
of drift wood say the cries of their COM
panions as they fell back exhausted and
overcome by the heat and smoke were
heartrending. One family consisting of
husband, wife and six children, entered
a floating boat house and pushed away
from shore. They were unable to man.
age the awkward box and flames reached
out from the burning buildings on the
ahore and 1t was quickly burned, the un-
fortunate occupants being literally roast
ed alive. 1t was terrible sight, and no
one could help them. Every one was in
tent on saving his own life The flames
advanced with the roar of cyclone in