The evening times., 1900-09-18
PRAIRIE FIRE CLUBS
Organizations Once of Much Value In
The W est.
(From he Chicago Inter Ocean.) }

! reckon there are few people living
in this part of the country who ever heard
Of prairie fire clubs" said a Western an.
the subject having been suggested Dy the
burning OF lot OF rubbish on a scow. 4
doubt II such things were ever known in
the East In fact. they went out of exist
cnce in the West forty years ago
In very many sections OF what YOU call
middle West timbered land of today was
prairie fifty years ago / have travelled
half day over one of these prairies with
out seeing q farm. a house, an indiyiduat
or a domestic animal. The towns We're
few and far apart and a census taker could
have stood in one place in some OF them
and made up his figures. One l have in
mind stood on one of the prairieS which
rolled out IO the horizon in every direc-
ton with never a tree or shrub to break
the vision. Some years later an oak shrub
was found in the grass, and that consti-
tuted town talk for several days. l re
member a party going out to see il on
Sunday You may get an idea from this
as to how nearly isolated from the world
we were
Not far from it while the tree was
still a sapliug. were a few farms They
were not fenced The tillers of the soil
plowed deep ridges about the ground they
cultivated These were to protect their
crops and houses from the encroachmt at )
OF prairie fires. But there were prairie
fires which 10 burrows could turn 80
The fires were always started in the
fall, after the grasses had died out. The
object was to clear away the dead grasses.
50 they would not retard the growth of
spring You have heard all your lives or
certain events and things running or
spreading like a prairie fire Any man
who ever saw one knows what IL means.
but man who has never turned out TO
Df4 h. -c,.t.
And the mar who has never seen prairie
fire when il was swept onward al. nightly
high wind has missed a thrilling sight. l
have read descriptions of these fires, but
not one did the subject justice. To my
mind the storm at sea Is tame compared
TO the storm of fame on waste of prairie.
THE few farmers near the village of
which l spoke were almost sacred to the
people OF the village. They were the only
farmers within seventy-fve miles of the
place We relied upon them for our grain
and many of the uecessaries of Hfe- One
night a prairie fire escaped from control
and bore down upon this little cluster of
farms The attack was seen. of course, by
the village 1t seemed 10 light the earth
and paint the heavens. Its roar was as
distant as the breaking Of stormy sea
on a rockbound coast, or thunder when it
strikes the heart OF forest
THE village was watching the sweep OF
this fire. discussing what was best to do.
when the sound of hoofs of a haTd-ridden
horse came nearer and more distinct. In
another moment-it seems like moment
as | recall 1.-THE horse came to staEd
in the square. The rider was a woman
LAS soon as the young woman could DO
so she told what we already knew, except
the information that she had been sent to
the village for help, and. of celsrs, We h2d
surmised that when we heard the hoofs OF
her horse beating a charge on the road.
In q few minutes as many as could
leave went cut; some on horseback, some
in wagons Later another posse went out
was in the civil war, but 1 never saw
d battle like the one we had that night
| with that prairie fire. It didn't last as
long as the ire of lead, but il was hotter
and more stubborn. OF course, you under
stand that there was no such thing as
water with which TO fight such fire. II
had TO be thrashed and beaten back with
well, with anything that would thrash OF
smother I have known men, having eS-
hausted whatever they had in hand, pull
off their clothes and fight prairie fires with
/ them until the heat burned their flesh.
1T was nearly noon before We had il
/ under control. II was-the most suiler
/ thing ever saw. At times ii seemed hu
/ man We saved the crops in the fields and
! the house, but what a burned, scorched
! army we were Mems hair, wbiskers ans
eyebrows were missing, anti-not a -persor