Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1898-10-08
DEATH IN A
SEA. OF FLAMES
Wisconsin Forest Fires Continue
and Many Lives Are
Lost.
TOWNS AND VILLAGES DESTROYER
eventy-Fivs Families at Turtle
Lake Are Burned Out Of
House and Home.
TOWNS AND VILLAGES DESTROYER
WIRES DOWN AND REPORTS FEW
Reports From Colorado Also state
That the Fire IL Doing Dam
age In That Part Of h
Country.

st. Paul, Oct. 3.-Thc forest fires
which have been burning in the vari-
Gus places throughout western Wis
consin for the past few days were
famed into n furious storm of flame
by Yesterdays winds and did great
damage through Chippewa, Barron
Dunn. st. Croix and Pollock counties.
A general destruction of telegraph
wires makes the reports very incom-
plete, but il seems that the villages OF
Clayton, Alamena and Portland have
been wholly or partly destroyed, that
Cumberland has suffered heavy losses,
and that Glenwood. Barron, Prentice,
Phillips and Turtle Lake have been
threatened and only saved by great ell
forts. Reports of loss Of life are com
ing in, but have not been verified. eN-
cept in one instance. \ railroad bridge
and t~restle over roo feet long on the
500 line west Of Barron were burned
last night and the trains on that road
are running from Turtle AXE TO
Spooner and thence to Cameron.
Associated Press reports from vari-
Gus points indicate hat the fires have
been checked in places by rains n
the subsistence of the winds. y rough
estimate places the aggregate loss ut
not less than 81, 100000 to $1,000 600
Families Left Dcstitutr.
Madison, Wis.,, Oct. Ex-Governor
Scofield today received u telegram
from j. II. Bunker, president Of the
village of Turtle Lake, Wis, saying
hat seventy-fiye famil. IS are left des-
titute there ms IA result OF the forest
fires, and asking aid. 1t is feared here
that this dispatch is only an indication
Of appeals which will be received from
other points in northern Wisconsin
when communications are restored.
Fires Nearly hhntcd.
st. Paul, Oct. "a Rice Lake, Wis.,,
special To the Pioneer Press says:
The forest fires in this vicinity are
nearly abated, but great damage has
been wrought for miles west of the
city. The body of Nels Nelson. n
farmer, was found today horribly
burned.
In the locality west OF the city
teams hitched TO wagons can be found
burned to death along the road. The
highways for miles are literally COW
cred with dead animals. The fires
seem to travel in great paths ranging
from one-half TO four miles in width.
The losses farther west have been
greater than anywhere in this vicin-
ity. II is estimated the losses in Bar
ron, Washburn and Sawyer counties is
at least 81, SOC. 600. Lumbermen north
of this city have suffered heavy losses
by the fires. The city of Cumberland,
this county. suffered heavily. The
Beaver Dam Lumber company of that
place lost their big saw and planning
mills, lumber yards and nearly fifty
dwellings. Cumberlard's loss will
reach fully $1,000
People have been driven from their
homes without saving any of their
household effects and with pothing
but the clothing they had on Fully
fifty farmers have lost everything and
are left destitute in this vicinity. II IN
estimated that fully 10000 tons Of
hay, besides grain, other products and
farm machinery, has been destroyed.
Colorado Swept by Flames
Denver, Oct. Reports from the
western portion Of the state continue
to tell of the ravages of the forest fires
which bid fair TO devastate the greater
of the forests of the state. \ spc-
cial from Glenwood Springs, the cen
ter Of the burning district says:
The fires in the mountains near here
have taken fresh life today owing to
high winds.
The fire east of Glenwood Springs is
fortunately in an unsettled portion of
the county and aside from the i'm
mense loss by the burning Of the tim
Der, no loss has occurred up to the
present time.
The stock on the range, as far as
heard from. has escaped the fire.