The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1909-08-18

Crows Nest Pass region in British
Columbia had been destroyed, my
first thought was of an old school
mate, named Murray Bartlett, who
went West from Maine two years age
to embark in the lumber business in
that vicinity.
According to the reports first tele-
graphed, hundreds, If not thousands
of the people about Fernie had per.
1shed and for some time we feared
that Murray and his young wife
whom we had also known well, were
among the victims of the fire.
| rejoiced, therefore, when twelve
days later a letter came, written by
Murray himself.
I'VE are stll alive" so his letter
opens, but it was touch and go with
us one day. | had seen forest fires
before, but we never had anything
like this in Maine. / could give you
no idea of it if tried-the heat, !
mean, and the great waves of fame
that rolled through the sky!
Just one little thing saved our
lives and the lives of eight others
who took refuge in our house-just
one little iron rod.
THAT will sound so queer to you
that shall have to explain it.
Our house is on the Elk River,
about five miles out of Fernie. |
built 1t myself. It was Just a shack
of squared logs, thirty-two by twenty,
with shingle roof-good enough in
q new country for Elsie and myself.
Il had trouble about getting well
there on account of lodges. For over
q year l used to bring all the water
we used in buckets from the river.
The Elk River comes down a great
valley between the mountains west
Of the Crows Nest Pass and empties
into the Kootenay, which is a large
tributary of the Columbia.
but grew tired of fetching water
30 far, so last May l put up a wind
mill at the riverbank, one of those
small iron turbines such as sell for
fifteen dollars. A slender steel tri-
pod, or tower, thirty feet high, came
with it. The only woodwork about
It was the long pump-rod, and that
was broken coming up on the cars
from Spokane. So I replaced it with
little iron rod which l pieced to-
gether at the sawmills where work.
l mention this because l suppose we
all owe our lives to that half-inch
rod. If the wooden pump-rod had
not happened to get smashed on the
cars, we'll, you would not be reading
this letter, that's all!
The windmill worked all right. I
got two hundred feet of pipe, and
then nailed together wooden tank
In the kitchen, where Elsie found II
great convenience to have plenty of
water handy.
All through the last week of July
II was very smoky. This whole Elk
River valley was heavily wooded;
and since numbering began, there
were miles and miles of dead, drv
treetops and brush. Not a drop of
rain had fallen for weeks. You can
Imagine how dry all this waste stuff
became. 1t was like so much tinder
Even the forests over the mountains
were very dry
"On Saturday, August 1, 1 went to
me mill, as usual, at seven O'Clock.
noticed that the wind was blowing
pretty hard. But in the mill we were
all busy with saws and planers. Not
much attention was paid to things
outside till toward noon, when two
welsh miners ran in and shouted
tnata a big fire was raging on the
other side of the river. While thew
were talking, five Chinese came run
ming down the river road, their pig
tails streaming out behind them, they
were so scared. They yelled to us in.
rne mill as they ran by and made ey
cited gestures upstream.
my house was up in that direc-
tion and without saying anything
more to any one, threw the belt off
my machine, grabbed coat and hat
and ran for home. The smoke was
driving down so thick that my eyes
smarted; the air, too, felt very hot.
When I came in sight of nv
house. I saw Elsie out throwing
water on the roof.
o Murray she cried. when she
saw me. Help me wet the house
down. They say there's a big fire
coming this way! I'm afraid we'll
lose our house!'
mot If we can both help it, said
1; and catching another bucket, I
began throwing water.
THE wind appeared to be rising:
the gusts roared through the woods
That little windmill of ours was lust
whirling for all it was worth, and a
smart stream Of water was coming
INTO the tank. should say threw
nfty bucketfuls on the roof and on
ehe walls. meant to soak the whole
outside Of the house If 1 could. The
air was so hot and dry that the house Q
steamed like boiling pot.
Just then three or four lumber