Los Angeles herald., 1910-08-22
FIRES IN FORESTS
COST FIFTY LIVES
Citizens at Wallace Try to ESti-
mate Number of Deaths
in Woods
TEN TOWNS ARE IMPERILED
Government Official Informed
That InCendiaries Applied
Torch in Oregon
TEN TOWNS ARE IMPERILED
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opened freely, and the homeless are
in comfortable shape for the present.
Another train with 500 persons on
board is expected tonight over the
Milwaukee road.
A dense pail of smoke hangs all over
western Montana. In Missoula it was
dark as midnight at 5 o'clock, the
smoke having a lurid hue.
TOWN OF TAFT DESTROYED
The tov-n of Taft, near the Idaho
line, was entirely destroyed before
daylight this morning.
Saltez, just below Taft, has been
abandoned by its inhabitants and is
known to be surrounded by fire. De
Borgia is seriously 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 destroyed
the last word from there having been
that the fire was dangerously near
and the telephone operator was prepar-
ing to flee.
The area covered by the fire is
roughly 100 miles square, most of it
in the mountains and sparsely settled
districts. 1t is difficult to obtain in
formation from any of the points, and
impossible to reach some of the isolat-
ed places. There is a probability that
there has been serious loss of life, as
there are prospectors, camping parties
and lumber men all through the noun
tains, and the fire may have come upon
them while they slept last night or
they may have wakened this morning
to find themselves cut off.
George Wallbillig, a packer, and two
companions reached Missoula tonight
from Adair, station on the Milwau
kee road, west of Missoula, about 100
miles, arrived here this afternoon, hav-
ing ridden their horses nearly to death
in escaping the flames
They saw a car of dynamite and oil
at a construction camp near Adair
exploded as they left. The fire spread
rapidly and they believe the camp was
destroyed There were % men there.
RESCUE TRAIN ARRIVES
CANVASS Prairie, a farming village in
the Blackfoot country, surrounded en-
tirely by hills, is the scene of a seri-
Gus conflagration tonight.
A courier arrived here tonight from
that place with an appeal for aid.
From Bonner so men were sent to
help the farmers and so more are 60
ing from Missoula. The fire came out
of the timber and is sweeping across
the valley. Grain and hay are being
destroyed.
Three more rescue trains reached
Missoula tonight from the west. The
Milwaukee ran in two of them and
the Northern Pacific another. The
last Northern Pacific train brought in
formation that the town of Saltese, re-
ported earlier to be threatened, had
caught fire before the train left ST.
Regis.
MANY DEATHS REPORTED
From all directions come reports of
deaths in the flames, but they are not
authenticated, and it is not believed
there have been many fatalities. Two
unknown men We're overcome by
smoke today in the forest near Iron
Mountain.
A telephone message from ST. Regis,
received here at 10 p. m, says the
fire swept down Mullen gulch tonight
and cut off the towns of De Borgia
and Henderson. The Mann Lumber
company ran its logging train down
from Henderson, bringing men and
their families, after all bodies had been
burned. These towns will doubtless
burn.
The old town of ST. Regis at 10 p
m. is threatened; the fire is in a can
yon a mile from town, approaching
rapidly. The last equipment of the
Northern Pacific in that section is be-
ing used to bring away the women
and children from st. Regis. Most of
the men of the town We're at De Bor-
gia, seven miles above, fighting fire
there, and many of them must have
been cut off