The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-09-05
HQ0(C J !
A Horrible Visitation of
Fire in Northern Min
nesssotta.
Fierce Flames Lick Up Every
thing and Everybody in
Their Path.
Several Thriving Villages Are
Wiped Off the Face of
the Earth.
Terrible Tale of the Destruction
Of the Town Of Hinck-
ley.
Sandstone, Mission Creek and
Pokegama Entirely De-
strOyed.

cyclone of wind and fire
swept over thousands OF acres
in northern Minnesota and Wis
consin Saturday afternoon. Hundreds of
acres of combustible material in it's awful
path was swallowed up in flames
The total loss of life will never be defin-
itely known. There We're scattered through
out the woods settlers, clearnss and lum-
Der camps, with their Watchmcn, and
many people We're undoubtedly burned
whose bodies were completely destroyed,
and will never be found.
Minnesota has never known calamity
attended with such loss of life as that
brought by the fire which wiped out
Hinckley, Mission Creek, Sandstone, Sand
stone junction. -Pokegama and the other
settlements in that vicinity. A conserva-
tive estimate places the loss of life at not
less than $780, while many others have
sustained serious INJURIES and unknown
others are among the missing.
To this horror of death in its most hor-
ribe fern must be added the utter desc
lation and restitution that has come upon
thousands of others whose all has been
swept away il the face of impending win
ter
Saturday morning Hinckey was thirty
jng city of 1,200 inhabitants located 70
miles from st. Paul the ST. Paul ana
Duluth railroad. Today it is desert
waste. and all that indicates that it was
once an active business centeris the smoking
ruins, scores of horses wandering aimlessly
about, and hundreds OF persons anxious
bruised and burned searching amidst the
multitude of dead for husbands wives
children and parents. -
The charred unreeognizable remains of
over 200 bodies represent the fatal fury Of
the fierce forest fire at this point alone.
Such in brief is the awful story wired
last night from Rush city by THE TRIB-
UNE special correspondent, who had just
returned from the devastated village.
The walls of heGschool house. the iron
fence about the town hall property, the
bank vault, and one absolutely unnjured
clubhouse is all that is left to mark the
place where Saturday j stood d of
stores buildings and dozen times as
many dwelling houses.
During the past week Hinckley has been
completely enveloped in cloud of smoke
No serious concern was given, however, as
it has been usual thing for forest fires to
rage in and about the place every dry
summer. The great lack of moisture has
made everything like finder, huge pine trees
being as easy prey to the flames as stand
ing straw. Saturday morning brisk south
wind came up and the fire rapidly crept
towards the northwestern part of the city.
The fire department was called out aided
by all able bodied citizens, and for several
hours they managed to keep the flames
from spreading to the buildings. During
this time few thought the city was in actual
danger.
SUDDENLY THE WIND QUICKENED
into a hurricane, swapping ordinary sized
trees as easily as a strong man break
a match, and as this emergency arose the
hose pump broke and all support from this
source was lost. Apparently in a moment
a great volume of flame lurched forth upon
the city and in an inconceivably short time
nearly every building on fire.
So rapidly had the city become enguifed
by the flames that no prepare atoms had been
made for escape. To save property was a
useless attempt. Life was at stake and
every resource that courage could adopt
was taken advantage Of All streets in the
city were swept by the fearful wind, carry
ing along with it brands of fire and smoke
that were sure death to all with whom they
came in contact. Women with their babes
in their arms and little ones crying by
their side persisted in the streets in sight of
their friends, who We're powerless to give
them assistance. Others taken unawares
never LETT their homes while some died on
the threshold of their hearthstones One
of the very first fatalities was that of a
mother who was leading her two children
along the street; a gust of fire encirced
around them, and with searching look
towards heaven the mother fell to earth
and persisted with her darings at her side
In many places whole families were
n,
Some were found with their faces buried
in the gravel of the road bed, having fall
en- as they were escaping. Others again
were in praying position, and were
charred beyond recognition Some, too,
were found with their ,aces covered with
baked clay, they having applied mud to
their exposed parts in the vain hope of
escaping the fire fiend.
THE TOWN WAS BUTH4T OF WOOD
The school house erected last wear at a
Of md ha1
round house We're the only brick struct-
ures in the city BY one of those peculiar
freaks for which there is accounting the
Eastern Minnesota round house and water
tank on the southwestern edge of the town
almost in the woods, escaped the flames
A circumstance. the more remarkable from
the fact that it stood directly in the path
of the flames, which seem to have jumped
it as Clearly as if playing leap-frog.
All Saturday forenoon the towns people
were apprehensive. sThel smoke rolling up
from the south told a story Enthusiastically
plain to those accustomed to a wooded coun-
try The fire kept advancing famed by the
wind, which was blowing a gale. About
IL O'Clock the fire company got out their en-
CINE and laid an 1,S0O-foot line of hose to
the southern outskirts of the town. The
hose was all too short for the measure Of
protection desired and a telegram was sent
to Rush City for more, Five hundred feet
was sent, but it never reached Hinckley.
north fork made by the crossing of the
Duluth and Eastern tracks, the latter to
the east and the former the west On
the west side of the Duluth tracks were
few small houses belonging to the railway
employees. The firemen's attraction was
mainly directed in keeping the fire away
from the main business part of the city.
About O'Clock in the afternoon the fire
literally
JUMPED INTO THE TOWN.
1ts approach was not gradual. 1t did not
eat It's way along. devCuring everything in
It's path, but came in huge leaps, as if to
overtake everything fleeing before it, and
then burned back at it's leisure. 1t is de
scribed by those who witnessed it's onward
progress at Hinckley and elsewhere as if
II We're forced along by cyclones of it's
own generation. The intense heat would
develop veritable whirlwind of flame
that actually twisted off poplar trees several
inches in thickness and carried huge blaz-
ing nre brands high in the air. and carry
ing tnem forward for from 40 to so rods,
there to fall and begin the work of de-
vastation anew
Inc hre first struck Hnckley on the east
SIDE OF the Duluth track and the brave fire