FOREST FIRES. 



THE PAST MONTH HAS WITNESSED MANY 

 DISASTROUS FJRES IN THE NORTHWEST. 



MONTANA, Oregon, and Washing- 

 ton have suffered severely from 

 forest fires since the publication of our 

 last number. Long-continued drouth, 

 coupled with a very hot summer, have 

 made conditions very favorable for fires. 

 The fires reported from Washington do 

 not appear to be in the same territory as 

 those included in our last month's rec- 

 ord, although generally widespread in 

 occurrence. Fires started on the west- 

 ern shore of Vashon Island and near 

 Lester, Washington, early in August, 

 the latter fire proving one of the most 

 serious in the state so far this season. 

 The country south of Priest Lake and in 

 the federal reserve 13 miles from Port 

 Angels and near Lake Whatcom was 

 also visited by fires more or less severe. 



By prompt action large damage was 

 averted from a fire near Foster, Wash- 

 ington, and near Colville ground fires 

 destroyed crops of wheat and grain. 

 Large quantities of dry underbrush gave 

 foothold to a fire a short distance from 

 Issaquah, which menaced several power 

 plants and held up trains on the North- 

 ern Pacific, while at one time the de- 

 struction of several miles of snowsheds 

 and several bridges along that railway 

 were in danger from a blaze at Hot 

 Springs. In Pierce as well as King 

 county smouldering fires gained head- 

 way and, gave trouble, while a shingle 

 mill and dry kiln at Van Zandt were 

 destroyed. A child 7 years old was se- 

 verely burned in attempting to escape 

 from a forest fire in Stevens county, and 

 careless ranchers who neglected to extin- 

 guish log-heaps were responsible for a 

 fire that penetrated into the city limits 

 of Seattle and destroyed considerable 

 lumber and standing timber. 



Locomotive sparks started a blaze in 

 valuable timber land two miles west of 

 Barlow Pass, on the Monte Cristo Rail- 

 road, which damaged one of the North- 

 ern Pacific Railroad's bridges before it 

 was put out. In the Copper Canyon 

 Valley of the Olympics, the famous 



game country, much trouble was expe- 

 rienced in subduing several fires which 

 threatened to assume serious propor- 

 tions. At Vancouver, Washington, 

 soldiers from the barracks assisted in 

 quelling a fire at Fourth Plain, which 

 destroyed a lumber mill, seven houses, 

 and cut lumber, inflicting in all dam- 

 age to the extent of $20,000, not in- 

 cluding the standing timber destroyed. 

 One man is under arrest for alleged in- 

 cendiarism in connection with this fire, 

 which has rendered twelve adults and 

 twenty-three children homeless. On 

 the Great Northern line, near Index, 

 several days were required to extin- 

 guish a fire which caused considerable 

 damage. In addition to these forest 

 fires mentioned, hundreds of others, 

 whose field of damage was only local or 

 inconsequential, inflicted damage in 

 practically every county of the state. 



A fire which started in the latter 

 part of July has, it is estimated, de- 

 stroyed some 5,000 acres of timber in 

 Montana, in the territory adjacent to 

 Kalispell, and has required the com- 

 bined efforts of forest rangers and a 

 force of men placed at their disposal by 

 the Great Northern Railroad to pre- 

 vent its spread. On August 21, how- 

 ever, a severe rainstorm occurred, 

 which, it is said, has practically extin- 

 guished most of the fires in this section. 

 At Bonita, some 24 miles east of Mis- 

 soula, a forest fire of considerable mag- 

 nitude was discovered on August 12, 

 and at Belton, within the limits of the 

 Flathead Forest Reserve, a spark from 

 a passing engine is supposed to have 

 originated a blaze in the last week of 

 July, which is said to have destroyed 

 considerable valuable timber. At Ath- 

 ens, 17 miles west of Kalispell, a forest 

 fire of about the same date destroyed 

 hundreds of acres of patented land 

 owned by the state and the Northern 

 Pacific Railroad Company. Valuable 

 pine timber was damaged by a fire near 

 Columbia Falls, and at Whitefish set- 



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