The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1908-08-12

The terrible destructive forest
fires which have swept through the
Crows Nest district of the Elk river
valley in British Columbia since last
Saturday, devastating a vast stretch
of territory, destroyed many lives
and millions of dollars worth of
property, wiping out entire towns
and rendering thousands of persons
homeless, are still raging, but now
sweeping wild and sparsely settled
country, and it is believed the worst
is over.
Almost 100 square miles of the
KOotenay valley, one of the most
prosperous and naturally rich in the
whole northwest, is today a black
ened waste, owing to extensive and
uncomfortable bush fires which have
ravaged it for more than week.
Scores are dead-the exact number
may never be told; the city of Fer
ME, with a population of 5000, has
been effaced; several other settle
ments and villages have been dam
aged or destroyed; hundreds Of scat
tered human habitations have been
Obliterated; coal tipples, coal bunk
ers and expensive bridges have been
consumed and millions of feet of
valuable timber, some of it standing,
more of it in manufactured shape,
have gone up in smoke and flame.
Thousands of people are homeless,
and financial loss estimated at
nearly $lO0OO,OO0, has been in
fiicted on the region.
A Cyclone of Flames.
Two weeks ago bush fires broke
out between Fernie and Michel, but
little attention was paid them until
Saturday, when, famed by a strong
wind, the flames advanced like a cy-
clone toward Fernie, enveIoping the
place and speedily reducing It to a
heap of ashes. With such rapidity
did the fire spread that the terrified
people had no time to save anything
some of them not even their lives
Such was the force of the fiery lorna
do that one frame building 70 feet
long was picked up and carried
across several lots. Those who could !
fed to the hills, glad to escape from
the hell of flames that was roaring
through the valley and turning day
into night with the dense volumes of !
smoke OF the city Of 5000 souls |
only few buildings of any kind re-
main. Within ! 5 minutes after the |
fire broke into Fernie the city was |
one mass of flames. Eastward the |
flames rolled, the dry and resinous |
timber furnishing ready fuel. Be |
fore its approach people fed in ter
TOR, seeking safety outside the fire !
zone. Some waded into the waters |
of the Elk river until the fiery visi-
tation had fed.
Women and children were loaded |
on trains of the Canadian Pacific |
railroad and were conveyed to safe !
ty. In this way many hundreds |
escaped. Members of families were
lost in this dreadful exodus and days
must elapse before the fate of miss |
ing ones can be learned.
Narrowing Tales.
Many pathetic stories of flight and /
in many instances the death Of I'M |
fortunate settlers who were caught !
in the swirl of flames as it swept +!
through the great forests of pine and /.
fir are coming from the various /
points with which communication has !
been re-established
One woman of West Fernie had /
just emerged from her home which !
was on fire. She dropped dead |
through fright. The neighbors has |
tily threw a few spadefuls of earth |
on her in her garden and then fed |
for their lives. In another part of |
the city an aged woman, an invalid, |
was carried a short distance but the |
heat became so great she begged |
her relatives to leave her and save