Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-06-04
A SMOKY DAY.
Great Volumes of yellow
Smoke EnguIf the City.
The Darkest June Day That Augusta
Ever Knew.
Many Speculations as to the Origin of
All the Smoke.

| Great clouds of dense, yellow smoke
! rolled down from the west and north,
| yesterday, turning day into night in
| this city and making an awesome spec
| tacle which few of the present genera
| ton will ever forget. Nobody can re-
| member a June day in Augusta that
| was so dark from forest fires or other
| cause as it was, yesterday afternoon
| 1t was clear and bright enough in the
morning, just like all the days of the
past six or eight weeks, but before
noon the smoke was at first haze on
| the horizon and then in short order a
thick cloud, envelopng the city and
shutting out the sun and the light of
day.
People at first thought little of it, but
before long it was the chief topic of
conversation in the city and it contin-
ued such, during the afternoon and
evening. The smoke with the bright
sun behind it appeared of a peculiar
yellowish hue, which was almost a red
late in the afternoon and it was a
weird and uncanny spectacle. By
O'Clock it was so dark that electic lights
and gas had to be put in use except
near the windows, and by o'clock all
the offices and places of business on the
street were lighted UP and the sun was
obscured.
Business of all kinds was much
interfered with and it was a light
day for the merchants. The dense
smoke which permeated everything
caused threats and eyes to smart
in most uncomfortable fashion. At 6
it was impossible to see the length of
Water street and one could hardly see
across the river. At $50, with sunset
still an hour away, a person coming
down Winthrop hill could not tell the
time by the clock on the Baptist
church. A little later the electric lights
came on, and it seemed as though the
smoke became less dense. The condi-
lions out of doors kept most people at
home, and it was very quiet evening
on the street
Everybody seemed to have different
information, or at least different
theories, as to the location of the fires
from which the smoke came. The most
confusing and contradictory stories
were at1oat and they were as hard to
trace as the smoke itself Many
thought at first that the smoke came
from the burning ice house and dwell
lingS down the river below Randolph,
but they soon learned that the wind
was the wrong way, though for that
matter the smoke seemed to close in
, from all sides. The most persistent
story 'yaS that Sidney bog was burn
i'll but as soon as one mentioned this
as the source of the smoke there was
another person ready to declare that he
had just seen man from that section
who said the bog was not burning.
There were rumorS of forest fires in
Benton, at Wings Mill in lower Mt
Vernon, in Chelsea, at Riverside, at
Madison, and at Belgrade Lakes, and
later in the afternoon information came
of a great fire raging in Belgrade on
the west shores of Snow pond with half
the town fighting it.
But people in general realized that
the great volume of smoke must come
from fires covering more extensive
areas than these mentioned, particu-
larly when word came that the smoke
was as dense at Waterville and Pitts
field as in this city and vicinity. In the
evening word was received of a great
fire in the bog on the west shore of
MoOsehead lake and it was supposed
, that the smoke came from this and the
extensive fires in the Rangeley regions.
These and the other fires devastating
the northern woods certainly would ac-
count for smoke enough and the wind
would do the rest, with the smaller
fires in this section adding their con-
tributions. Everybody realizes the
great loss which such fires involve and
the terrible danger attending them,
when everything is as dry as it is now
after the unprecedented drouth. If
ever Maine needed rain it needs it
! now