The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-08-17
IT SHUTS OUT THE Sun
Smoke From the Forest Still
Covers the Landscape.
ALL ARE PRAYING FOR A SHOWER
The sun Mistaken for the Moon in the
Dense Haze-Damage to Logging
Camps and Telegraph Lines.

What is that. the sun or the noon
The question was addressed bv Mayor
Phelps yesterday afternoon TO a friend as
he stood in front Of the city hall. with his
forefinger pointing skyward. The words
were uttered in a tone of such anxious in
quiry that the person addressed thought
the mayor must see a meteor shooting
through the SKY. But on looking along the
executive fingSr he saw nothing but dun
red ball, which really looked like the sun
disguised as the moon.
As the fiery orbit descended toward the
horizon il became less and less distinct,
until II was totally Invisible behind the
great bank of smoke which shuts off the
view CT the Olympic mountains long be-
fore ii sank behind the peaks The for
ests continue to burn and enshroud the
whole landscape with dark curtain, be
clouding the orb of day, and causing doubt
as 10 its identity. even in the mind of such
a sober man as the mayor. The pungent
smoke creeps down the throat and up the
nostrils of the people. and causes the tour
lists TO deny the very existence OF the
glorious mountain ranges which are the
pride of the city Some go so far as 10
say that ii is as bad as a London fog. but
any person who has experienced that yell
low. choking mixture of coal smoke and
sea mist knows better. II is bad enough
to cause every one TO pray for shower.
The blanket wrapped the city closer in
the early hours of yesterday morning than
at any time since the dry spell began, and
il was impossible TO distinguish a tele-
graph pole a block distant. while an
arc light looked like a distant lighthouse
at sea. AS morning broke the clouds
seemed to lift. so that vehicles and pedes-
trians could pillow their way through il
without much difficulty.
But incoming steamboat men saw no inns
provement. and the captain Of a Port
nron l.n1
brought in cargo of some forty tons,
and when his veracity was questioned, on
account of the smallness OF his boat, he
declared that the forty tons was all fog.
The cloud is thickest over Port Wash
ington bay. and Capt. Troutman, Of the
steamer Delta. says that the dangers are
heightened by the swift running tide in
Dyes inlet. Many a duck hunter has been
lost for hours in thick weather i'm those
waters. for even rowbost cannot keeps
its course against the tide without COM
pass. The tug Biz. which took a boom of
logs from Whatcom TO Tacoma, did not
sight a steamer on the whole trip. all
though her managers are accustomed to
keep informed Of her movements by re-
ports from incoming boats. The same
condition prevails along nearly the whole
coast, fer the steamer Walla Walla, which
came from San Francisco yesterday. re-
ports smoke as far south as San Fran
cisco.
Thanks to careful navigation and good
fortune. no serious accidents have occur
red on the Sound, although the music OF
the foghorn continually falls on the ear.
Despite her tortuous passage from Olym-
pa, the Multnomah was but fifteen min
utes late yesterday. However. 1t is neces-
sary for a steamer to keep moving TO
avoid danger. The salmon fishermen find
their movements very much hampered by
~. 81 Of f.a ats arnr
catch has been somewhat affected.
The smoke is so thick over the Skagit
and Samish deltas that it has injured the
oat crop by slightly coloring IT,
Along the railroads many fires are 70.
ported. although no serious accidents have
occurred on the Maple Valley branch
of the Columbia < Puget Sound road the
men of the logging camps have been COM
PEELED to work hard To save their camps.
and much valuable timber has been de-
stroyed. on the line of the Great North
ern the only damage reported is to the
telegraph line some trouble having been
caused i'm that way yesterday. on the
Seattle. Lake Shore & Eastern innumer-
able small fires are reported and much
timber is burning. but the road has not
been injured Around Edmonds the ranch
ers have lost heavily. and IL is reported
that more cedar has been burned than the
mills would have cut in two years.
The West Coast Lumberman throws ont
some comfort in the following paragraphs
while we have been noting a good
may forest fires in Western Washington
during the past few weeks. comparatively
little damage has been done 10 standing
timber. The principal loss falls on shin
gle bolt owners. ranchers shingle and
sawraill owners. But little damage oc-
ours to good green timber by the ordinary
fires that prevail during the dry seasons
on this coast The greatest amount of
timber burned is on the high attitudes
which is often valueless at best on ac-
count OF being inaccessible"