The Princeton union., 1894-08-02
FOREST E RES RAGE
GREAT DESTRUCTION TN NORTH
WESTERN WISCONSIN

GISEA15 5DESItUGsIION4E ENlf NOkkI1H-
80 WESTERN WISCONSIN.
fh1IIfps, Manufacturin Town
and Mason Arc Entirely Destroyed
nd Other Towns Arc In Danger
Many Lives Probably Lost.
Ashland, Wis, July 2S.-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-
bic to move trains. Phillips, the head
quarters of the John r. Davis Lumber
company, manufacturing town Of 1900
population, is totally destroyed by fire,
and only a few buildings. remain stand
ing.
A dispatch just received from Fifeld,
small station few miles this side of
Phillips, says that 500 women and chill
dreI from Phillips are in the woods there
without shelter. They sent a request for
food as the supply at Fifeld is very
short, but the train that started from
here last evening was obliged to return,
as the bridges are totally destroyed a 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, 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 and the engine
and sixteen loaded cars We're entirely
burned. Both the engineer and fireman
were injured and the brakemen are miss
| ing. The loss on cars and freight is
| many thousand dnllars
! Mason, small town on the Omaha
| line, caught fire to-day. The White River
| Lumber companys mill, with 4O,OO0,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. Railroad officials say
the loss at Mason is fully $1,OOO,OOO,
with $25O,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 flames.
So far no loss of life is reported. The
fire department is carefully guarding the
! outside limits of Ashland. and the city is
rot il any imminent danger. A dispatch
from Hurley states that the town has
been enve!ored in Il dense cloud Of smGke
all day with tirrs on neatly every side.
The mayor and a committee are low
gathering supplies which will be sent to
Eifeld i'll the morning if the train can get
through. the ilames raging between here
and there. DR.. Bartoe, whose family
reside at Phillips, received the following
|. message from Fifeld: 'Your wife and
baby are in the woods near Phillips with
cut food and clotliDg." He is half
crazed with grief, but is unable to send
any help. 1t is feared that many lives
are lost, Us with hundreds Of women
ard children in the woods and fire all
around them, some must surely perish.
. The tannrry and immense numbering con-
Germs at Phillips are among the ruins,
SO that the loss will be appalling. 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 ey erything 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 q walccme rain beg IN
= ! falling, the first in many days, but un
. fortunately lasted only few minutes, SO
that it will not put out fires t. any tx
lent
A freight engine with q caboose has
= Just arrived from Mason, and the worst
', rel orts Of the fire there are confirmed.
- - The town is literally wiped out of ex.
:, lstence. The fire started in the lumber
- yard of the N'Lite River Lumber COM
- pany from sparks from forest fires, an,
= though the 400 employees worked nobl,
~ in defense of their homes, the resistles
flames swept through the town.
IS Hayward, Wis, July 2S.-Bridges "a
L Mason and Forest City have been burned
The wires are down and no definite ii
p formation can be secured. The countr
,e surrounding this town is all on fire, an
Is the smoke is very dense. If no rain fall
soon there is imminent danger to a
towns in this vicinity. A crew is goin
on special train to repair the bridges.
% Twenty-Five People Perish.
~ Ashland, Wis. July 3O.-Millions {
- - dollars Of property destroyed in the tw
es cities of Mason and Phillips ard sever;
~ villages, including Coolridge and Shore
&c Crossing, in ruins; an immense tract
- standing pine in state of desolatio1
~, ~ several freight trains burned to fra,
70 ments, many railroad bridges wrecke
and score or more Of lives lost are son
of the results of the terrible forest frt
a, that so fercely ragged over Northern Wi
of consin. At Philips seventeen person
y - met death in the fire. Most of the deati
e;f We're caused by drowning, but sever;
~ ~ persons met death fl ON the effects of tt
intense heat and smoke. When the fiji
- first struck the town it spread wit
as :mazing rapidity. No one had time
~ secure his personal effects, and when Il
- box factory, in which the water pla,
~ was located, caught fire there was ma
rush by the inhabitants to seek places
safety. Most Of them started for tt
woods, but many of them secured boa
II al d improyised rafts and rushed out in