Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1923-10-05

dence section was utterly Obliberated
and more than three thousand people
had suffered the loss of their earthly
! possiss Had not the wind sub
sided just at the moment that it did
no power on earth could have saved
the University Campus, the business
district and probably the entire city.
The flames were checked at the east
ern edge of the business district and
almost at the very gates of the Uni
yersity-in fact number of grass
fires had already started on the
grounds and a number of frame
structures were saved only by keep
ing the roofs wet. Burning cinders
had been carried far by the wind and
numerous minor fires were tarted in
various parts of the city but prompt
work on the part of vOluntee fight
ers prevented further destruction.
About 1890 that night, brush fires
on the hills further south threatened
the large residence district south of
the Campus, but were brought under
control as there was practically no
wind blowing.
1t is impossible to describe the
scenes of the fire and the devastation
wrought. Compared with the San
Francisco fire of 1906, witnesses say
that the area is not great but the
Berkeley fire was far more terribly
ing on account of its dreadful swift
ness. No ashes even are left. The
high wind and the terrific heat swept
everything clean, Even brick and
supposedly fireproOf houses burned
and nothing is left but a waste of |
chimneys standing like gravestones,
fixtures, parts of automo- |
biles, pianos, furnaces, and so forth. |
The section was one in which most of |
the university professors owned |
homes, including President Emeritus, |
Ide Wheeler and many val |
liable Libraries, art treasures and |
priceless, irreplaceable manuscripts, |
representing years of study, research |
and travel, wee destroyed.
There are two very remarkable |
things about this fire besides the |
swift and total destruction One is |
that though the area was so great, |
hanger so frequently imminent fam |
lies scattered and separated and |
many anXieties felt, there is no es-
-abiished evidence of loss of life and
only a limited number of really SER
Nuo M u I'D ne OLuEl rs ludl |
though thousands were rendered |
many of whom saw all that
represented perhaps a lifetime of
oil and effort swept away from them
almost in the "twinkling of an eye,"
yet with very few exceptions the
spirit shown by the refugees is mar
1elous. There is so little of complain
ng and bemOaning of losses. Most
Every sufferer seems to be able to
.hink of some one whose fate is
worse than theirs and so to feel that
hey have cause for cheer Every
me seems rather to enumerate the
Kings which he has to be thankful
or than those which he as to bewail
Those who escaped the desolation of
heir homes are either working with
eliet agencies or are trying to do
heir bit in pesonal service to the less
ortunate. Such a spirit as prevails
mong those who have lost so much
md suffered so much gives one a
lew admiration for humanity and
makes one realize that the real treas
Tres of life are not the accumula-
ions of material possessions which
an be so easily swept away, but the
ubtler though more enduring value
f friendship, love, hope, and truth.