Omaha daily bee., 1910-08-23
homeless in Wallace, many having lost
their belongings.
Narrow Escupes.

homeless in Wallace, many having los
their belongings
Narrow Escapes.
Stories OF narrow escapes and stirring ad
ventures come in with every group OF weary
fighters.
In tunnel OF the old War Eagle mine on
Placer creek. seven miles from Wallace
forty-one men under Forest Ranger, PULASKI
were packed tightly together to escape q
sheet OF flame that swept down the guch
! They Rugged the ground and buried their
| faces in the mud on the floor of the tunnel
until the fire went by when. half mad from
the heat, they threw themselves into the
creek. Five were left dead in the tunnel
| and another cut off from the crew was
! found burned to cinder
| MIsSOULA, Mont, Aug. 2l.-Mercilessly
and relentlessly the forest fires In western
Montana and Idaho are sweeping over a
vast area, driving hundreds OF fugitives
before them. destroying small settlements
and wiping out of existence millions of
dollars worth Of property.
The situation tonight is more serious than
1t was in the early morning, except at Wal
lace. Idaho, where it is believed that nearly
half of the city will be saved.
Elsewhere in the fire zone the situation
line
most serious incident was reported late this
afternoon from the ST. Coe country, where
lSO men engaged in the forestry service are
missing, and it is feared they have been
| burned to death.
When the fire approached the Camp where
there were 200 men two Of the Fighters took
horse, and riding the animal to death,
reached another camp and ordered rescue
party which penetrated the fire to Bird
creek.
Save Themselves in Water.
Eighteen Of the men were found in the
water. where they had gone for safety, and
they were not harmed. OF the remaining
$50 no word has been received. The forestry
service has organized a relief train we'll
equipped with pack animals carrying pro-
visions and hospital supplies and will
endeavor to get through the fire.
About 1000 refugees have been brought
into Adssoula today. There is much distress
among them. Their wants are being sup
piled by Missoula people and they have
been given temporary homes. The first Of
the trains came over the Northern Paciflc's
Occur D'Alene branch and brought the pa
tents who had been in the Sisters hospital
at wallace and as many refugees as could
find places on the small train.
There were $50 on the train and a second
train at noon brought as many more. These
people came from the small towns along
the line between here and Wallace Many
OF them had been reused from their sleep
py the people on the train, whose summons
had been the first intimation that the fire
was near; there had been no sign of it
When the people went to bed Saturday
night In most instances these people
escaped only scantily clad.
Child Born in Box Car.
A woman who had fled from her home at
midnight gave birth to a child in a box
car just after the arrival of the first train
! at Mssoula.
Local hospitals are caring for the sick
Mlssoula homes have been opened freely
and the homeless are comfortable for the
present.
Another train with 500 people on board is
expected over the Chicago, Milwaukee q
| Puget Sound railway.
A dense pail of smoke hangs all over
eastern Montana. In Missoula 1t was as
dark as midnight at 8 o'clock, the dense
smoke being given a lurid hue which had
all ,the semblance of the glow Of fire, but
which was probably due to the SUM-
+ The town of Taft near the Idaho line
was entirelS, destroyed by fire before day
light this = rning.
I Saltez. just below Taft, has been aban-
idoned by its inhabitants and is known to
be surrounded by fire. Deborgia is seri-
ously threatened and one man is missing. At
st. Regis the fire has crossed the river and
threatens outlying buildings. though no
fears are entertained for the town.
Haughan is reported to be deserted, the
last word from there being that the fire
is dangerously near and the telephone oper-
ator was preparing to flee. The area COW
cred is roughly estimated at a hundred
miles square, most of it in the mountains
and sparsely settled. 1t is difficult to OBJ
tain information from any OF the points
and impossible to reach some OF the iso-
lated places at all.
Serious Loss of Life.
There is a probability that there has been
serious loss of life as there are camping
parties and lumbermen all through the
mountains, and the fire may have come
upon them while they slept last night, or
they may have been awakened this morning
to find themselves cut off.
! Camas Prairie. a farming valley in the
Blackfoot country. is the scene OF a seri-
Gus conflagration tonight. A courier ar
rived mere tonight with an appeal for aid
From Bonner fifty men were sent to help
the farmers and fifty more are going from
Missoula The fire is sweeping across the
valley and grain and hay are being de-
stroyed.
Three more rescue trains reached Mis-
soula tonight from the west The Chicago.
Milwaukee & Puget Sound ran in two of
them and the Northern Pacific one There
were about 500 on the trains, but none in
the distress that marked earlier arrivals.
The last Northern Pacific train brought
information that the town of Saltez had
caught fire before this train left St. Regis.
A telephone message from ST. Regis. re-
ceived at Missoula at 10 o'clock tonight,
says that the fire swept down Mullan
gu.ch tonight and cut off the towns OF