The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1898-08-06
A SMOKY CONTINENT.
That 70 WhAk North America Has
Been oE Ia&0.


RnsaAs D1siAe ~ 1sesss 0Fs6e
1eeoee y&es-0esAAGo 01GA1o
aAA lns1Asa1s.
Reports continue to come In Of forest
and prairie 6rea In the west The fires
in Montana and later in the north
west have been followed by others In
Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas.
Those who have made q study and
record Of extensive fires on plain and
in forest say that those OF last summer
and this fall are unprecedented In the
history Of this country. The hres
reached from the great lakes to the Par
ciAc. st
A New York Sun reporter who went
west just before the Minnesota disas-
ter passed through . haze OF smoke
that extended clear across the country.
He went from Buffalo to Duluth on
the lakes, and 20 thick was the smoke
that It was necessary frequently to
blow the fog whistle of the steamer
for an hour at time. All the fog
whistles at the lighthouses on the
lakes were kept going night and day.
Near Cleveland the smoke was SO thick
that it was impossible to see more than
the length Of the ship when approach
ing the breakwater. On Lake Superb
or the smoke was so dense that scores
Of birds lost their way and welcomed
the ship - place Of refuge. They
were birds that almost never venture
beyond the forest, and SO exhausted
were they that they were practically
tame. They took crumbs out OF the
hands of the children on board the
vessel, and one beautiful little green
and yellow sonRster, almost rs delicate
- canary, lighted on the head OF the
reporter and rested there for fully hf-
teen minutes, while the reporter re-
mained in conversation with party OF
at least half dozen. It was impossi-
BILE to see the famous Apostle islands
as the ship went by them. and the har-
Dor OF Duluth was in thick haze.
On the way down from Duluth to
Minneapolis the fires were burning
freely in the famous lumber district,
but there was no indication Of the ter
rible disaster that was to overtake
Hinckley the next week. The country
had been so long without rain that
everyone seemed to think that it must
come in . day or two, and there was
little apprehension that anything
more serious than that which had al
ready happened could occur. Travel
ers could see . few hundred feet out
of the car windows, and n night came
on the thin line Of fame eating its
way through the leaves and underbrush
was visible every mile or two.
In St. Paul it was impossible 70 sec
the river and the city itself from the
heights. Out in the wheat country OF
tho Dakotas the haze seemed to lift .
. little, but when the grazing country
Of Montana was reached desolation
seemed to reign. For fifty miles ut .
stretch the plains were black ~ far ~
the eye could see. The cattle had
been driven back 70 the mountains,
the herders said, In some cases for hum
dreds Of miles. The streams OF water
and the little lakes, that arc the saliva
ton of the country for grazing purposes
were dried up. Occasionally there
would be . patch for eight or ten miles
thatNould be unburned, but over the
the mounds in that rolling coun'
try there could be seen the approach
of the fire, and there was no way tc
stop it.
At night the fres were especially
beautiful. The fame was never more
than from six to eight inches high. Oc
casionally 1t ran in q straight line par
allel with the railroad for distance
Of several miles At other times Il
formed crescents and circles up the
slopin9 sides Of some extended knoll
Again there were acute and obtus'
angles, and - the smoke rose ant
filled the mir it made it impossible Il
see clearly for more than . few hun
dred yards.
In the Rocky mountains it was thu
same story. Far up the peaks, close 4
the limit of the wood belt, scores O
fires could be seen burning briskly
where no hunter could have left hi
campfire burning. Some OF the fire.
in the mountains, as well as some o
those on the plains, were undoubtedly
started by locomotive sparks, and som'
were started by the negligence OF nun
ters who had not extinguished thei
campfires on leaving for their sport
hut no one could account for the ire
far up the mountain sides
On the Pacific slope the reporte
found scores Of tourists who ma
changed their routes and given up par
OF their trips because Of the smoke
Seattle was in fog, and the attractiv
Puget sound was as if it did not exist
The sound Of the fog whistles on tn
steamboats, was the only indication
that Seattle was o seaport. ALI salm
ON and other kinds Of fishing was at
standstill. and the citizens were sayinl
that the smoke was most serious los
to the industries OF the place. Dowl
through the beautiful and fertile val
levs Of Oregon the smoke hid the scene
rv. and not until the travellers wer
close under the TANKS OF gloriou
Mount Shasta in upper California
could the towering pile be seen. Al
the Cascade range was hidden, and tn
snnerb peaks, such as Tacoma, Hoo
| and Adams, were as II they had no
been.
Not until the reporter had reaches
| the Selkirk mountains in British 70
lumbia, on his way home. did he tin'
| the atmosphere clear. The hotel keepe
/ at Glacier said that the day that burs
in sulendor over the peaks, on Sunda
~ fhe second week OF September, wa