Havoc by Forest Fires* 



Damages Heavy in All Parts of the Country. 



The losses from forest fires this year have 

 already reached great proportions. During 

 the month of June there were serious con- 

 flagrations in many parts of the country, 

 the most serious being in the vicinity of 

 New Liskeard. Bush fires harassed the set- 

 tlers, and lumber mills were saved with great 

 difficulty. One million feet of rough lumber 

 were destroyed on June 16th. 



The conditions of drought which prevail- 

 ed all over the country, in the first week 

 in July started the flames on their work of 

 devastation once more. In New Brunswick 

 the month of June was an unusually dry 

 month, as showed by the statistics pre- 

 pared by the Dominion Meteorological Sta- 

 tion at Fredericton. As against an average 

 rainfall for the month of 3.6 inches for the 

 last thirty-nine years, there was this year 

 only 1.86 inches. 



The worst fire was at Cedar Brook, Vic- 

 toria County, where over 5,000 acres of 

 Crown timber lands were burned over, and 

 a lumber camp with $3,000 worth of sup- 

 plies. Another bad blaze broke out on the 

 lands of the Inglewood Pulp and Paper 

 Company. 



Another large fire is reported this seasoai 

 in the province of New Brunswick. This 

 was set in the McLaughlin limits in the 

 upper St. John River by two unknown pros- 

 pectors. They had been warned by the fire 

 warden, but neglected the caution. Camps 

 and camp supplies to the extent of $4,000 

 and 200 square miles of spruce timber land, 

 half of which had been logged over, were 

 burned. 



In Northern Ontario the worst losses so 

 far recorded this year occurred following 

 a series of small blazes throughout the 

 whole Northland, which for the period total- 

 led higher than for any preceding year. 



The town of Biscoe, 6'0 miles west of 

 Chapleau, was completely destroyed on 

 June 13, and its 500 inhabitants rendered 

 homeless. The mills of the Booth and Shan- 

 non Lumber Company at Thief River Falls, 

 Minn., on the Soo line of the C.P.R., were 

 burned out, at a loss of $250,000. 



Fires of immense proportions broke out 

 during the latter part of June in the vicin- 

 ity of Cochrane, Ont., and on the 20th of 

 the month it appeared that the whole coun- 

 try would be swept. Settlers were sending 

 their effects out of the danger zone, and 

 many hundreds of people Avere almost suffo- 

 cated by the acrid smoke. A rain which 

 came as a godsend began to fall on the 

 31st and saved the territory which seemed 

 doomed. 



At South Porcupine the wind died down 

 at a critical moment, which gave the fire- 

 fighters an opportunity to do effective work. 

 At Hearst, which is surrounded by bush and 

 which has no water supply, the lack of wind 

 helped in the fight to confine the flames to 

 the bush. 



Among the losses reported were a dwell- 

 ing valued at $2,000 just outside Cochrane, 

 500 cords of wood belonging to the Foley- 

 O 'Brian mine at South Porcupine, 100,000 

 logs owned by a saw mill company at Jack- 

 sonboro; a lumber mill, 30,000 feet of lum- 

 ber and eight dwellings at Charlton, $20,000 

 worth of property owned by the T. & N. 

 O. Railway at Englehart. This in addition 

 to the loss at Earlton, ten miles south of 

 Englehart, which was practically wiped out. 



According to the official reports received 

 by Chairman Englehart of the T. & N. O. 

 Railway, the fires extended intermittently 

 from Sudbury to Kenora, principally in the 

 spruce and pulpwood districts. By an al- 

 most inestimable stroke of fortune the gov- 

 ernment reserve, extending from mileage 42 

 to mileage 82, and embracing the great pine 

 region, escaped notwithstanding the fire 

 which raged all about it. Outside of the 

 spruce forests the heaviest loss reported was 

 practically confined to the town of Earlton. 

 It was at this point alone that the railway 

 directed its relief operations, and Mr. Engle- 

 hart reported that everyone was cared for. 

 South and southwest of Cochrane the fire 

 was raging in the marsh and muskeg, and 

 the residents of the town had to steadily 

 fight off the flames. 



All down the Ontario Government Rail- 

 way line from this point to Matheson for- 

 ests were on fire. The town of Matheson 

 seemed doomed for a time, but it eventually 

 escaped. Swastika and Kirkwood Lake were 

 not touched, though the fire had been bad 

 in the woods nearby. 



The long jump down the line to Earlton 

 was reported as practically fire free. Thorn- 

 loe for a time was seriously threatened, but 

 hard work saved the town. Fires raged 

 around Heaslip, but not in the immediate 

 vicinity of buildings. Of the spruce and 

 the pulp wood wiped out by the fire, it is 

 estimated that one-third belonged to the 

 Government and two-thirds to settlers or 

 land-holders. A large amount of the fire- 

 swept territory belongs to militia veterans 

 who received it in land grants. 



Reports from the West show that toward 

 the end of July a bad fire laid waste about 

 twenty-five miles of territory between Tete 

 Jaune Cache and Fitzhugh, Alta. 



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