Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1894-08-02
FOREST FIRES RAGE
GREAT DESTRUCTION III N""
WESTERN WISCONSIN.
, Manufacturing Town
.na MASON Are Entirely Destrose"
-, o,ber Towns Are In Danger
Many Lives Probably LOST

Ashland, Wis, July 2S.-Forest hres
ore nroducing vast suffering anu Nes
throryb this vicinity, and the fairoau
con,nonies have never before experlei ceo
such damage by fires.
I'm tb, Wisconsin Central it Is impossi-
lie n move trains. Phillips, the hedu-
quarters of the John X DAVIS un
comnany. a manufacturing town OF %,oVo
nonnlation. is totally destroyed py ure'
and only a few buildings remain stahu-
ing. ou Ei6e,d n
A dispatch just received from L men,
s,,ou station a few miles this slde Oh
phillips. saws that 500 women ana chh-
drer. from Phillips are in the woods there
without shelter. They sent a request :.
food, as the supply at Fiteld Is very
short but the train that started irolh
here last evening was obliged to RETURN
as the bridges are totally destroyed a lew
miles south. Communication with FL
field is now shut off and it is feared mat
the town is also on fire. Along the Oma-
ha line fires ragged with terrible herceness.
Shores Crossing, a little village elsh'
miles west of Ashland, was destroyed To-
dav. Not a building remains stahdlhs,
and the homeless families were brought
10 Ashland. The railroad bridges near
. lire were DESTROYED and a fast Omaha
freight train was ditched and the engine
and sixteen loaded cars were entrely
burned. Both the engineer and brennan
were injured and the brakemen are miss
ing. The loss on cars and freight Is
many thousand dollars
Mason. a small toNn on the Omaha
line. caught fire to-day. The White Rive
Lumber conpany's mill, with 4O,UOo,ooo
feet of lumber in the yards, was de-
stroyed. The entire town was threatened.
The Omaha bridge across White river at
Mason is burned. Railro6d officials say
the loss at Mason is fully Sl,OO0,UOO,
with S25O.OOO Insurance. The mill be-
longed to the Weyerhauser syndicate.
Homesteaders in outlying districts are
all fleeing into the nearest towns, leaving
their homes to the fury of the names.
So far no loss of life is reported. The
fire department is carefully guarding the
outside limits of Ashland, and the city IS
rot in any imminent danger. A dispatch
from Hurley states that the tow n 7
been envc! 'rcd in a dense cloud Of smoke
all day with fires on neally every side.
The mayor and a committee are low
gathering supplies which will be sent &c
Fifeld ill the morning if the train can gf1
through, the flames raging between here
end there. DR.. Bartoe, whose family
reside at Phillips, received the f"llowin!
message from Fifeld: Your wife nnt
baby are in the wood near Phillips with
out food and clotl ing" fie is half
crazed with grief, but is unable 10 sent
any help. 1t is feared that many 1--we
are lost, as with hundreds of womel
ard children in the W. DDS and fire 81
! around them, some must surely perish
The tannrry and immense numbering con
; Germs at Phillips arc among the ruins
so that the loss will be appalling. Tn
l Central passenger, due here from Mi
waukee, is at Chelsea, unable TO pas
Phillips. The Omaha freight train do
strUycd near Shores Crossing was loade
y with wheat. A wrecking crew is now q
work, but the only part of the train WI
be the engine. The fire came upon Shore
= Crossing with terrible rapidity, al
8 many residents there lost everything the
: possessed. Not a structure of any kiG
:, remains starding. A DOZEN bridges c
. the Omaha line have been burned, al
!. railroad men say it will take two weel
- to rebuild the one destroyed at Mason.
= At 10 o'clock n welcome rain Reg
- falling, the first in many days, but u
fortunately lasted Only Il few minutrs,
- that it will uCt put out fires to any {
% tent.
A freight engine with a caboose h
just arrived from Mason, and the wor
:, rel orts of the fire there are confrme
~ The town is literally wiped out Of G
% istence. The fire started in the lumb
yrrd of the Willie River Lumber col
:. pany from sparks from forest fires, al
- though the 400 employees worked mob
in defense of their homes, the ~resistle
flames swept through the town.
s. Hayward, Wis, July 2S.-Bridges
" Mason and Forest City have been burnt
IN The wires are down and no definite
OF formation can be secured. The count
;" surrounding this tow is all on fire, Il
D. the smoke is very dense. If no rain ia
w soon there is imminent danger to
III towns in this vicinity. A crew is goi
on a special train to repair the bridges