The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-02-04

ally place where 1t can, and so it
PUSHES on, frequently leaving large I'M
burned Irregular A-shaped places along
the streams or lakes, but leaving the
country black, barren and forbidding.
Ihls fire took over a week to go rath-
er more than 200 miles. This may seem
slow, but several things must be taken
into consideration. In many places the
| grass was short, which necessarily him
dered its progress. There was little or
no wind during the nights, SO it, Of
! course, travelled slowly then. At other
times, when it got among stretches of
blue-joint or other tall grass, 1t, like
any other prairie fire, Travelled at such
, rate that horse, be he ever so fast,
| could not keep ahead The front was,
of course, irregular, and, as usual, it
would frequently happen that two long
advancing arms would join several
miles ahead Of the main line Of flame
and rush onward, forming a new front
and leaving rapidly disappearing is
land of unburned grass behind.
The left of the mighty advancing col
umn Of flame was retarded the second
or third day in passing through the
Bijou hills. Later the right became en-
tangled among the washington hills
and fell behind. 1t finally died out
among the coteaux close to the Mis-
souri, river, in the neighborhood of LIE
Beau and Boise Cache creeks. In fact,
it was the river that stopped it, for had
it not been there, or had the wind got
into the south, it would have swept on
$50 miles further out of Dakota and on
into the British possessions, no one
knows how far. Probably about $4,000
square miles Of prairie was burned over
by this moving sea of fire. About 80
hunters and few families were caught
in that fire and burned to death. Hun
dreds of buffaloes and antelopes were
roasted.
Among the most devastating Of the
last great fires on the plains was one
in 1880. A prairie fire swept down from
British Columbia, across the interna-
tional line into Dakota, until 1t reached
the Northern Pacific railroad. At its
greatest width, in northern Dakota, the
flames were $50 miles wide. Over 10000
square miles were covered by the
sweeping fire.
Every town on the great plains Of the
west, except in communities where the
people are crfninally careless still
takes precautions every autumn
against the possibility of devastation
by prairie fires. Fire breaks are plowed
by the men in the prairie towns every
August ana September. A fire break is
made by blowing few burrows just
outside and entirely around the town.
Further out, say 100 yards,another cir
Gle is made, and then the grass burned
between, This effectually prevents any
hostile fire from taking the community.
1t very frequently happens that this fire
break is constructed after the fire which \
1t is intended to guard against has ap-sI
peared On such occasions, while one |
party goes out with brooms, shovels, I
old grain sacks and other weapons to |
stay the progress Of the fire as much as |
possible, another attaches teams to all |
the plows that can be found and begins |
to make the needed burrows. AS soon
as the burrows are turned back fire be-
tween Is started, and usually the town
Is saved. The fire breaks, simple as they
are, having saved thousands of lives of
settlers in the west, and protected a
vast amount of capital invested in
farming property and homes Of poor
amilies-Colorado Letter in New York
Sun.