The Dickinson press., 1912-04-13
PECULIAR ORIGIN OF
THE GREAT FOREST FIRES

.sN.' 49, 1885," '.EEsr r5'E- - .-T- .sr.
G. S. Cryne Of Gladstone writes in
te~restingly of spontaneous fires. He
says that lightning often sets fires on
the prairie and he makes reference to q
fire which MI. Dobson saw start from
a bottle on a hot summer day. This was
during the early sos and the writer
goes on as follows regarding forest fires :
The great forest fires that devastated
the northeast counties of Wisconsin
and the peninsula of Michigan in the
autumn of 1872 when the great Chicago
fire took place, was caused primarily
by m~arsh-gas getting into the air and
mixing with the atmosphere to such a
degree as to become the vehicle of fire
from n part of the country to another.
The forests of this part of the country
at that time were dense pine woods, and
throughout the whole country there were
large marshes of peat. This peat was
covered at varying depths with a fine
muck which became under continued
drought as fine as powder. and just as
in1ammable.
The season spoken Of had been con-
tinously very dry since the snow had
gone off in the spring, and up to Octo-
Der it did not rain at all.
These peat marshes during continued
dry weather crack open to a considerable
depth, and then eminations from the
depths of the earth take the form which
science has named marsh-gas. This
gas is almost exactly like common
burning grass which is used in the cit
les for lighting purposes, and is quite
as infammable and explosive when con
fined or only partially ~oxygenated.
To show fully what occurred in that
part of the country shall relate one lit
tie incident which will serve to make
plain how dreadfully bad the conditions
were in that country when the forests
were as dry as finder and the high
winds of the autumn were more preva-
lent than usual.
A man by the name of Miller had
bought himself a tract of land in the
hardwood region on the peninsula of
Green Bay, and had BEGUN to improve
the same by clearing a little space and
erecting him a house of beach logs the
house was entirely new at the time Of
this occurrence and to that fact probably
we owe at this time the knowledge of
just what did all the mischief and how
it was accomplished.
Mr.. Miller was sitting n afternoon
in his house with the door closed to keep
out the mosquitoes, when there took
place right before his eyes the solution
of the problem of how a fire could be-
come started withou, apparent cause.
Mr.. Miller noticed a very strong odor
that was to him peculiar he noticed
that the sun was becoming obscured by
a kind of mist that did not to be
like a fog, nor smoke exactly, although
it seemed nearer smoke than anything
else. After he had Thought on the state
of things a little while, he noticed a
slight %murmuring sound, .,indistinct at
first. and although not loud was never
theless very distinct. The wind was
quite strong from the northwest from
across the point of Green Bay and the
mainland but still there was not much
smoke close to the ground from the for
est-ires far away.
All at once as he sat gazing toward
the edge of the clearing from which the
sound and the odor seemed to come. he
saw what he at first thought was a dust.
cloud come out of the woods, and wher
il had got entirely clear of the timber il
looked like a great brown ball or rather
waive of dust coming straight TOWARD
his house. The ball OF. wave did moi
come fast it seemed as though it tool
power to send it along the ground, ant
it barely touched the ground. At last h
saw that it would envelope the house o
strike it and he was curious to know o.
what the cloud of dust or something
that looked so queer co uld be composed
However, he did not have much time t
think. and as he was about to. turn an,
open the door to step outside it struc
the house and at the same time an ex
plosion took place that caused things t
crack and snap wonderfully, and at tn
same time there was thrust under tn
door through the small crack that wa
left a sheet of flame that nearly crosses
the entire width of the house.
The Mr., Miller crossed the room an
looked out of a window on the opposit
side of the house, and saw disappearin
into the woods on the opposite side
the clearing from which this demon {
fire had entered, a cloud of smoke, dus
and fire: the woods was composed {
green hard wood trees. and no fire we
set, and the thing disappeared withol
doing any damage in that section Of tn
country. Mr.. Miller at, once told til
story, which at length reached the news
papers and s scientific men came an