Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1908-08-13


Hosmer :. :. 400 BARLEY :. %. 100
Morrisey -. 800 Cokato :. 80. 100
Elko 800. =. 400 Jaffray 80. :. 100
The City of Fernie, B. c., a place of
5000 population, is wiped off the map;
Michel, fourteen miles distant, is also
devastated, and the fate Of Hosmer,
Olsen and Sparwood, intervening
towns, was in doubt, they being cut
off from all communication. Of the
200 lives known to have been lost sew
enty-four of them were III Fernie. Six
ty-one men and two women were burn
ed to death in No. 4 logging camp of
the Elk Lumber Company. The camp
was surrounded by fire and not sin
gle person escaped. A territory of 100
square miles in extent was a seething
mass of flames. Through it were scat
tered hundreds of lumbermen and pros
pectors, so that the actual loss of life
will not be known for days. The prop
critics of the Canadian Pacific and
Great Northern railways are destroy
ed, the bridges and rolling stock burn
ed. The inhabitants of the towns fled
to open districts in the vicinity in the
hope of safety. The railway compa-
Lies placed all available trains at their
disposal. The conf1agration is the
greatest which has ever visited Can
ada.
For the last month forest fires have
been raging in the mountains Of the
Elk River Valley country, but they
have not been considered seriously. Sat-
urday morning heavy wind sprung up
from the west, and early in the after
noon the flames appeared over the crest
Of the mountains to the west of Fer
ME. They ran down the mountain side
and before fire guard could be organ
lied had entered the town. Within an
hour the town was doomed, and the
inhabitants sought safety in flight,
leaving their all behind them.
All night and the following morning
the exodus continued, the destination
being a small prairie in the valley
three miles south of the town. Three
thousand people camped there in the
OpSi, thSfI ohly p1OISCtlOh Dt1I5 SISl-
ters built of brush or blankets, while a
constant shower of sparks from the
burning area kept falling through the
pail of smoke by which they were sur
rounded. The hills in all directions
were seething mass of flames
In Fernie the only buildings remain
ing are six small shacks on the banks
of the Elk River, the offices of the
Crows Nest Coal Company and the
Fixes Wood warehouse. The offices Of
the Canadian Pacific Railroad and
Great Northern are gone, together with
all of the rolling ste ok in the yards,
the sleeping car Osceola being the only
car left. One hundred cars of coke the
property Of the Great Northern, are
gone and the stock piles of coal and
coke, holding about 100000 tons, were
also burned.
The fire followed the crest of the
mountain chain above Sparwood, eating
down into the valleys on either side.
1t Travelled at a tremendous rate. Fire
fighting apparatus was of no avail, for
the air was filled with fragments of
burning wood and sheets of flame SEEM
ed to leap ahead of the confagration,
as if the air itself we're in flames. The
heat was intense and many Of the fire
fighters went down ahead of it. APP
peals were sent out from the burning
section to the mayors of Winnipeg,
Vancouver, New Westminster, Victoria,
Spokane and Helena asking that relief
be hurried to it's residents.