Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-08-10
'TWlXTFLAME ANDFLOOD
FOREST FIRES DESTROY POP
ULOUS WISCONSIN TOWNS.

Driven In Panic From Ihe1r homes,
Citizens of Phillips Rush for
Safety to Lake-Nearly a Score
of Lives Lost-A Sea of Flame in
the Lumber Region.
Forest fires ragged over a wide area in
Northern Wisconsin and wiped out the town
of Phillips, driving citizens headlong into
the lake. Nearly a score were burned or
drowned, and 5000 were made homeless.
A dispatch from Ashland, Wis, gave the
following particulars Northern Wisconsin
is being swept by the worst forest fires In
the history of the State. The losses already
amount to millions OF dollars, and unless
rain falls speedily this sum will be vastly
increased.
Reports indicate that several toms have
been burned within a radius Of hundred
miles OF Ashland. To the south, Phillips,
the county seat of Price County, thriving
town of three thousand inhabitants, has
been wiped out. Taylor County, directly
south of Price, Is being laid waste, and
Shores Crossing has been destroyed.
To the southwest of Ashland, Mason,
busy town of bayfield, County, has been
burned, while in Forest and Langlade Coun-
ties the flames are making destructive
progress.
It is reported that twenty persons lost
their lives in Phillips. 1t IS said that when
| the UameS swept over the Town nduy per-
sons tried to save their valuablcs and house
hold effects, and fingered so long in the ef-
| fort as to be cut off from every avenue Of es-
| cape except a small lake formed by the
! widening of the river. They then rushed to
| the lake, and while some succeeded In es-
| Gaping, twenty are reported to have been
| drowned.
Five hundred women and children from
| Phillips are in the woods near Fif1eld, the
next town, without food or shelter. re-
QUESTION for supplies was sent from Mil
! Waukee, Wis. It is feared many persons
have persisted in the woods, as with the fire
| burning all around them there Is no chance
! for the women and children to escape.
| The number who have lost their lives will
probably never be known. The list of dead
| whose bodies have been recovered is as fol-
| lows: Mrs. David Byrden and her two chill
dren, Frank Cliss and child, James Locke
and three children, Charles Planter, burned
| to death.
hole has literally been burned in the
! ground over territory one a half miles
long and q half mile wide. and the saw
dust, which is all of four feet thick, Is
| still burning, sending clouds of smoke
over the city to sttf1e the few residents
who have returned and are engaged
| In putting up temporary sheds for the pro-
lection of their wives and families. In the
| woods around the city the people have
| erected tents to shelter them until such time
as the crude houses which they are building
will be ready.
Appeals for aid to fight the fire were COM
ing in ali day. Relieftrains were despatched,
but in nearly every instance they encoun-
tered burned bridges and were forced to re-
turn. Being walled in by the flames it was
| practically impossible to get assistance to
the towns franticaly asking for it. Cut off
| from all outside succor, rains were the only
source of relief The woods are dry and the
flames sweep through them.
There were only three brick buildings In
Phillips, the rest being constructed of wood.
The lumber industry was the main source or
wealth and prosperity to the inhabitants:
They hewed an open space In the forest and
bailt wooden town. Baked for weeks by
a blazing sun, it fell an easy prey to the
flames that swept up to its edges through
the forest.
When the box factory burned the boiler
exploded and shook the entire town. An eX-
plosion of powder and dynamite occurred
when the lumber company's hardware store
burned. 1t is estimated that twenty million
feet of sawed lumber was destroyed.
The John R. Davis Lumber Company sus-
tanned the heaviest loss, as its plant was val
ued at 100000. A big tannery, several
churches, the Court House, the Wisconsin
Central Railroad station, the public school
and all the business and dwelling houses are
In ruins. A dozen bridges on the Omaha
line have been burned and it will take weeks
to rebuild them.
The littletown of Mason, with its big lun
Der mills was wiped out, with a loss OF near
ly 81, 100000. The fire started in the lum
Der yards of the White River Lumber Com
pany,
The fire came upon Shores Crossing will
terrible rapidity and residents there los
everything they possessed.
A freight engine with caboose arrived
from Mason, and the worst reports of fir
there are confirmed. Inc town Is uteraIl!
wiped out of existence.
Superintendent Collins, of the Wisconsin
Central Railroad, said In the morning that al
the news there was from Prentice, the hrs
station next south of Phillips, was that tht
town was gone. AS the wind had changee
and decreased in violence, the prospect wa
that 1urther progress OF the forest IRE:
would be stopped.
In various cities throughout the Stat
steps were being taken to send relief to th'
sufferers. Provisions, food and money viii
be forwarded.
as follows: Phillips Is wholly wiped out
Mason is practically destroyed, with th'
White River Lumber Company and 10000,
600 feet OF lumber; the headquarter
OF the Ashland H, Lumber COMPANY Comps
Oear Shores Crosslns' sin 'oaae. are gone no1;t.t
ing of sixteen cars and locomo
tive, was burned, having broken throug
the bridge near Ashland Junction ;the camp
of the Thompson Lumber Company ar
burned at White River, along with tw
bridges on the main line of the Omaho Ral
road and two bridges on the Wisconsin Gen
trails main line, south Of Ashland.
The damage to timber and logs scat
tered through the woods, to indiv1dua
homesteaders, houses and other prop
erty, to cut cord-wood, ETC., will swe
the general damage to appalling figures
Several parties Of berry-pickers frol
Ashland narrowly escaped with the
lives. and it is almost certain that SON
of the lone homesteaders through the timbe
perished, unless they in some proyidenti'
manner escaped through the suffocatin