The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1908-08-06
j50 PEOPLE persisted
Disastrous Bush Firts Sweep Sec
ton Of Canada.
6 mo PEOPLE ARE HOMELESS

EUia ] CWHS El~NS SSSH WHAHS0 Vii 6IS
Map by the Flames which Have
Been Raging with Undisputed Sway
Since Saturday Night.
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Aug. 4.-The
most dreadful confagration in the his
tory Of Canada has swept the Elk
River valley in East Kootanai.
For forty miles "a tremendous bush
fire has burned everything before 1t.
The CONGREGATION has held full and
terrible sway since 4 o'clock Saturday
afternoon.
Estimates are that perhaps $50 peo.
Dle have met death in the flames.
The following places have been de-
stroyed:
Fernie, with O population OF $500.
Coal Greek, with a population Of
$500.
Hosmer, with a population Of fifty.
One dispatch says that Hosmer and,
Michel are still fighting the fire.
The homeless will number more
than 5000 persons.
The fatalities are growing hourly.
In one case five families at Fernie
were hemmed in and every soul per
1shed.
At least seventy lives were lost in
Fernie.
The property damage is between
four and five million dollars.
The Crows Nest Pass Coal COM
pany has $1,000, 900 in property at
Coal Greek; which is reported de-
$troyed.
The disaster is unequalled in the
history of western Canada. In that
entire section of the country the rail,
ways and bridges are swept away.
Late Sunday night the Ere was still
burning iercely.
Property Loss SIS 100000.
The property loss is S.. 900 900 in
Fernie and the residents have been
taken IN trains to places oc safety and
are now destitute.
Thousands Of dellars have been sent
by western Canadian cities to the re
lief Of the destitute. Medical supplies
are greatly needed.
Fernie With it's lumber mills and
railway terminals is wiped out.
The FIRE is still raging around Hos
mer and s~parwood, but Michel is safe,
the wind having died out at midnight
Sunday.
be again In danger.
II Seventy men In the camps of the
Elk River company persisted in the
flames.
Flames Spread Rapidly.
Ten cottages and two coal Offices,
the Western Canada Grocery and Coal
companyB new warehouse, are all
that remain of Fernie. Within fifteen
minutes Of the time the fire broke into
the city, the place was a mass of
sWirling flames. A special from Fer
ME says:
CAS- early as 2 o'clock Saturday, the
Fort Steele brewery, the first large
building to catch fire, was burned.
Houses in the immediate neighborhood
caught fire and people turned out to
fight the fire, but flames spread rapid
~ in every direction.
Old Town, where many of the mi
ers resided, quickly burned and then
the business portion caught fire. The
residential portion came last, after the
fine mills Of the Elk River Lumber
company had been destroyed.
Fled Over Burning Bridge.
The west end of Fernie bridge which
spanned the Elk river, could not be
saved. Several people lost their lives
80 t~Tp&w% b. aeaonn Nro~ %64 hJ1w~{n~
bridge.
The flames spread with such rapid
y that hardly anything was saved.
Numbers Of people fed to the river
banks and sought refuge by wadtng
n the water; others ran TO the Cana
dian Pacific tracks where several
trains were waiting to convey the peo-
pie to Michel but this trip could net
be made because the bridge. 1t was
learned, between Hosmer and MIoAa4
had been burned out.
a FrIqh&fM Might.
During the night the coal cOmp&nY's
office was used as @ ddstrfDuting"point
Tor food. Saturday night was o Tight
IA one Of excitement and many heart
tending scene were witnessed. 70 was
Spent u getting many OF the woIae1
sa1 aatidEen On the train and starting
them for eFanbrook. During the night
he wind keHt down and Sunday morn
@QG many az the men and their Btout-
hearted w!TeS came In from the htus
70 which they had hed. to view the
smoking Futas OF their city.
Many Aa%rowiRR &@a0g were told. A
woman Of West Ternis had just come
tsona her home, whtGA was On ire.
see dropped dead Of heart disease.
ne ns4G66ors buried her In her gar
Gen add &en ran FOR their lives.
Thnen ahAmMmm RNImR e. y.