Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1894-09-07
The Hazy Weather.
The Weather Bureau Says II is Caused by
Forest Fires--RemarIsabIeP Phenomena
of this Kind.

The Weather Bureau Says n Is Caused by
Forest Fires--RemarItnbIeP Phenomena
of this Kind.
A Washington despatch says: "The pc
culiar haze which has been noticeable in
the sky all over the country for the last
week or so has been a matter of great in
terest to meteorologists, and many expert
ments have been going on in different OBJ
servatores of the country to determine its
cause and nature. The weather bureau
officials have been making observations of
this phenomenon, and the opinions of two
of the professors of meteorology were given
to a press reporter. Professor Henry A.
Hazen said, in part:
''This is what may be called the Indian
summer dry haze. just what is the cause
of it, it is little difficult to determine.
Similar conditions have been noticed in the
past, notably on the Dark day. in 1871,
which was due to a dense condition of the
atmosphere probably caused by smoke.
In 1881 there was another dark day.
known as yellow day which extended
from New England to Virginia on the At
lantic coast. In 1871 the smoke was so
dense that many persons thought the day
of judgment had come. In 1881 the gas
was lighted in the streets of Boston at mid
udNs w ullc IL WAS uOJ 50 udIk mere Ill
Washington, still the haze was very dense.
The conditions east of the Mississippi river
are unquestionably due to forest fires, just
as in 1881 and 1881. The forest fires this
year have been much more serious than
common, owing to the drouth that has eX-
listed.
Professor Cleveland Able, who has made
a special research into this smoke phenome-
non, said, in substance:
early in July began to receive reports
of forest fires and large areas of smoke in
Minnesota, Wisconsin and upper Michigan.
Since then reports have come from lower
Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania.
There is every reason to believe that all of
the smoke haze which now covers the
country is the result of the diffusion of
smoke of burning forests and crops. This
| smoke from forest and prairie fires is diff
J fused perceptibly to greater distance than
many people would imagine possible. About
the time of the great Chicago fire there
were also extensive forest fires, whose
smoke was carried rapidly and directly
eastward, and within two weeks time was
reported by numerous vessels in con-
! tinuous series from our Atlantic coast more
than half way over to Africa.
"In 1888 the great eruption of the vol
canic Kishatao, in the East Indies, belched
up into the upper atmosphere an immense
amount of dust and aqueous vapor. OBJ
servers throughout the world reported the
spread Of this layer of vapor and haze, and
in the course of six months or so it had be-
come visible over the whole northern hemis-
phere. The particles of aqueous vapor
were so uniform and so small that they
floated in the air for two years, if not long
er, and produced the remarkable blood
red sunsets which astonished all the civil
lied and terrified the uncivilized portion of
the world. The present advent of smoky
haze will not produce brilliant red sunsets,
probably. because of the presence of various
sorts of particles or dust. But it has in a
general way added reddish tint to the
ordinary sunset and sunrise"
Great Forest Fires Of Other Years.
The most destructive forest fires in the
history of the country, so far, at least, as
loss of human life is concerned, were those
which swept over Wisconsin and Michigan
in October, 1871, the month of the great
fire in Chicago. Two thousand persons
persisted in the flames, and immense dam
age to property resulted from the wide
spread CONGREGATIONS. The fires burst
forth in a hundred widely separated places
at the same time. The northern part of
Wisconsin and the western and central
parts of Michigan formed what has ever
since been known as the burned district
although many scattered fires ravaged the
country outside of these regions. The
woodland burned over consisted of vast
stretches of pine and hemlock, dotted with
numbering camps, and cleared settlements.
Relief funds were promptly started in the
East, and large sums were forwarded for
the care of the sufferers. Again in Sep
TENDER, 1881, the long-continued drouth
in Michigan resulted in furious forest fires,
principally in Huron and Sanilac counties,
in which about 300 persons lost their lives,
while 10, 900 were left homeless and help
less save for the aid which quickly poured
in upon them from the relief committees
of the various cities of the country.