Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1910-08-23
Little Hope for 500 Lum-
bermen and Their
Families.
CONDITIONSiGROW WORSE
THROUGHOUT'LARGE AREA
City of Tacoma, Menaced by
Flames, Saved by Change
inf Wind.

HELENA, Mont, Aug. zs-Msre than
n thousand persons, Including nearly
500 lumbermen and their families, are
known to be nnarooned In the BURNING
area. and little hope Is held out for
the sscsDs ss aay OF them. several
crews OF fire fighters. numbering from
ten to 20O'men each. have not been heard
from, and fears are entertained that
they too have perished. At least no
lives have been lost, and the probabsss-
ty Is that the Hist of dead VIII greatly
exceed this number.
SPOKANE, wash, Aug. 2a-Drzrcn
by high winds, and with no prospecf of
being checked by rain, forest fires in
Washington, idaho, western Montana
and Northern California today con-
ffnue to sweep all before them win
unabsted fury. Conservative estimates
place the LIST Of known dead at more
than nifty, the missing at zoo ana tho
injured at 150. Every hour brings re-
ports adding to the list of known dead
and injured. II win be wrecks before
the full extent OF the firc. its attendant
loss of life and destruction of property
can be known with anything like ac-
curncy- Man can now do But little to
check the rasaEes of the flames. The
FIRE, unless heavy rnin falls ntcndaIy for
hours, must be left to burn itself out.
Three hundred frc-fghters of n total
force OF 500 which has been sattlsrs< fAe
flames In the burnins white Piae for-
est of Northern Idaho, are unacconnted
visor W. n. weisIe, nj yvaiInee. today
declared his belief TINT nearly All of
the entire nnnsbcr hnd n<risIed.
The suburbs Of the city OF Tacnusa
were threatened by a wall OF fame
1.000'feet wide all last night Today the
city is thought to be out Of danger. AZ
the high wind there has died down and
the lighter breeze. veering. is driving
the fire away from the city.
AS the result of advices from the
stricken districts. received at late
hour last night. Governor j. P. Brady.
Of Idaho. has ordered the troops OF that
State. at present in camp at American
Lake. to proceed at once to Occur
d'Alene, Idaho. to render assistance IN
lighting fires and In aIleviating distress
resulting from forest fires.
That Elk City is still on the map
and out of reach of the forest fres
ravaging the surrounding country.
which is ablaze for miles. Is due solely
to the heroism of the women Of the
town. who. while the masculine popula-
tion was fighting the advance OF the
confiagration. guarded their homes and
the business houses, extinguishing a
number of incipient blazes started by
brands carried from the burning for
ests. Many of them stayed on roofs Of
the buildings all Saturday night. and
but for their bravery the town would
have been a mass of smouldering en-
bers.
Conditions Growing Worse.
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
mountains are a seething mass OF
flames.
The entire Iron Mountain is again
ablaze. the fire on Squaw Greek is burn
ing with renewed fury. and the Ameri-
can river district Is a gigantic furnace
for miles. A number of outlying SETTLE
ments. from which the inhabitants have
fed, are certain of destruction. and it is
reported that the plant of the Ameri-
can Eagle mine. one of the largest In
the district. is burning.
Scores Of square miles of territory
are involved and hundreds Of men are
wanted to assist in getting the conda-
grafton under control. Conditions are
epitomized in a brief message from
Forest Ranger Porter TO Assistant
Ranger Brown in Grangeville. 1t says:
Situation desperate. Whole country
ablaze- Must have help to save prop
erty''
The fire in the Clearwater reserve.
according to advices received late iask
night by Major Fem. is absol:sely be-
yond control. and all hopes of subduing
the flames until it rains have been
abandoned
The pack train reported surrounded
Sunday night reached a place of safety
on Rocky Ridge yesterday. but are un-
able to reach the rangers camp for
which they were headed.
The fire on Old Man Creek and the
one on Selway. near Camp 81. have