Omaha daily bee., 1895-06-05
RAGING MASSES OF FLAMES
Northwestern Pennsylvania Being Swept
by Terrible Destruction.
WHOLE FORESTS CONSUMED BY FIRE
Entire villages Wiped Away and Their In
habitants Compelled to Abandon
Their aomes and Flee for
Their Lives.

experienced number Of destructive forest
fires, but those Of Sunday and yesterday
surpass them all. The fire at Russell City
last night was one that drove terror to the
hearts of the 500 people who inhabt the
place. At 10 o'clock a brisk west wind
sprang up and famed the burning under
brush and hemlock timber into one solid
mass of fire, covering a stretch of three
miles in width The people, who were about
| exhausted from fighting the flames for the
| past three days, were foced to flee for their
! lives. The flames spread so rapidly that
the people had to leave everything and run
! to the clearing two miles distant to High
land corners. Women with children in their
arms, shrieking and bemoaning their fate,
ran and stumbled as they escaped from the
! fire. Many women fell exhausted and were
trampled on, but reached high land in safety.
| Nothing Is left of the once bustling little
place. The fire is still burning fercely among
the oil wells. The Northern Oil company has
twenty oil wells and number of tanks burn
ing at this place now, and there is no abate-
ment to the fury Of the flames 1t Is I'M
possible to estimate the loss.
| The woods leading to Ciark's mills are
one mass of flames on both sides OF the
| road, and how the people who live along the
road could have escaped is beyond compre-
hension. There IS no communication of any
description with this place and no news
obtalnable from there, but there Is no doubt
of everything having been burned in the
path of the fire, as there was no protection
of any kind.
EVERYBODY FIGHTING FIRE.
Every available man is out fighting fire
and there are not half enough There is
fire in every direction and all efforts to
check it's progress seem futile. Coon Kun,
three miles from Russell City, which was
| INyi a1 prla
obliterated from the face of the earth and
nothing remains to show that there was
ever such place as Coon Run The place
consisted of twenty-seven buildings, pump
station, schoolhouse and saw mill A. b.
Fowler, superintendent of the Northern com
pany, says while he and his men were at
work "backfiring" a stiff breeze from the
west came up like magic and in less time
than it takes to tell it the fire was upon
them. They ran to the town and aroused
the people to fee for their lives. Men
women and children made a wild race for
the railway track, distance of five miles
while the flames played havoc with all their
belongings, and the Northern company lost
forty oil wells at this place and large num-
ber OF new rigs that had been built for new
wells. About twenty-five tanks of oil were
consumed and lent energy to the flames
The Elk Oil company Is also a heavy loser
The pipe lines lost both their pump stations
with a quantity of crude OIL The loss will
be very great. No estimates can be made
until the fire abates.
The fire at West Kane, which threatened
, the destruction Of that place, is now under
control The damage done was the burning
; of nine oil well rigs owned by the Griffith
l estate, one engine house and one dwelling
house The fire reported at Knapps creel
is still raging and has done lrage amount
of damage The fire has spread to Bell!
camp and thirty-fve oil wells are now or
fire.
Reports from Duke Center state that tht
' entire valley is on fire, and the loss to OF
and lumber men will be immense. Kansas
Branch RXford, Davis City, Summit City
I Dallas City, Oil Valley, Limestone, Stat
Line, Derrick City, and Red Rock are all il
it, and unless rain falls soon there Is NJ
A telling what the result will be. The sky Il
black with smoke and the mountains are in
visible on all sides, and the heat is intense
Not an able man be found, and call
( for men come from every direction. Mel
/ are still fighting the fire at Degolia, and ap
parently have 1t under control. Nothing ha
e been learned from West Branch, where
brisk fire is burning. Everything at Suga
Run including saw mills and dwellings, wer
o burned, and nothing remains of the place.
The fire at Brookston is still burning
. fercely and there is no prospect Of checking
the spread of the flames. 1t is impossible t.
get men, and consequently the fires max
rapid headway.
> rain this afternoon quenched the fires in thi
e vicinity and everything is quiet tonight
t Knapp's Creek N. Y, the town that wa
r threatened with destruction last night, es
capped with a loss of three dwellings an
| fifteen oil we'll rigs and two tanks of OIL BE
! | tween Dull and Center and Knapp's Cree
. 200 rigs were destroyed, together with
: large amount of standing timber The o.
+ fire at West Branch, two miles from here
= | was extinguished by the rain, and a
fires in that direction are under control tc
night The total loss throughout the field
estimated at 81 100000
Russell CITY, Pa June 4.-Rain cam
at 6 o'clock this evening and is still pourin
J. down in torrents. The fires in the woods ar
g out and there is no further danger in thi
. | vicinity. The damage to lumber and o
| property is enormous, over 5000 acres Of va
e liable timber and 500, 900 worth of oil prof.
I | erty having been destroyed.