The Oskaloosa herald., 1913-08-07
PEAT BED FIRE
NOT YET CHECKED
FARMERS, HOWEVER, HOPE TO
SAVE ADJOINING LAND.
$3.50 LAND ENTIRELY RUINED
Trenches Have Been Dug and Sixteen
Wells Sunk Separating Burning
Land From That Adjoining
May 90 Under Roadway.

Downs, Ia, Aug. 6.-The peat bee
on the Nels Sorensen farm near Lati
mer is still burning The fire will be
there when snow flies ii predictions
prove true.
The half hundred men who are
lighting the fire are not trying to put
out the Goals on the Sorensen farm
They are trying to save adjoining
land and township road. Every as.
surance is given by the men in charge
OF the defense that they had stopped
the advance of the fire on Sthe road
between Scott and Morgan townships.
A trench from two to three feet in
width and from four to six feet deep
separates the burned peat and the
road, but this ditch is within few
feet of the main travelled path of the
right-of-way. On one side of the road
is this defense trench, on the other a
monster drainage ditch The road is
high grade, but, like the land on
either side, is little more than pure
peat. The fire could burn under the
road, but it is considered hardly proba-
BILE it will go under the drainage
ditch before being discovered. o
The plan of the attack now is to
keep the trenches deeper than the
fire. They are being widened too to
prevent jumping in case there are
flames.
Sixteen wells were dug but the
water obtained from them was of lit
tie help. A monster suction pump
operated by a tractor drew water
from the drainage ditch as long as
that supply lasted. A pipe line has
been extended from we'll a quarter
of mile west of the ditch. A gaso-
line engine will be operated day and
night. A water wagon is used to car
ry water to places where fire must
be extinguished before the men can
work.
Il am getting used to the smoke"
zone said, but the heat is almost too
such for me-"
smoke from the burned bed to the
< sknen. Engineer Baker, of Frank
III county, is directing the work. He
~ at noon satisfied the fire will
Dread no more, provided the water
supply and available workmen hold
out.
The county took charge of the de-
Tense because the townships are
short of funds. If the road is burned
il practically means the highway will
have to be abandoned or land purchas-
ed along the side hill quarter of a
mile north or south. The smoke from
the burning peat has been menace
to farmers living north of the fire
and to residents of Latimer. The
odor is offensive and the smoke
chokes one.
The underground fire does not
cause so much trouble. Nineteen
years ago there were peat bed fires
near here. The bed of Wall lake. a
part of the Ellsworth farm, and a
mine at Belmond burned. Persons
who do not want Wall Lake drained
believe the peat bed fire on Soren-
sons farm will recall the Wall Lake
fire and it possible recurrence If drain
ed.
The Sorensen land a week ago was
a clover field Ii was worth $3.50 an
acre at least. Some of the farmers
think the ashes can be used as fertil-
izer on other farms.
No one will venture on the burned
patch because of the danger of falling
into holes. An attempt has been
made to make commercial product
of peat but the promoters of the COM
pany who lived here failed to find a
way to dry it.