Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-14
FORESTS ARE ALL ABLAZE
Frightful Havoc Wrought by Timber Fires
in Oregon and Washington
ENTIRE COUNTIES ARE LAID WASTE
Several Lives Are Already Reported
TO Have Been sacrihced-Prop-
erty Loss VIII Amount to
Many Millions.

PORTLAND, Ore, Sept. 13.-The result
Of the forest fires which are raging In
this vicinity NAY be umme up sub
stantially az follows up to the present
time:
Tjllamook City has been saved from i'm
pending doom by a timely change in the
wind. The forests in Douglas and Jack
son counties are on FIRE, but the damage
yet is small. Superintendent Ormsby Of
the Cascade forest reserve says that no
FIRE has yet entered The reserve.
Sixty people in the town Of Springwater,
Clackamas county, we're forced to fee for
their lives and rendered homeless and a
fine timber belt destroyed. Bridges and
fences were attacked and residences
threatened In South Portland. The saw
mill OF the Bridal Veil Lumber company
and the whole own OF Palmer, situated
twenty miles east of Bridal Veil, in this
county, have been destroyed. The damage
in eastern Multnomah county amounts to
{42, 500. and every family has been fighting
the fire since Monday. Several families
have been burned out on the section line
road. Three dwellings and the county
bridge are gone in Pleasant Valley.
Flames Racing Westward.
The flames surround the dwelling Of a
resident Of lockwood and are racing west
along the base line road. To protect the
town Of Gresham men stand guard night
and day. Fully 100 men are at work to.
save property In the dangerous heat. At
Pleasant Home a saw mill was destroyed
and four others were in danger. Fire
companies were called out to Irvington.
The residents OF that part Of Portland
we're on duty from 2 o'clock yesterday
morning. Valuable timber has been de-
stroyed near Coburg. Without Springs,
Vending and other points. Men at Wend-
ling are swamplng the timber in order to
save 1t. The losses viii amount to thou
sands Of dollars.
The destruction of the village Of Viola
seems certain. The nonarrival Of grain and
c~oasting ships is due to dense smoke at
the mouth OF the Columbia river. The
steamer Columbia is reported to be stranded
IN the river near Astoria. A woman was
burned to death near Vancouver. Wash,
and a woman and a child are missing.
Mills. lumber and timber to the value Of
$1.O0O,O 900 were destroyed In ChehaIis county.
Washington. The damage near Lentz. Ore,
amounts to over 325, 200.
Details of various losses from numerous
country districts are continually arriving
and the record Of small individual losses
will not be finished until rain shall have
come to quench the fire. The Weather
bureau has given no promise Of rain within
the next twenty-four hours.
Damage In washington.
TACOMA Wash. Sept. 1S.-Forest fires
are now burning in every county Of west
cru Washington. from British Columbia
TO the Columbia river. The CONGREGATIONS
are the most extensive In Mason, Thurston,
Chehalis aud Lewis counties, to the south
west Of Tacoma.
The towns OF Elma and Folsom, in Che
halls county. have been partly destroyed.
Each was the center OF large logging, lum-
Der and shingle mill industries. other
towns which are in great danger are Shell
ton. Mattock. Black Hills, Bucoda. Rainier
and Castle Rock, In southwestern Wash
ington. Enumelaw and Buckley, in the
Cascade mountains. are threatened.
The latest reports from Mason county are
that every portion Of that county ls In
hames with the exception of Shelton. The
logging camps Of Thomas Bordeau. near
olympia, are surrounded by flames. Forty
men have left here on horseback TO rescue
the women and children. The Grays HarboI
branch Of the Northern Pacific is on fire
even the ties in several places. Many
4 hoAcN hbbNthNi
with other farm property, have been de-
stroyed.
At Enumelaw Mrs. Biles was driven from
her home with her dead baby In her arm
while her husband was out fighting FIRE
The burning of a bridge at Wellington. OF
the Great Northern. has stopped trafic oil
that road.
steamship Fast In the Mud.
ASTORIA, Ore, Sept. 1s.-The steamship
Columbia, from San Francisco. lost III
bearings on account Of the dense smokI
in the Columbia river yesterday and wen
ashore In the mud. II Was a mile and
half out Of the channel. Up TO IL O'Clock to
day It had not been hoated. but the vesse
is in no danger.
VANCOUVER, Wash. Sept. 13.-Fre
Burlingame arrived here this afternoo
from Yaeolt. thirty miles north. and state
that a terrific hre has been raging In tha
vicinity for the past two days. He wa
terribly burned. Buildings and crops OF a
kinds and much livestock were destroyet
The hre was so fierce In one nelghborhOo
that a number Of families plunged int