The silver state news. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1907-1909, 1908-10-13
HISTORICALfOREST
fires

The terrible work of the flames
which have burned over and Destroyed
hundreds of thousands of acres OF
timber and property to the value OF
millions in the lake states, recalls
TO mind other great forest fires
which have attained historic i'm
portance.
One of the earliest of these was the
great Miramichi fire of 1925. 1t be-
gan it's greatest destruction about l
o'clock in the afternoon of October
T Of that year, at a place about 80
miles above the town of Newcastle, on
the Miramichi river, in New Brunswick.
Before 10 O'Clock at night it was 20
miles below Newcastle. In nine hours
it had DESTROYED a belt of forest 80
miles long and 25 miles wide. Over
more than two and one-half million
acres, almost ecery living thing was
killed. Even the fish were afterwards
round dead in heaps on the river banks.
Five hundred and ninety buildings
were burned, and a number of towns,
including Newcastle, Chatham and
Douglastown, were destroyed. One
hundred and sixty persons persisted,
and nearly a thousand head of stock
The loss from the Miramichi fire is
estimated at $500, 900. not including
the value of the timber.
In the majority of such forest fires
is a more serious loss, by far, than that
of the cattle and buildings. for it ear
ries with it the impoverishment Of a
whole region for tens or even hundreds
of years afterwards. The loss of the
stumpage 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
chased to supply the lumber camps, and
the taxes that would have been devot.
ed to roads and other public improve
ments, furnish a much truer measure of
how much, sooner or later, it costs a
region when its forests are destroyed
by fire.
The Peshtigo fire of October, 1871,
was still more severe than the Mira
iniehi. 1t covered an area of more
than 1000 square miles in Wisconsin,.
and involved a loss in timber and othe-
property of many millions of d~ollers.
Between 1900 and 1900 persons per.
ished, intending nearly half the popuIa
tion of Peshtigo, at that time a town
of 1000 inhabitants. Other fires of
about the same time were most de-
structive in Michigan. A strip about
10 miles wide and $50 miles long. ex-
tending across the central part of the
state from Lake Michigan to Lake
Huron, was devastated. The estimated
loss in timber was about 4 900, 000, 900
feet, board measure, and in monev
over $4,000 900. Several hundred per
sons persisted.
In the early part of September, 1881.
great fires covered more than 1,S0n
square miles in various parts of Mich
igan. The estimated loss, in property,
in addition to many hundred thousand
acres Of valuable timber, was more
than $4,000. 000. Over 5000 persons
were made destitute, 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
!, 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 and more than 1000 persons were
left destitute, and the estimated loss
~ property of various kinds was
25,ooo, 900. Except for the heroic
conduct of locomotive engineers and
other reailroad men the loss of life
would have beer much greater.
This fire was all the more deplor-
able, because il was wholly unnecessary,
For many days before the high wind
came and drove il into uncomfortable
fury. it was burning slowly close TO
the town of Hinckley and could have
been put out.