The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1908-11-19
Historic Forest Fires.

nave burned over and destroyed hundred.
of thousands Of acres of timber anc
property to the value of millions in the
Lake States, recalls to memory othe,
great forest fires which have attained
historic Importance.
One of the earliest of these was the
great Miramichi fire of 1926. 1t begar
its greatest destruction about one O'Clock
in the afternoon of October 9TH of that
year, at place about 60 miles above the
town of Newcastle, on the Miramich
River, in New Brunswick. Before ter
O'Clock at night it was 20 miles below
Newcastle. In nine hours it had de-
stroyed belt of forest 80 miles long
and twenty-five miles wide. On over
more than two and one-half million
acres, almost every living thing was
killed. Even the fish were afterwards
found dead in heaps on the river banks.
Five hundred and ninety buildings were
burned, and number of towns, includ-
ing Newcastle, Chatham, and Douglas
town, were destroyed, One hundred and
sixty persons persisted, and nearly a
thousand head of stock. The loss from
the Miramichi fire is estimated at $780,
600, not including the value of the timber.
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 after
wards. The loss of the stumpage value
of the timber at the time of the fire is but
small part of the damage to the neigh
borhood 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, furnish much truer
measure of how much, sooner or later, it
costs a region when it's forests are de-
stroyed 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
loss in timber and other property, of
many millions of dollars Between l 200
and 1900 persons persisted, including
nearly half the population of Peshtigo,
at that time town of 1000 inhabitants.
Other fires of about the same time were
most destructive in Michigan. A strip
about 40 miles wide and 1870 miles long,
extending across the central part of the
State, from Lake Michigan to Lake Hur-
on. was devastated. The estimated loss
in timber was about 1000, 900, 900 feet
board measure, and in money over $40,
600, 900, Several hundred persons perish
ed. .
In the early part of September, 1881,
great fires covered more than ], 800 square
miles in various parts of Michigan
The estimated loss, in property, in add
ton to many hundred thousand acres OF
valuable timber, was more than $780,
900. Over 5000 persons were made des-
titute, and the number of lives lost is
variously estimated at from $50 to 500.
The most destructive fire of more
recent years was that which started near
Hinckley, Minnesota, September l, 1894.
While the area burned over was less than
in some other great fires the loss of life
and property was very heavy. Hinckley
and six other towns were destroyed, about
500 lives were lost, more than 1000
persons were left destitute, and the estl-
mated loss in property of various kinds
was S25, 600, 600 Except for the heroic
conduct of locomotive engineers and
other railroad men the loss of life would
have been much greater.
This fire was all the more deplorable
because it was wholly unnecessary;
For many days before the high WIND
came and drove it into uncomfortable fury
it was burning slowly close to the town
of Hinckley, and could have been put out.