Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1908-08-06
WESTERN CANADA
IS FIRE SWEPT
FERNiE WIPED OFF THE MAP AND
FATE or OTHER TOWNS
is IN DOUBT.
More Than 4 Hundred Lives are Lost
in Crows Neck Pass. Starvation
faces Thousands of Refugees Who
Fled to Open Places.

Fled to Open Places.
Winnipeg, Man., Aug. 3.-The
town of Fernie, B. c., is wiped off
the map as a child cleans q slate.
Michel, fourteen miles distant, il in
flames.
The fate of Hosmer, Olson and
Sparwood, intervening towns, is in
doubt, they being cut off from all
communication.
Over one hundred lives are known
to have been lost, seventy-fve of
them in Fernie alone.
The financial loss is estimated be-
tween $z,0OO,0oo and $,90Co,OOo. 4
A territory of one hundred square
miles in extent is seething mass Of
flames. Through it are scattered
hundreds of lumbermen and prospect
ors so the actual loss of life will not
be known for days. 80
The properties of the Canadian Pa
cific and the Great Northern railways
are destroyed, their bridges and roll
ing stock burned, so that it is i'm
possible either to enter or leave the
burning area.
The inhabitants of the towns have
fled to open districts in the vicinity
in the hope of safety. From towns
in the east and west the Inhabitants
are escaping as rapidly as possible.
The railway companies have placed
all available trains at their disposal.
Unless there is change of wind
within the next twenty-four hours the
whole of the Crows Nest pass coun-
try will be left to the flames.
There is no possibility of estimating
the loss of life and property which
will result, for the flames are driven
by half gale, making it impossible
to put up fight against their ad-
vance.
The confagration is the greatest
which has ever visited Canada, and
ranks only with the San Francisco
disaster.
At present &, 200 people are oamped
in the open their only shelter being
huts of brush and blankets.
Fire is not the only danger. Star
walton has been added to the situa-
ton.
At present the fire is following the
crest of the mountain chain above
Sparwood, eating down into the val
leys on either 81 g.
Cranbrook, B. O., Aug. 3.-Many
narrowing tales are told of the fight
from Fernie Saturday afternoon. One
woman of West Fernie had just
emerged from her home. She drop
ped dead of heart disease. The
neighbors buried her in her garden
and then ran for their lives.
In another part of the city an aged
woman, an invalid, was carried a
short distance but the heat became
too great. She begged to, be left to
her fate and her relatives wrapping
her in wet blankets fed toward the
hills. She was burned to death.
Beside the Elk mill, the Fernie
and Cedar Valley company's places
were burned. The Wood McNat
people were successful in fighting the
flames.
Fernie, B. c., Aug. 3.-The follow
ing is summary of the loss of life
and property in the fire which has
ragged in East Kotenay since Satur
day. D. ..a
Number of people killed, 10. Mum
Der Of people homeless, 5000.
District swept by fire, from neal
Cranbrook to within four miles o
Frank, Alberta, distance of fifty
miles.
Towns destroyed, Fernie, Goa
Creek. and Hosmer. Partially dc
stroyed, Michel. ID.
Total property loss estimated a
4,50O,0 900. .......
The loss in Fernie alone is fully
$1,000, 900.
The origin of the conflagration wa
q bush fire in the slashings of tn
Cedar Valley Lumber company nea
Ternie.
A shift in the wind alone save|
Michel.