The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1918-10-24
Detailed Narrative of How
Home Guards Fought Fire

we were there and they helped us all
they could. Mr.. Anderson of the
Farmers Cooperative Store seemed
to take upon himself the task of
keeping things running smoothly and
his courtesy and kindly treatment of
US was surely appreciated. 1t is not
easy to be good tempered when $50
men have swooped down upon little
town and taken possession of every
thing in the name of the State of Min
nesota, but the people of Kimberly
treated us well and we are grateful
to them.
At, 9 o'clock Tuesday morning be-
fore we had properly seen the sights
of the city we were assembled near
the Military headquarters and the
nature of the work we We're to under
take was made known to us. Some
had come with the idea that they We're
to rush into burning buildings and
rescue pretty girls or search for dead
bodies amongst the ruins of consum-
ed farm houses, and it surprised
some not littee when we We're told
that our work would be to prevent
the fires that were raging on two sides
of us from destroying any more
homes. Two squads were ordered inn
mediately to report at place called
Fleming Lake seven miles from KIM
berly. and to place themselves under
the direction of two of the farmers
living there and to help them in such
ways as they deemed best, Their
homes were threatened and we We're
to save them. These two squads were
under Sergeant Truax, Corporal Fish
and Corporal Sparkes. In five min
utes we were off and we saw for the
first time the devastating work of the
forest fires. Just outside of Kimberly
not more than two miles is a place
which was, little more than week
ago prosperous farm, today it is a
black charred mass, not building re-
mains, not tree on the edge of the
place that was once meadow is the
charred remains of the cattle who
shad stood With their front legs In a
little dried up creek as though trying
to avoid the on-rushing flames. Con-
versation died down little as we
gazed upon that scene which we knew
was but u one of many hundreds
throughout that part. On reaching
Fleming Lake we found the people a
little shy about our ability to help
them, and it was no easy matter to
gain their confidence. A squad Of
schoolboys had been sent to them a
few days before who though willing
were physically unable to do the work
necessary to save their homes, but
when they found that we were not
"city folk" and they saw the stalwart
! frames of men like George and Henry
Bergman, Lew Irish, Jean Richards,
Martin Lang, Geo Fish and Mr..
Paulson they were willing to trust
themselves to us and accept our aid.
I could write a whole chapter on our
work at Fleming Lake. For three days
we Sc tire and fought fire in that
district and when we left we had the
satisfaction of knowing that we had
saved these peoples homes and prop
erty and left them protected by the
back-fres we had set from any men.
ace of the future. The squad of
which / had charge seemed to feel
the personal responsibility of saving
the Andrews property and under the
instructions of Jean Richards, Lew
Irish and Henry Borgmann We set
and fought fire until that place was
considered safe. On the other side
of the road the squad under Corpora
Fish did equally well. The people at
Fleming Lake were not slow to realize
that we knew what we We're doing
and they opened their hearts and
their homes to us. Andrews, Calvert
Olson, Thorborg and Nelson were the
farmers in this district and they were
very appreciative and left nothing un-
done to make us comfortable.
On Thursday afternoon Sergt.
Truax reported our work in this dis
trict as nearly completed and about a
o'clock the cars were ready to take us
back to Kimberly. Leaving these peo-
pie was like saying goodbye to old
friends and though it is no part of
the story there were a few tears at
parting.
We had been away from Kimberly
three days and it was different Kim
berly to which we returned. The
hotel had been taken ouyer by Arthur
DuBeau and brother AL had been sent
for to come and assist and to our sur
prise it was being run on Palmer
House grade, the best of everything
and right on time. While these II
men had been at Fleming Lake the
remainder of the men had been doing
military duty in camp, fighting fire in
another direction and taking theil
share in building the big ditch which
saved 5000 worth of hay and pre-
vented the fire from reaching Aitkin