The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-08-26
BACK TO BATTLE
after TERRIBLE
RUN FOR SAFETY
Fighters, With New Outfits,
Reorganize to Attack
Growing Blaze.
/ GUS SIOLBURG OUT
AFTER CLOSE CALL
Man Lies in Small Stream
While Flames Roar
Overhead.

Three hundred fire fighters, isolated
Iu tn" Sitter Root mountains Friday
by the sudden ourush of It terrific for
est fire which blocked their pack
trail, wiped out their camp and scut
them fleeing for safety, stragglcd into
lolo yesterday and pluckily began re
organizing for q fresh attack.
Not one of the 300 men was lost
District Forester X. ~. Rutlcdgn an
nounccd last night, after persistent
rurnors OF deaths IN the fire had been
traced carefully TO wild ruesscs. Soy
erat men were burucd--onn Of them
Gus Stolburg, so badly that he had
to be brought to Missoula and all
were exhausted and hungry. but thu
whole force prepared last night to re
new the fight with fresh OUTFITS
rushed to the front by motor ears.
Stolburg Has Close Call.
Stolburg will recover from serious
burns about the head and back. ply
sicans at st. patrick's hospital said
miraculous, according tu the scanty
story he has been abb" To tell.
Cut of FROM his companions and
missed Il horrible death With the
roaring fire almost at his heels he ran
unseong through the woods until. al
most exhausted, he stumbled and fell
flat into Il shallow stream.
/ There he lay. first on his face and
then on his back, while the tail of the
fearful fire rOared over him. His face
and back were hiIstcrod by the ter
rifle heat.
Salmon Lake Force Come Back.
A crew of 50 men west Of Salmon
lake displayed courage comparable To
that of the Lolo forces yesterday by
returning to tight thu spreading firu
which destroyed their camp and food
aud bedding Friday and from which
only their heels saved them. Strength
| oned by 50 recruits and provided with
new outfits, these men, under Ranger
rlnde1, went back to the firing line
from which they had just been driven,
| Headquarters is hopeful that they and
- who are fighting Il desperate fire on
) Gold creek not far away Will be able
to control the Blaektoot situation
Situation Growing Worse.
| Although no other reports than
| ihuN" of actual danger to the lives oi
| tirefiehters were received $eSteraaS
! almost every word which came to for
est scrvieo hadau4rters told Of dis
aster. Breaking AWAY from the con-
trol lines established at the cost OF
rrnat effort the fires are sweeping
madly through pnrchcd timber areas
in all parts OF western Montana,
l. .,,tI ,,t
du1eus of blazing areas. rapidly grow
ing larger aA the deepening yellow
| haze and u startling fall OF white
ashes and blackened pine needles tes-
tif"d' /" people horc yesterday.
Little Damage 10 Ranehers.
| ThaUks to the fact thut most OF tho
dangerous fires are in comparatively
r.iuoi" forests little damage has been
don" to private property as yet. In
few Instances are humeSteadcrs in
present danger, and I,oln and Wood
n.tr, with fire five miles away, are the
only settlements seriously threatened
The menace to these towns is not
great.
| lpln Hot Springs. "A famous resort
,,hur" il" town Of l.ulu. may he de
| oiitF' II AllN ihf III 'it.ti IttSibi 10
not checked, but last night the near
est bInHe was a mile and u half dis
iati. \ fire ON Miller creek, south of
MisSoIIln, which WAS reported at 1l:20
yesterday morning, is dangerously
cipS" to the iiollomau and Kuhlcttcr
ranct hes bal ii II uot Yet Of dangerous
slH".
Boy Scouts Como Hot,
Summer homes ut Seeley and
Salmon lakes are not out of danger
! though the unruntroilahle fires in
| those regions seem to be working
, away from tho lakes Fifty Missoula
; Boy Scouts who had been camping on
Scelcy lake for "a week were rushed IL
Missoult last night instead of this
morning as had been planned but tho
- lmoNe was a precaution rather than .
, necessity.
= Valuable Timber Lost.
Government property. however, il
being damaged tremendously. TIL,
5 fires are eating madly through yalu
able stands of timber which years vii
y hardly replace and when are of grea
= worth AS preservers of water supple.