The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1894-09-11

Why They Have Been SO Destruc-
tive to Life and Property.

e tons existing in the forest regions
y. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michiga
y TO understand how there could be sue
y wholesale destruction of human life
a i reported by the fires which al
!, sweeping over those localities. 1t
e not strange, therefore, that many pei
Y sons are disposed to question the col
E r'etness Of reports stating that hun
: dreds and perhaps thousands OF live
5 have been lost in these holocaust,
2 says the Chicago Herald.
As matter of fact, there is NJ
reason to believe that the report. bav
! been in the least exaggerated. Inde,C
: graphic and thrilling as the report
have been, it is doubtful if they hav,
done full justice to the situation
Many OF the heart-rending scenes have
probably been beyond power of &C.
curate description. To understand
how the destruction could become SC
general. and especially how the death
list could reach such appalling proper
lons, 1t is necessary that the reader
should be informed as TO the conci
tons existing iu the localities visited
by the fires.
In the regions named lumber is the
only Industry. The entire population,
except the few tradesmen in the towns
and villages, is made up OF woodchor-
pers, teamsters and mill hands. The
forests come close up to the edges of
the towns and villages. The build
ings are all of wood. The roads and
streets are made of ''slabs" and saw
dust. The forests are filled with dead
timber and a dense underbrush which.
scorched by the fierce summer hea' .
has become as dry as finder.
In a word, the whole country closely
resembles vast "tinder-box." The
long drouth which has prevailed this
year has rendered everything highly
infiamable. 1t has even converted the
sawdust in the thoroughfares into a
powder which will burn as readily
almost as gunpowder The water in
many OF the sloughs and swamps has
disappeared. The heat and dryness
OF the atmosphere are so oppressive as
to make the visitor, unfamiliar with
such conditions, almost marvel that
spontaneous combustion does not at
once begin.
In dry season like the present for
est fires can not be prevented. The
lanes sweep over thousands of acres.
consuming everything in their path /
lnd creating volumes of dense smoke
Which settles over the whole country
Ike pail. The smoke, the dust the
depressing atmosphere, the dry, hot
Winds and the insufficiency of water
educe many of the townspeople and
Images to a condition of physical .
elPlessness and misery even before
ne death-dealing flames invade their
ONES.
When the fire attacks town or vii
lge there,is no way to impede its pro-
Tess. There is frequently no water !,
nd almost always not enough water
18th which to fight the flames. Their.
nothing for the people to do but to
oandon their burning domiclIes and
lere is no place to which they can fly
icept to the swamps. These are
ten not accessible, or if reached at \
J, are found to be beds of fire. The
lab"roads are quickly converted into
acks of glowing Goals. The very
nth itself seems to be burning
undreds of the people die of suffoca-
IN. Others fall, through the wear- =
ss superinduced by thirst, hunger, A
'eplessness and anxiety, to become
ctims OF the relentless destroyer that
lows close behind. The real won
+ is not that so many victims perish
t that any of the Threatened ones
cape.
From the aShes'of these fires will w
me new prosperity. They mark
end of the lumber in the devasta- GU
region, tor they denude the land m,
forests. The people who return to pu
'se scenes of desolation and the new
tiers will devote themselves to ag- -
ulture. housekeeping" and dog u
lg" will give way to tine cultivation IA
corn and wheat. In the short space ~
a few years these vast acres, now ssI
'ered with flame and ashes and the IN
fred bones or blackened bodies of M
man beings, will be divided into ~
ms which will yield rich returns He
the care and labor of their owners AA-
louisville Times. -