Albuquerque weekly citizen. (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1891-19??, 1894-12-15
A SMOKY CONTINENT.
That Ia What North America IIaa
Boon Of I.ato.
>otes ~ . Traveller Who Cro..~d ~ the
faein, During tire Recent 8reat
For~st iir-s -tsnEr sights
and Incidents.

N'l'i W l.I l' wv TT. Nv N'Nl ! Ilt ll'N
an Montana Hul .N',r u ~, north
west have n.,,u fll.,.I los others ~
',nnr,>., k,uu.ks anil Nrbru.a,
...r Vup ht,r mrN, study mud
~. .rl ~ oNtcu..,, ir,e nu plain amt
~ '.u..' .n1 that tho. - last summer
nnd th,r t.. are. unprecedented In the
history ~ th. country The fires
coached from ia, great lakes tu the Ia.
,nt
\ Sew york. sun rcppr,rr who went
west just l-f.r, 'hr Minnesota di,n,.
'.r passed Through haly ~ smoke
that cN,,uurd clear across thr country
llr went from luiIalu a. Duluth on
the iahr~. and su thrk was the smukr
that u wa, necessary frequently L.
blow the fug whistle ~ the steamer
'lr an hour ~ a time. All the frg
whistles nj the lighthouses uu the
nl,rs were kept going ught aud day
Scar Z l,,rlHud the smul,r was ~ thick
that II wa. impossible tu $50 more than
'rr length - thr ship when approach.
my the hrrAkWntrr ca Lake ~up"ri.
~ the smoke was ~ dense that SCORES
- birds lost their way aud welcomed
'hc ship n place - r, Tug" They
We're lurH, that almost never venture
n,lrni the forest. AMI ~ exhausted
were they that they were practically
tame They tpuk crumbs out ~ TIA"
hands ~ the children uu nvnrd the
vessel and one beautiful little green
md yellow >uugstrr almost a. delicate
~ n canary. lighted GA the head ~ th"
rrpnrt,r and rested there Tor FULLY ~
teen minutes. while the reporter re-.
manned ~ conversation with "a part, Z
AZ least halfa dozen II wa imIrr,~i.
h,r To- >rr the famous Apostle islands
o. thr ship went 10y them. AMI the har.
l-,r ~ Duluth was ina thick haze
ca the way down from Duluth To-
Minneapolis the fires were hurni"s
freely ia IA" famous Iumlsr district
hat there was ~ indication ~ the ter.
rihlr disaster that was t. rvcr'akr
lljucklry thc next week. tn" country
had l-cn 80 long withuu, rain that
everyone seemed ,u think that II must
come ia day or two, and there WAS
little apprehension that anything
more scriuu, than that which had al.
ready happened could pcur, Travel.
crs could see few hundred feet out
~ the ear windows, aud ~ night came
ON the thin line ~ flame eating its
way through the leaves and undcrbrush
was visible every mile ar two.
Ia IT Paul IL was impossible Ia see
the river aud the city itself from the
heights cut In the wheat country -
the Dakotas the haze seemed e. III n
little, hut when the grazing country
Of Montana was reached drSulatinn
seemed To- reign. For iifty miles at n
stretch the plains were black n far as
the eye could see. The cattle had
hcrn driven back t. the mountains,
the hcrdcrS said, IN some eases for hun
drrds - miles The streams ~ water
and the little lakes, that are the saliva
tion ot the country for grazing purposes,
mere dried up Occasionally there
wnulG lie patch for right or ten miles
that would hc unhurncd, but over the
the mounds in that rolling cuun-
try there could bc seen the approach
~ the fire, and there was no way u
stop II,
Al night the fires were especially
beautiful The flame was never more
than from xix e. eight inches high. H..
caslunally !, ran in II Ntrnigh, lin" par
allrl with the railroad fora distance
- several miles. NJ other times It
formed crrsc"n,N and circles up the
looping sides ~ some extended knoll.
again there were ncut" and ultuS,'
angles, and n the smoke rose aud
filled the air IL made II impossible t.
see clearly for more than frw hun
drrd yards.
In the Rncky mountains IL was the
same story Far up the peaks close t.
III" limit ~ the wood belt. scores -
fires could he seen burning hriokly.
where me- hunter could have left his
campfire burning Some ~ the fires
in the mountains, A. we'll ~ some ~
thu>c on the plains, were und, uhtrdly
started hy locomotive sparks. and some
were started 10y the negligence ~ hun.
,crS who had not rNtInguiShrd their
camptirrs I'm leaving for their sport,
but ne one could account for the fires
far up the mountain sides.
ON the Pacific slope the rrpurt.r
found scorcs ~ tourists who had
changed their routes and given up part
"f their trips because ~ the smoke
seattle was in fog, aud the nttractiv.
Puget sound was as II it did not exist
The sound ~ the fog whistles on the
steamboats, was the only indication
that seattle was n seaport All salIn-
On and other kinds ~ fishing was at n
s,andstill. and the citizens wrrS saving
that the smoke was most serious loss
"a the industries ~ the place Down
through the beautiful and fertile val.
lryA 81 Oregon the smoke hid the scene
ry, and not until the travellers were
close under the TANKS ~ glorious
Mount shasta in upper California,
could the towering pile he seen. All
the Cascade range was hidden, and the
superb peaks, such as Tacoma, Hood
and Adams, were As IL they had not
hcn,
Not until the reporter had reached
the S"lkirk mountains in british Co.
lumhiu, on his way home, did he find
the atmosphere clear, The hotel keeper
~ Glacier said that the day that hurst
ia Nplcndur over tn" peaks. on SUNDAY
~ the second week II September. was
the first perfectly clrur day that had
hccn seen there Tor two months, and a.
Field, on the eastern slope of the an.
adian rockies, the railroad official told
ia" same story. Travellers, railroad
men and weather experts all along the
r'u'" that the rcpurtcr went over
united in sal ing that probably such an
cNtcnsl'c band ~ smoke never hiurc
hung over the continent l, practical
w reached from the Atlantic To the
racihc for at least Nix weeks.