Milford chronicle., 1910-08-26
SEARCH FOR DEAD
IN FOREST FIRES
Scores Of Bodies Have Been
Found in Ashes.
1000 FIGHTERS ARE MISSING
Flames Rage Unchecked In Five
States-Wou1en Save a Town-Many
Villages Still Threatened.

Villages Still Threatened.
Nearly the whole panhandle o
Idaho, timbered mountain country il
on fire, and it is possible that 400 per
sons may have perished.
United States Forest Supervisor W
F. Weigle has not heard from 300 Of
his men who were in the burning
woods, and he fears they may have
persisted
He sent Ranger A. r. HOlcOmb tC
open up the old Mullan road leading
to the Bullion mine, where eight bod
les are buried.
The known dead now number so.
Three towns are in ashes. They are
Taft, Deborgia and Henderson. The
old part Of St Regis has been de-
stroyed, and half Of Wallace, Idaho,
where forty-fve lost their lives, lies
in ruins,
A crowd was sent out to the big
fork of the Occur d'Alene, where
twelve bodies are buried under the
ruins This will necessitate the clear
ing of thirty miles Of road to Wallace,
Besides the twelve dead at Big Fork,
three men suffered broken legs and
three others were totally blinded.
Heavy clouds are hanging over the
district and rain is expected.
Six hundred fire fighters who left
Thompson Falls, in Montana. four days
ago. are reported lost, and Forest Su-
pervisOr Bushnell, Of the Cabinet re
serve, who is at Thompson, fears all
may have perished.
The fires have swept past Wallace.
The towns of Coeur d'Alene district
have passed the first stage Of wild, un
reasoning panic and have settled down
with more or less composure to wait
for the list Of dead.
Forty men are dead north of Muir
ray, Idaho along Independence creek |
where the fires were the fercest.
The list is constantly growing, as
the forest rangers, with red eyes and /
blackened faces, penetrate the rails |
now choked with fallen logs and bring /
word Of fire fighting crews cut OF,
camps wiped out, ranchers and home
steaders caught in the path of the
flames and mountain towns left in
ashes.
Hardly a bridge in the whole coun-
try around Wallace is left and the
Oregon Railroad & Navigation. North
ern Pacific and Chicago, Milwaukee &
Puget Sound lines are crippled to some
extent The burned district in Mon
tana, generally speaking extends east
to Missoula. north to the headwaters
Of the St Jose and in other directions,
nobody knows how far. From the top
Of the hills everything as far as the
eye can see is swept bare.
II is said that insurance on the
destroyed in Wallace will
otal $85O,OOO. Losses are still esti
mated about $4,000
That Elk City, Wash, is still on the
nap is due solely to the heroism of
he women of the town. who, while the
male population was fighting the ad-
lance Of the cOnfagration, guarded
heir homes and business houses, ex-
inguishing flames wherever they ap-
reared
The town is out of danger, but the
in the surrounding regions
re growing worse The wind has
gain risen to a gale and the adjacent
are a seething mass of
lanes
The entire Iron mountain is again
blaze and the fire on Squaw creek is
urning with renewed fury
The American river district is a gi-
antic furnace for miles A number of
utlying settlements from which the
Inhabitants have Aed, are certain of ,
estructiOn.
Forest Ranger Porter wires Assist
Mt Ranger Brown, at Grangeville, as
blows:
Situation desperate. Whole country
blaze Must have help to save prop
rty."
The fire in the Clearwater reserve, =
ccOrding to advices. is absolutely be
ond control and all hopes OF subduing
lie flames until it rains have been
DandOned