Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1910-08-26
9OOF|REF|GHTERS
AMONG MISSING
500 RANGERS LOST TO WORLD
OVER FOUR DAYS IN
MONTANA.
WENT BRAyELY INTO THE FIRES
400 Persons Are Possibly Dead In Pan.
Handle Of ldaho.-FIames Still
Sweep Over the Divides, En-
dangerlng Towns.

dangering Towns.
Spokane, Aug. 24.-Nearly the whole
panhandle of Idaho, timbered noun.
tain county, is on fire and it is pos
sible that 400 persons may have perish
ed. United States Forest Supervisor,
w. r. Weigle has not heard from 300
Of his men who were in the burning
woods and he fears they have persisted.
The other loss of life is estimated
at 100. The mining town of Wardner
is almost surrounded by flames and the
miners are out fighting the fire.
The fires in the great Occur d'Alene
national forests are beyond control and
timber worth millions of dollars is
burning. The fires in the Occur
d'Alene Indian reservation are check
ed, as are those of Palouse national
forest. Along the st. Joe river, which
runs through what is described on
maps as the largest body of standing
white pine timber in the United States,
there is continuous fire from Plum
mer to point in Montana.
The United States is the largest
loser and next in Importance are the
losses sustained by the Chicago, Mil
waukee and Puget Sound Railroad.
which has suffered destruction Of
bridges, buildings and timber lands
for forty miles.
The fires along the Northern Pacific
in Western Montana have diminished.
They were largely in timber that had
been fire-swept in former years, but
the Idaho fires are burning virgin for
est.
The Pen d. Oreille valley, heavily
timbered, is on fire in several places.
and loss of life is feared. It is diff
cult to get news from that section.
The weather service says no rain is
in prospect.
Milwaukee employees at Avery say
that it seems as if all the Bitter Root
mountains are burning and that the
entire Couer d'Alene national forest
will be destroyed.
The most serious feature of the for.
est fire is that 900 forest rangers are
missing in Idaho and Montana. The
telephone lines through the national
forests have been destroyed or inter.
rupted.
Light rain has begun to fall in Wal.
lace and other Couer d'Alene mining
towns that. have been scorched or
threatened by the forest fires and the
weary fire fighters took new hope.
Next to the United States, big corpo-
rations are the chief sufferers. 1t is
difficult to give figures on the timber
losses, which may reach $4,000, 900.
1t is estimated that more than 500
settlers in Montana, Idaho and Wash
ington have lost their homes and ev.
erything in them.
600 Forest Rangers Are Missing.
Helena. Aug. 24.-The first report
to reach this city with suggestion of
the terrible fate that Is believed to
have overtaken a crew of 600 forest
rangers who left Thompson Falls four
days ago to combat the furious forest
fires in the Cabinet Reserve, was
brought by julius Barney, who arrived
from Thompson, where he heard from
Forester Supervisor Bushnell first-hand
information of conditions in the dis
trict.
Six hundred men," said Mr.. Bar
ney, have been gone four days, dur
ing which nothing has been heard
from them, and Forest Supervisor
Bushnell of the Cabinet reserve, who
is at Thompson, fears all are dead.
They could scarcely have obtained
food and as none have returned, it is
presumed they were cut OF by the fire.
Governor Edwin L. Morris has order.
ed out five companies of the Montana
national guard to assist in fighting
forest fires in various sections of the
state.
From the Idaho side furious fires
are reported coming over the divide
at the head sof Rock creek and head
ing toward Eight Mile creek, east of
Florence. This fire has front of 18
miles and is said to be extending
across the creek in the direction of
Bonner. On the west side of the Bit
ter Root Valley many fires are now
reported.
The Puget Sound railway officials
say fire is burning along Deep
creek, above Iron mountain, and is
driving rapidly toward the town of
Coburn Reports circulated here that
incendiaries had attempted to speed
new fires at st. Regis Monday night.
The charges were made that certain
unidentified persons were detected
hurting burning brands among the
buildings in the business district OF
the old town. No arrests have been
reported.