Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-09-07
HUNDREDS BURNED.
DEATH AND DESTRUCTION IN
THE FOREST FIRES.
aIany Towns Burned and at Least 900
Lives Lost IN the Roaring Sea of Flame
Which Spread over Michigan, Mime
sofa and Wisconsin.

The forest fires which have prevailed
in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin
have at last taken the long expected
turn and as a result scores of towns
have been badly burned number
completely destroyed-and hundreds
of people have been burned to death,
while terrible want and suffering
have been spread over the regions
afflicted.
Pine City, Mimi: Minnesota has
never known a calamity attended with
such loss of life as that brought by
the fire which wiped out Hincklcy,
Mission Creek, Sandstone, Sandstone
Junction, Poilegama and the other set
Elements in that vicinity. conserva-
tive estimate places the loss Of life at
not less than $50, while many others
have sustained serious injuries and un-
known others are among the missing.
TO this horror Of death in its most hor-
ribie form must be added the utter
dcsolation and dCstitution that has
come upon thousands OF persons whose
all has been swept away in the face of
impending winter. The generous in
stincts of a generous people have been
reused and adequate measures of relief
are under way.
The town Of Hinckley, about half
way between st. Paul and Duluth,
have been wiped out by forest fires
and the list of dead may reach 400. 1t
will certainly exceed 200 and the re-
ports now being received would indi-
cate that the larger figure may not be
too great. The walls of the school
house, the iron fence about the town
hall property. the bank vault and one
absolutely uninjured clubhouse, are all
that is left to mark the site of Hinch-
Icy where stood score of store build
ings, and a dozen times rs many dwell
ing houses. Several men escaped from
train which was burned near Hinck-
ley and reached st. Paul on a hand
car. The other passengers fled along
/ the burning track 10 Pokcgama
station. Several were overcome and
fell by the side of the track and were
soon consumed. The situation of the
residents was extremely pitiable. The
men had been fighting the fire for
| hours and the women and children
were in a panicstriken condition.
| Probably 200 of them left town on foot
or in vehicles, plunging into the woods
! to the north across the Grindstone
! river which skirts the town on the
! north. They were literally fleeing be-
! fore the pursuing demon of fire.
! Over the hill that rises beyond the
! Grindstone is a swamp, and to this
most of the people with teams headed,
! but il proved no protection. The fire
! gave them no opportunity TO go fur
| Their. Some abandoned their teams
and ran into the lower por-
tions of the mOrGss, but the
fire sought them out. Not one was
| left to tell the tale. and there in a
space Of little more than four or five
acres were found over 1870 corpSes.
| There were many families, the men
! generally little in the lead the
mother surrounded by her little ones.
cut off by the most terrible of deaths.
Those who fed to the north on foot,
! followed the Duluth track and so rapid
was the progress of the flames that
many of them were actually burned as
they fed Nearly 30 bodies were re-
covered along the track. Some of the
! foremost met the Duluth train coming
in from the north. Engineer Jim
! Root was at the throttle. lie stopped
the train and took on board about l25
of the refugees who crowded into the
train, completely filling it. BY this
time the woods were blazing on each
side OF the track, and as Root reversed
his engine and started back the cars
scorched and cracked in the heat
Root ran the train back about three
miles 70 Skunk Lake, and the people
escaped from the burning cars to the
water and no lives were lost either of
| passengers or refugees.
All that remains of what was once
the prosperous village of Sandstone is
the small shack used by the Sandstone
company for an Office. The situation
here was even more appalling than at
| HincEley, except in point of numbers.
Of the 200 people in the town one
| fourth are dead. Otto Stafferfeld
reached IT. Paul from that place. lie
says the people were just preparing to
leave when the fire closed in on three
sides and not a single person saved "a
thing except his clothing. About 100
went 10 the river and 80 or 60 were
burned 20 death. lie saw over 40 dead
bodies, charrcd and burned, lying on
every side. In addition TO - bodies at
Sandstone there are 20 at Kettle River
junction. All the settlers in the
vicinity are probably burned To death.
O'Neil Bros. had II camps in the woods
there, and all these are burned. Most
of the inmates. however. are believed
to have escaped with their lives. phere
are II horaeless families at Mission
Creek and many at other small points.
Later reports place the number of
dead at Hinckiyy at 200. The St. Paul
Pioneer Press correspondent actually
counted -. The totals are as follows:
Hinckley, 200; Sandstone, 90; Miller, ID;
between Skunk Lake and Miller, ~;
Pokegama, 2S; in lumber camps and
scattering, estimate, 80; total, 364
The Atlantic Record Lowered.
u,hn C,,rn-.l In, oArn. $3.50. C.,...... :. L.