The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-08-03
Over 100 Lives Lost and Prop
erty Worth Sc, 100000.
NOTAPERSON ESCAPED
Sixty-ThreePersOnsDead in One
Logging Camp.
Territory of $50 Square Miles
Swept by Flames.

a summary of the loss of life and prop
erty in the fire which has RACED In
East Kootenai since Saturday:
Number of people killed, 10; number
of people homeless, 5000. District
swept bv fire from near Cranbrook to
within four miles of Frank, Alberta
a distance of 80 miles.
Towns destroyed: Fernie, Coal Creek,
Hosmer; partially destroyed, Michel.
Total property loss estimated at $6,-
100000. Property loss in Fernie $2'oOo'-
900.
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 interested, but no details
are available today.
Cranbrook. Aug. 3.-The most de-
structive confiagration in the history OIL
Canada, is sweeping the Elk river val
ley, leaving in it's path death, destitu-
tion and suffering. Already more than
a hundred lives have been lost, hum
dreds of persons have been injured and
thousand homeless and destitute have
been forced to flee for their lives before
the relentlessly on rushing fire. Pro-
perty valued at more than S5OOO'O 900
has been destroyed and still the flames
are sweeping onward, reaching out on
either side III an every widening line.
The long list of fatalities is increasing
steadily Reports of death. disaster
and suffering are coming in from every
quarter. Few of those who escaped
with their lives saved any of their be-
longings and the supply of food IN
towns which thus far have escaped de-
struction must be conserved carefully
tn feed the hungry.
Fernie,. on Saturday a prosperous
community of $500 inhabitants, today
is a deserted heap of ruins. Coal
Creek, which had a population OF 1,5OO.
is marked only by smouldering embers
in a blackened smoking waste more
than 40 miles in area. while hair
dozen smaller towns have been erased
as completely as if they never existed.
The railroads, the only means of COM
munication left to the stricken coun-
try now is seriously threatened. Many
bridges already have been burned, and
the movement of trains by which nre
fighter, refugees and provisions are
transported from one point to another
is being carried on with the greatest
difficulty.
In Fernie an aged woman, an in
valid 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 blank
cts fed towards the hills. She was
burned to death. Besides the Elk MILL
the Fernie and Cedar Valley COM
pany's places were burned. The Wood
McNab people were successful in light
ing the flames. Many miners of Fernle
were up at Coal Creek on Saturday af-
ternoon searching for the bodies of
Frank Beaver and Hilchmough, who
had been killed in the accident of last
Friday morning. Beavers body was
brought to the surface but the other
could not be found.
A painful surprise awaited the res
cuers when they came down to Fernie
for by that time the place was burned
and the trains unable to move east
ward A special from Michel says no
one was injured at Hosmer, when the
magazine blew UP. Several buildings
were purposely dynamited Sunday af-
ternoon in order to save the machine
shops from fire.
Winnipeg, Man, Aug. 3.-The latest
estimate of the dead in the Elk river
district by bush fires, which have
been raging from Michel to Fernie is
156 persons. The property loss is So
000.0 in Fernie and 5000 persons
of that citys inhabitants are home
less. The residents have been taken
In trains to places of safety and are
now destitute. Thousands of dollars
have been sent by western Canadian
cities this morning to the relief of the
destitute. Medical supplies are great
~ needed. Fernie with it's lumber
mills and railway terminals is wiped
out. The fire is still raging around
Hosmer and Sparwood. but Michel
is safe, the wind dying out at mid
night. If a gale springs UP that city
will be again in danger soon. Seventy
men in the camps of the Elk river
company perished.
Burned Everything Before 1t.
Winninap Man
dreadful confiagration in the history
of Canada has swept the Elk river
valley in East Kootenai. For forty
miles a tremendous bush fire has
burned everything before it. 1t has
held full and terrible sway since 4
O'Clock Saturday afternoon.
Estimates are that perhaps $50
people have met death in the flames
The following places have been de-
stroyed:
Coal Creek. with a population of 1.500;
Michel, with population of so; Hos
mer, with 80 inhabitants. Fernie is
gone. but one dispatch says that Hos
mer and Michael are still fighting.
The homeless will number over 5000
The Fatalities are growing hourly In
one case five families at Fernie were
hemmed in and every soul perished
AT least 20 lives were lost in Fernie.
The property damage is between four
and five million dollars. The Crows
Nest Pass Coal company have 81 ,O0O. 900
in property at Coal Creek, which is
reported destroyed.
The disaster is unequaled in the his
tory of western Canada In that en-
tire section of the country the rail-
ways and bridges are swept away.
The fire is still burning.
Clean Sweep at Fernie.
Winnepeg, Aug. 3.-As a result of
bush fires the town of Fernie, B. c.. is
wiped off the map as a child cleans a
slate; Michel. IA miles distant, is in
flames and the fate of Hesner Olsen
and Sparwood. intervening towns, is in