The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-08-23
Elk City Left to the Protection
of Females.
ALI Night They Stayed on the
Roofs Of Houses.
FIRES WERE PUT OUT
AS Fast as They We're Started
by Burning FagOts.
Wallace and COeur d'Alene Are
Out Of Danger.

Spokane, Wash, Aug. 23.-That Elk
| city is still on the map and out of
reacn OF the forest fires ravaging the
surrounding country, which is ablaze
Tor miles. is due solely to the heroism
OF the women of the town who. while
tne male population was fighting the
advance of the conf1agration, guarded
/ thelr homes and the hrr.--~- houses.
ext1ngulshing a number of incipient
hlazes started by brands carried from
the burning forests. Many of them
stayed on roofs of the buildings all Sat
urday night and but for their bravery.
| the town would have been a mass of
smoulderirg embers.
| The town is out of danger. but the
conditions in the surrounding regions
are growing worse. The wind has again
risen to gale and the adjacent noun
talns are mass of flames
Inc entire Iron mountain is again
abiaze, the fire on Squaw creek is burn
| ing with renewed fury
The American river district is ,;
| gantic furnace for miles, A number of
outlying settlements, from which the
inhabitants have fled, are certain of
destruction and it is reported that the
piant OF the American Eagle mine, one
/ ing. - Jul
| Scores of square miles of territory are
| involved and hundreds of men are
wanted to assist in getting the fire un-
| der control 1
1 The fires have swept past Wallace.
| Inc people of Occur D'Alene have
passed the first stage of wild, unreas-
onlng panic and have settled down
| Tor the list of dead. The list is con-
| stantly growing as the forest rangers.
! with red-rlmmed eyes and blackened
| races, penetrate the trails now choked
! Wltn Ialien logs and bring word of
| nre hghting crews cut off, camps wiped
| out, ranchers and homesteaders caught
| IN the path of the flames and mounts in
| towns left in ashes
Since the report of the Bullion mine
tragedy, no new deaths have been re-
corded. Forest Supervisor WeigIe has
! neard from practically all of his for
esters ana expresses no alarm except
for the Isolated gangs of fire fighters
cut OF from communication.
He is also worried about Ranger
| Neville, hghting with a large crew on
Independence creek, from whom he
has not heard for several days.
In Wallace, the people have largely
! recovered from the shock of their
| narrow escape of Saturday. A force
of men has started to clear the ruins
| of the Occur d'Alene foundry, work
! ing in ashes still hot and the erection
| of a new building will be under way
| in a few days.
Notices have been posted that mines
at Burke and along the canyon will
start tomorrow and miners are being
| called back to work. Before the week
is over, work will have been started
on the reconstruction of buildings
wiped out Saturday night. AS fast as
they can be assembled, bridge build
| ing crews will be rushed to work
| Hardly bridge in the whole country
around Wallace is left and the Oregon
Railway & Navigation, Northern Pa
cific and Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget
Sound lines are crippled to some ex-
tent. 1t is impossible to give any ac-
curate or even approximate idea of
| the extent of the fires in the Coeur
D'Alene district. The burned district,
generally speaking, extends east to
Missoula, north to the head waters of
the st. Joe and in other directions,
nobody knows how far. From the tops
of the hills, everything as far as the
eye can see, is swept bare. Until the
forest rangers report at HEADQUARTERS
| here, there will be no accurate esti-
mates of the fires ravages.
Fear of contamination in the Wallace
water supply has caused the water
company to send men up Placer creek
and all It's feeders, clearing streams of
dead fish and charred logs. So far
there has been no illness from use of
the water. 1t is said that insurance on
I
$3.50 600. Losses are still estimated at
: about 81 900 900. The Wallace city coun-
} ell has appointed a committee to con-
!; slider the relief of the homeless. Offers
of assistance have been received from
many sources, but none has been ac-
cepted.
!; Fires are reported all around Muir
ray, but the town is still untouched.
Three Hundred Missing.
Spokane. Wash, Aug. 23.-Three
hundred fire fighters of total force
of 500 which has been battling with
the flames in the burning white pine
forests of northern Idaho are unac-
| counted for today.
Government Forest Supervisor w.
r. Weigle. in an interview at Wal
: lace today, declared his belief that
nearly all of this entire number had
perished.
"Out of my total force of 500 men
1 have received word of the safety of
only 300." said the supervisor. 'The
| others, when last heard from. were
| working in the districts where the
flames have been the fiercest, along
the head waters of the Coeur d'Alene
and the St. Joe. 1 am forced to the
appalling conclusion that nearly all of
these men have lost their lives"
Whole Train Is Burned.
Helena, Mont, Aug. 23.-A North
ern Pacific train reached Helena to-
day from the west, the first in three
days. Passengers relate thrilling ex-
| periences. All day yesterday they
were in fear lest they should not get
) through. They report the burning OF
a St Paul train in northern Idaho
the passengers having been taken
J aboard OF the train reaching here
: Passengers report the destruction
complete along the C1ark's Fork val
ley
The fire situation in this vicinity
: today is not improved. Two new fires
) are reported, one at the head of Buff
: falo creek. ten miles south of the
city. and the other in Sanborn eulch