Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1908-09-25
HISTORIC FOREST FIRES.

acres OF TIMBER ana property 10 tn'
value of millions in the Lake States
recalls to memory other great for
est fires which have attained his.
toric Importance.
| One of the earliest of these was
the great Miramichi fire of 1925
1t began it's greatest destruction
about one o'clock in the afternoon
of October 7 of that year, at
place about 60 miles above the
town of Newcastle, on the Mirami-
chi River, in. New Brunswick. Be-
fore ten o'clock at night it was ~
miles below Newcastle. In nine
hours it had destroyed a belt OF
forest so miles long and Is miles
wide. Over more than two and
one-half million acres, almost every
living thing was killed. Even the
fish we're afterwards found dead in
heaps on the river banks. Five
hundred and ninety buildings were
burned, and number of towns, In
Guiding Newcastle, Chatham and
Douglastown, were destroyed. One
hundred and sixty persons persisted
and nearly a thousand head OF
stock. The loss from the Mirami-
chi fire is estimated at $500 900,
not including the value of the tim
Der.
In the majority of such forest
fires as this the destruction of the
timber is a more serious loss, by
far, than that of the cattle and
buildings, for it carries with it the
| impoverishment Of whole region
for tens or even hundreds of years
afterwards. The loss of the stump
age value of the timber at the time
of the fire is but a small part Of the
damage to the neighborhood. The
wages that would have been earned
in numbering, added to the value OF
the produce that would have been
purchased to supply the lumber
camps, and the taxes that would
have been devoted to roads and
other public improvements, fur
nish a much truer measure of how
much, sooner or later, it costs a
region when it's forests are destroy
ed by fire.
The Peshtigo fire of October,
1871, was still more severe than
! the Miramichi. 1t covered an area
of more than 1000 square miles IN
Wisconsin, and involved a loss in
timber and other property of many
millions of dollars. Between l 200
and 1 500 persons persisted, includ-
ing nearly half the population OF
Peshtigo, at that time town Of
$4,000 inhabitants. Other fires Of
about the same time were most de.
structive in Michigan. A STRIP
about 40 miles wide and 1870 miles
long, extending across the centra
part of the state from Lake Mlchi
gan to Lake Huron, was devastat
ed. The estimated loss in timbe
was about 10000 100000 feet boart
measure, and in money over $40,
600 900. Several hundred persons
persisted.
In the early part of September
1881, great fires covered more thai
1900 square miles in various part
of Michigan. The estimated los
, in property, in addition to man.
hundred thousand acres of valuabl
timber, was more than So, 300, 900
Over 5000 persons were made DIES
titute, and the number Of lives los
is variously estimated at from l5'
to 500.
The most destructive fire of NOR
recent years was that which starte'
; near Hinckley, Minnesota, Septem
!, Der /, 1894. While the area burn
ed over was less than in some 9th
er great fires, the loss of life AM
property was very heavy. Hinck
ley and six other towns were de
destroyed, about 500 lives wer
| were lost, more than 1000 person
were left destitute, and the est
mated loss in property of variou
kinds was $4,000, 900. Excep
/. for the heroic conduct of locomo
, tive engineers and other railroa
t men the loss of life would hav