The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1908-08-06
GREAT CANADA FIRE
TERRIBLE DISASTER CAUSED BY
BUSH CONFEDERATION IN
BRITISH COLUMBIA.
FERNIE is A TOTAL RUIN.
Property Loss Is Enormous and Tales
of Escape from Flames Are
Thrilling.
FEARS FOR MANY AMERICANS.

WINNIPEG. Manitoba. Aug. 3.-The
most dreadful contlagraton in the his
tory of Canada has swept the Elk river
valley in East Kootoenai. For forty miles
a tremendous bush fire has burned
everything before it. 1t has held full
and terrible sway since / o'clock Satur-
day afternoon.
Estimates are that perhaps 40 people
have met death in thc flames.
The following places have been de-
stroyed;
Fernie, with population of $500.
/ Coal Creek, with population of 1900.
I Michel, with fifty inhabitants.
Hosmer, with fifty inhabitants.
Other Crows Nest Pass towns.
! Ferne is gone. Int one dispatch says
that Hosmer and Michael are still hight
! Ing.
The homeless will number COCO.
The fatalities are growing hourly. In
one case five families at Fernic were
hcmmed in and every soul persisted. At
/ least seventy lives were lost in Fernie,
The Crows Nest Pass Coal company
have Sl.OoO,OOO in property at Coal
4 Creek, which is reported DESTROYED
/ The disaster is uncquaIlcd in the his
. II
Of the country the railways and bridges
are swept away.
Late last night Iprnic was still burn
/ ing.
Fire Still Sweeping.
The flames are sweeping onward,
! reaching out on either sid on an ever
widening line. The long list Of fatal
ties is increasing steadily. Reports of
I death, disaster, and suffering are com
! ing in from every quarter. Few or those
/ who escaped with their lives saved any
! of their belongings and the store of food
in towns must be conserved carefully to
/ feed the hungry.
The railroad, the only means of com
munication left to the stricken country,
now is seriously threatened. Many
bridges already have been burned and
the movement of trains, 10y which hre
fighters, refugees ana provisions are
transported from one point to another Is
being carried on witt the greatest din
Guilty.
The origin was bush fire in slash
ings" of the Cedar Valley Lumber
company, across the river from Fernie.
Practically every insurance company
in Canada is interc-r n, but no details
are available today.
Fernie in Ruins.
Ten cottages. two coal Offices, the
I Western Canada grocery, the coal COM
pany new warehouse are all that remains
of Fernie. Within fifteen minutes of the
time the fire broke into the city the
| place was IA mass Of Swirlng flames.
As early as O'Clock Saturday after
! noon the Fort Steele brewery. the first
large building to catch, was burned.
Houses in the immediate neighbOrhood
soon caught and though the people
turned ont to fight the fire Immediately
the flames spread rapidly and the whole
place was soon on fire. Old Town,
| where most of the miners resided, soon
burned and then the business portion
caught. The large residential portion
/ came last. after the fine mills of the
I Elk River Lumber company had been
| destroyed.
! The west Fcrnie bridges across Elk
river could not he saved. Several people
lost their lives in trying to escape over
them. The fire swept with such ra-
( padtv that hardly anything was saved
! Numbers Of people fed to the river
banks and sought refuge by wading in
the water: others ran to the Canadian
Pacific tracks where special trains We're
waiting to convey the people to Michel
but this trip could not be made because
the bridge. it was learned. hctwcr Hos
mer and Michel had gone out.
Narrowing Tales Told.
During the night the coal company's
office was used rs distributing point
for food. Saturday night was a fright
full one Of excitement and many heart
reudiug scenes were Witnessed IL was
spent in getting many of tue women and
children on tile trains aud starting them
for ,,raulruuk. During the night the
wind VrIt down and Sunday morning
many eff the men and their stout heart
+ 81 l. q. III
they had fed "a view the smoking re
mains of their city
Many narrowing tales were told. one
woman Of West Ecrnie had just emerged
from her home which was on ire. Sin"
dropped dead Of heart disease. The
ueighbors buried her in her garden and
then ran for their lives. In another part
of the city m aged woman, an invalid,
was carried short distance but the
4 heat becum, too great She begged t.
! be left TO her fate and her relatives
wrapping her in wet blankets fled toward
the hills. She was burned to death. BE
sides the Elk mill, the Fernic and Cedar
4 Valley cOmuauy's places We're burned.
/ The Wood McNah people were success
iul in fighting the flames. Many miners
/ Of Fernic were mp at Coal Creek on
! Saturday afternoon. searching for the
bodies of Frank Beaver and llilchmoush.
4 who had been Killed in the accident of
/ last Friday morning. Beavers body was
brought to the surface but the others
could not be found. \ big surprise
greeted the roscUcrs when they came
/ down to Fcrujc, for 10y that time the
! place was burned and the trains unable
\ to move either way. \ special from
Michel says no one was injured at Hos
mer when the magazine blew up. Seve"-
4 al buildings We're purposely dynamitci
! Sunday afternoon in order to save the
machine shops from fire.
Story Of Eye Witness
An cyc wjtuosz of the fire at Fcruic
/ in an interview says:
"Jhe damage cannot fall short of 50
/ 100000, the greater loss falling on Cana
4 dian Pacific railway, and the Tritcs
! Wood and Lumber company. Fully
/ twenty-five million feet of manufactured