People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 53, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 June 1893 — FLAME-SWEPT. [ARTICLE]

FLAME-SWEPT.

Merest Fire* la th* Meaab* Iron Wottw Can** Losses Afgreffatlns Mor* than • I,ooo,ooo—Towns Almoat Entirely Destroyed—An Army of 4,000 Homeless People—Lorn of Life Reported. Duluth, Minn., June 20.—Accurate information regarding the M esaba range fire is now available. At Virginia there are' thirty-two buildings still standing and 340 were burned. At Mountain Iron there were six buildings burned. At Biwabik the damage was slight Merritt has sixteen houses left There are on the range about 3,609 people homeless, many of them without food or clothing. The fire is still burning furiously in the forests and all about the towns that are left but unless the wind changes they are not in danger. Duluth will care for all the sufferers. It has been decided not to appeal tor outside aid.

Small fires are burning all along the range still and a change of wind will cause more damage, but the danger is not imminent The mining companies suffered heavily. The camps at the plants of the following mines were either entirely or partially destroyed; Shaw, Commodore, Franklin, Jones, Mesaba, Mountain, Ohio, Rouchleau, Burke and New England. The Minnewas mine escaped and the Wyoming has not been beard from. The total loss as nearly as it can be estimated is in the neighborhood of >1,100,000. The insurance will.not exceed >400,000 and may fall short of that sum. The losers are so scattered and everything is in such confusion that no details of loss or insurance can be obtained. Every effort is being made here to prevent suffering among the hundreds of homeless people. General public meetings were held Monday and a general relief committee organized. This committee has now in its hands about >6,000 and a great quantity of clothing and provisions. The greater portion of the women and children from Virginia are in Duluth. Several persons are believed to have perished at Virginia. A local physician found bones of an adult male and female in. the debris of one of the houses, but there is too much confusion and the people are too widely scattered to make it possible to check up or locate any that may be missing. A man and horse are also said to have been burned at the Lone Jack mine. W. G. Taylor, of Virginia, was badly burned, but is still alive.

Trouble is feared at Virginia from the character of the population. As in all new mining towns, the men are many of them hard charactars, and lawlessness is anticipated. The first train bearing the refugees from the range, carrying 250 people, mostly women and children, arrived in Duluth at 1:30 a. m., and the wearied and hungry passengers hurried from the coaches to the baggage-rooms, where elaborate lunches were spread. Of all the crowd the greater portion was penniless, dependent absolutely upon what charity might be offered. Few had saved anything beyond theomost meager effects, and for the whole train load there was but one trunk. A most graplflc description of the fire at Virginia was given by James McCarthy, an actor, who had been playing at the Star theater. He was accompanied by his wife and a little child. He said: “The fire had been burning about Virginia for several days, but no one else seemed tc worry, so we did not Saturday night we were called out to fight the fire, but it was easily got under control. Sunday morning it was worse ' and the town was almost surrounded by fire. About 2 o’clock the wind, which ! had been rising all tbe morning, began to blow i a perfect gale and houses on the edge of the town began to burn. People went mad. They j attervpted at first to save everything and began moving furniture. Then they tried to save lighter articles, but as the fire grew fiercer they were glad to save anything and escape with their lives. The town burned like tinder: the light frame buildings were like so much paper. The whole town was in ruins in less than an hour. The terrified people gathered about the Mesaba depot, where the officers of the road were doing everything for their safety. A train of ore cars was backed into the depot and the people loaded in. All the way down we came through a lane of fire.” Similar forest fires are burning over the whole upper Michigan peninsula. So far no towns have been burned, but three days more of the intensely hot and dry weather that has prevailed for the last fortnight will do incalculable damage. Ashland, Wis., June 20.—Forest fires are raging everywhere in northern Wisconsin and have done great damage to standing timber. No rain has fallen for over a month and the fires run through the woods with almost irresistible rapidity. Iron River, a lumbering town 2§ miles west of here, was saved Sunday night by strenuous efforts. Only one schoolhouse and six dwellings were destroyed. At last accounts the fire was approaching from the west and the town is again threatened. The village of Sanborn, 10 miles south of this city, was wiped out Sunday, every building being destroyed. At Moquah John Meagher, a promi nent citizen, was burned to death while fighting the fire which destroyed his homestead. Many other fatalities are rumored, but particulars are meager. As everything is dry and hot the worst is feared. Two children, names not known, were burned to death at Sanborn. The Northern Pacific bridge at Minersville is gone and a bridge 300 feet long on the south shore at Sanborn was destroyed. Many freight cars are destroyed. The total property loss is in the millions.