Omaha daily bee., 1910-10-10
FIRE In MINNESOTA FORESTS
Town Of Baudette Destroyed and
1000 Reported Homeless.
BELIEVED MANY LIVES ARE LOST
Millions of Dollars Worth of Prop
erty Lost and an Area of
Country 100 Miles Square
in Flames.
BELIEVED MANY LIVES ARE LOST

FORT WILLIAMS. Ont, Oct 9.-(spe-
| cial Telegram,)-A dispatch from Bau-
| dette. Mimi, about zoo miles west of
here on the Canadian Northern railway,
across the river from the town Of Rainy
River, which was reported as destroyed
Saturday night by forest fires, says:
THE most disastrous forest fire in the
history of northern Minnesota and west
ern Ontario, visited this vicinity Saturday
night, in which scores of lives were lost
and millions of dollars worth of property
were destroyed. 1t broke out northwest
of the town about g p. m. and by $3.50
the towns of Baudette and Spooner were
on fire"
The Canadian Northern railway sent an
engine and fifty empty box cars to the
relief of the striekeng towns and in fiji
teen minutes all who could reach the de-
pot were safe on 4he Canadian side. al
though 1t looked as If they might be go
ing from the frying pan into the fire,
! as the town of Rainy River was on fire
in several places. The Rat Portage Lum-
Der company ct Rainy River lost it's
electric plant and yards.
Many Reported Dead.
The down coming trains report the
right-of-way strown with corpses, found
between here and five miles west They
were endeavoring to get away from the
fires and got on the tracks, only to be
burned to death between the rails, the
bodies being destitute of clothing, every
thing being burned except the shoes.
One mother was found with a g.
months old baby dashed to her breast,
both so completely charred by flames
as to be unacceptable.
b. p. Egan, a prominent merchant of
Spooner and his wife, had a very mar
row escape from the flames and over
| 1000 people are homeless, with only what
they had on their backs when the fire
caught them
It is feared that hundreds Of settlers
south Of here have perished as 1t is
known that they were packing up TO
come TO town yesterday, but have not
reached hers yet. oas niall, named ram
sey, ian with a small child in his arms
seven miles to town and reported sew
eral families behind him, but they have
not turned up yet.
One Thousand Homeless.
INTERNATIONAL FALLS, MINI. oct
s.-(Special Telegram. )-Baudette, Mimi,
was wiped out by fire last night, 1000 peo-
pie being rendered homeless.
The Shevlin-Mathieu Lumber company's
mill at Spooner, MINI, and the Rat Port
age Lumber company's mip at Rainy River,
Ont. are in ashes, with a loss of more
than 100000 on each mill, not including
great stores Of lumber.
A vast fear-inspiring pail of smoke covers
the whole Rainy river basin from Kettle
Falls to Winnipeg. Only the Canadian
Northern depot at Baudette remains stand
ing.
Unless rain comes quickly and In great
volume, nothing can prevent the destruc-
ton of dozen or more small towns
hemmed in on all sides by woods.
Even a modern fire department could not
stand against the flames, and the settlers,
with axes and shovels as their only
weapons, are only endanEering their lives
in battling them.
To make matters worse. the dry season
has dried up almost every well and small
str cam in this part of the state. Drenching
rain. and that alone. can quench the great
forest fires that are probably 100 miles
square. with the center OF the conflagra-
ton at about the northern border Of Bel
trami county.
wires Are All Down.
Telephone and telegraph wires are down
for many miles through the fire district
and It is impossible TO obtain definite in
! formation. However, It is believed that the
loss OF nfe will be slight confined to iso-
lated settlers.
This having been a season Of continual
forest fires, the residents Of the north
country have been on their guard. The
state forest rangers were called In a month
ago as the funds were exhausted, and
every day since that the hazards have in
creased.
Heavy frosts have covered the ground
with dry leaves, and as the woods are as
dry as matches and burn about as easily,
there is no stopping the flames. once they
get started they must simply burn them
selves out.
The fire losses will run into millions OF
dollars-just how many millions It would
be mere guesswork 70 say. All the burned
timber must be cut this winter or II will
be total loss. There are no serious fires
around International Falls, but there are
hundreds OF incipient blazes which the high
winds might a. any time fan into con,
dagratiOn.