Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 October 1897 — Prairie Fires at Kniman. [ARTICLE]

Prairie Fires at Kniman.

There was great excitement in fighting fires at Kniman, Saturday and Sunday. Some four or five hundred acres of hay land, adjacent to the town, were burned over, and several hundred tons of hay in the stack was distroyed. At one time it seemed almost certain that the progress of the fire could not be stayed until Kniman itself was reached and burned down. Fortunately- the direction of the wind changed, and to that circumstance alone, as stated by a prominent resident, was owing the escape of the town. Much of the land burned over belongs to A. Leopold, of this place, but the hay belonged to other parties. The fires started from the “scrap-iron” engines of the Coai Road, and the company will no doubt have to settle the damages, which are being appraised today. The soil of the burned over tracts is on fire in many places, and the fire liable to break out again, almost any time.