Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 57, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1918 — 1,000 PERSONS DIE IN MINNESOTA FOREST FIRES [ARTICLE]

1,000 PERSONS DIE IN MINNESOTA FOREST FIRES

Many 'Charred Bodies Found Strewn Along Highways and in Buildings. FEAR WIND MAY FAN FLAMES Rescue Workers, Under the Direction of Governor Burnquist, and Other State Officials, Find Ruined Towns and Blackened Countryside. Duluth,'Minn., Oct. 15.—With an estimated death toll of 1,000 and 50,000 driven from their homes by forest fires within the last two dfiys, a new conflagration was reported in the region of Schultz’'Lake, a summer resort 20 miles northeast of here. Governor and Mrs. Burnquist are here. State officials are directing the rescue work. No persons except those on business are permitted to enter the fire-swept area, and rail facilities to the safety zone are taxed, so great'has been the exodus of refugees. Three counties have been devastated. The towns of Cloquet, Brookston, Brevator, Corona, ‘Adolph, Arnold, Thompson, Moose Lake, Kettle River, Twig, Rice Lake and Wright have been wiped out. 300 Die in One Town. Jo Moose Lake and vicinity alone more than 300 persons were burned or suffocated. Between 300 and 400 coffins have been sent to Moose Lake. Seveirty-flve bodies were found in one bulldftig, and at least 100 more were shattered here and there. Moose Lake w.as a furnace, and only those escaped who, at the risk of'drowning, waded Into the lake, where the gale-driven waves swept over them. Rescuers say that only the devastation of war is comparable to the ruin spread through the Moose Lake area. Not a building stands in the business region of Moose Lake. Here and there broken walls remain to trace the fearful story of the last 36 hours. Women are searching the streets of that town looking in vain for their husbands or their children. In the ruins of one building alone 75 bodies were found, the majority ’of which cannot be identified.

Compel Women to Flee. Reports tell of women who jumped into the lake and all night through refused to come to shore. Home guards ordered to transport them out of the zone of the fire which was shooting toward them, finally resorted to the lasso. Catching the refugees, who stood in water up to their neck, they pulled them ashore and hustled them or* the relief trains after administering to them as best they could. Piles of debris are still smoldering and additional bodies are believed to be beneath. \ Fear Rise In Wind. Should the wind rise again, Minnesota stands fair to see many thousand additional acres swept by the flames, and the death list possibly increased materially. Weather predictions give little hope of rain, which is the only certaln 4 relief from the menace of new conflagrations. Scores are known to be x dead at Brookston, Pine Lake and other vlllyages ta T Pine, Carlton and St Louis counties. B.urch Lake, a summer resort near Duluth/ is virtually wiped out, with a heavy loss of lives reported.