The Penn's Grove record., 1908-08-07
OVER 100 PERISH IN
CANADIAN FOREST FIRE
Six Thousand Homeless and
100000 Damage Done.
ELEVEN W WIPED OUT
Railroads Suffered Heavy Losses lin
Bridges and Rolling Stock, and
Were Unable to Succor Persons
Driven From Their Homes:

Winnipeg, Manitoba. = One hun
dred lives lost, 100 square miles
burned over and six towns destroyed
or partly destroyed; is the story in
brief of the ravages of a bush fire
which swept through the Crows
Nest, Pass County.
The town of Fernie, B. G.; is de-
stroyed. Michel, fourteen miles
away; suffered heavily by the flames.
Hosmer, Olson and Sparwood, inter-
vening towns, were cut off from all
communication. Seventy-four lives
were lost in Fernie alone.
The whole country is a seething
mass of flames. Through it are scat
tered hundreds of lumbermen and
prospectors, so that the actual loss of
life will not be known for days. The
properties of the Canadian Pacific
and Great Northern railways in the
section are destroyed, their bridges
and rolling stock being burned; Sc
that it is impossible to enter or leave
the burning area. The inhabitants
u IL nave uCo " tuc OpCI
districts.
The flames are driven by strong
winds, making it impossible to fight
their advance. The confagration is
the greatest which has ever visited
Canada. A heavy wind sprang uI
from the west, and early in the after.
noon the flames appeared over the
crest of the mountains to the west oil
Fernie. They ran down the mount
tainside, and before a fire guard
could be organized had entered the
town. Within an hour the town was
doomed, and the inhabitants sought
safety in fight, leaving all property
behind them. All night and mex
morning the exodus continued, the
destination being a small prairie II
the valley, three miles south of the
town. Three thousand persons are
now camped there in the open, theil
only protection being shelters bull
of brush and blankets.
For a time communication will
towns to the east was kept opep, bul
with the burning of the bridges acros:
the Elk River this was closed. Scat
tered throughout the valley are many
small prairies, and all of these have
their groups of refugees. The hill!
in all directions are a seething mas!
of flames, cutting off every avenue O.
escape. The fire spread with unprece
denied rapidity, and it is feared tina
several parties who tried to ger
through the pass have been cut off
Families have been separated, ant
there is at present no means of esti
mating the fatalities.
In Fernie the only buildings which
remain are six small shacks on TIL
bank of the Elk River, the offices o
the Crows Nest Coal Company ant
the Fixes & Wood warehouse.
The Offices of the C. P. R. and G
N. w. are destroyed, together will
all the rolling stock in the yards, tn,
sleeping a Osceola being the onl,
car left.
The fire followed the crest Of tn,
mountain chain above Sparwood, eat
ing down into the valleys on eithe
side. 1t travelled at a tremendous
rate.
There are dozens Of mines ant
p~rospectors' claims in the track of tn,
fire, all of which are in peril. Fir
fighting apparatus is of no avail, TO
the air is filled with fragments O
burning wood and bark, and sheet
of flame seem to leap ahead of tn
conlagration.