The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1910-08-26
MANY RANGERS
Still MISSING.
Almost Two Hundred Men
Lost in Fire District.
KNOWN DEAD NEARLY $50.

This Includes All the Victims in
Idaho, Montana and Washington,
Consisting Of Fire Fighters and 9th.
ers-Timber Losses Believed to Be
the Greatest in the History Of Amer.
lean Forest Fires.
Spokane, Wash, Aug. 26.-There
are 1876 men in the two forest ranger
parties now missing in the country at
the headwaters of the st. Joe river.
Eighty-tive men are in the party
headed by Joseph D. Hahn and the
expedition under F. A. Fern contains
100 men.
Deputy Rangers Fisher and Hol.
comb have left Wallace at the Lead of
relief expeditions tc the st. Joe. They
will try to penetrate the forest Ly way
OF the Clearwater divide, i....zz-;;,g
medicines and condensed rations. A
special from Wallace says: T..
"Forest Supervisor Weigle said
there were no other large parties than
those of Hahn and Fern missing in
the Occur d'Alene forest, although
there might be loss of life in isolated
groups. Hahn and his men are in the
densest woods in the national forest.
Fern and his crew are thirty miles
from safety. Conditions on the St..
Joe are very bad. Absence of news
is very discouraging, but the leaders
are skillful and experienced and hope
has not been abandoned"
Scores Of Settlers Missing. - !
b. One hundred and six men living in
the St. Joe valley are said to be miss
ing. Twenty-Five bodies, supposed to
be of settlers, have been found. Sew
4eral days ago twenty bodies were dis
covered scattered over an area Of over
half mile and it was assumed they
were forest employees, Supervisor Wei
gle including them in his list of dead
employees. Later, however, he declared
they were not rangers.
Add the number of dead rangers,
seventy-four, the forty-four bodies
found near Avery, the ten Japanese
who persisted near Avery and the vari-
GUS known dead in Washington, Idaho
land Montana, and the total is 142.
This is without taking into account
the 1856 rangers imprisoned on the
headwaters of the ST. Joe.
: The appalling loss of life among
the forest employees has taken the
heart out of the surviving foresters
and an order has been issued not to
risk life to save timber The little
fires are being extinguished, but the
great fires, to fight which might re-
suit in more loss of life, will be al
lowed to burn themselves out or until
the rains extinguish them.
- Fires Exhaust Their Fuel.
In the Occur d'Alene mining country
the fires have exhausted their fuel,
as also they have done in the Pend
d'Reille valley. In the Clearwater
country and in the thickest timber Of
the Occur d'Alene national forest,
however, the names are hungry and
active as ever.
No lumberman or forester will give
an estimate of the timber losses.
Even after the fires are out it will be
difficult to reckon the cost It is be-
lieved, however, that the present fires
are the most expensive the United
States has ever known. An expert
railroad builder estimates the loss of
Sound railroad at $2,500,O0O.
Conditions in the Clearwater reserve
are hopeless and Major Fem has re
ceived instructions from the forestry
headquarters at Missoula to recall all
the fire fighters from the interior of
the stricken region and set them to
work on the outskirts of the fire zone.