Canadidn forcsliij Jounud, Auyusl, lUlT 



1247 



sands of dollars, say Ihc lumbcrin£>" 

 men familiar with the area affected, 

 and the portions already destroyed 

 and threatened with destruction are 

 among the best of the south British 

 Columbia district." 



On July 2()th, Nelson had its first 

 rain for 33 days. The fall was heavy 

 but brief. Fernie reported a gradual 

 dying down of the worst of the old 

 fires. On July 27th, however, high 

 winds arose, causing renewed anxiety. 

 A new fire broke out at Ella, from 

 locomotive sparks, and another start- 

 ing in one of the camps of the Elk 

 Lumber Company on Spruce Creek, 

 up the Elk River, found its w^ay into 

 a neighboring guUey. The conse- 

 quences of this outbreak is graphically 

 summed up in the following despatch 

 dated, Fernie, July 29: — 



56 Trapped— 30 Accounted For 

 Fernie, B.C., July 29. — Tw^o more 

 bodies so charred that recognition 

 is impossible were taken down from 

 the scene of the Elk Lumber com- 

 pany fire of Saturday and Nick Mus- 

 covich, who displayed unusual brav- 

 ery following the fire, dying to-day, 

 has now fixed the known dead at 11. 

 The various directions taken by the 



fugitives from the fire has made it 

 difficult to check up the survivors. 

 It is known that 5() men were trapped 

 and 30 are accounted for, but it will 

 be some time before the final result 

 is known. 



Fernie, B.C., July 29. — Eleven men 

 are known to have perished and a 

 number are missing in a fire that 

 swept the Spruce river valley, 15 miles 

 northeast of here Saturday afternoon. 

 Sixty odd men and about 20 teams 

 were trapped in camp 14 of the Elk 

 Lumber company, which is situated 

 in a blind valley and their flight over 

 the mountain was most difficult. 



Eleven bodies have been picked 

 up in the rear of the fire and the ter- 

 rible agony the men endured is shown 

 in their contorted features. Nick 

 Muscovich, a Russian, was found 

 alive, his eyes burned sightless, and 

 almost elemented. His body was 

 severely burned and all his clothing 

 was gone, except his boots, but after 

 being given first aid he reovered and 

 urged the rescuers to leave him and 

 help men he knew to be beyond him. 

 With assistance he walked to the 

 emergency hospital and was later 

 brought to Fernie. 



Terrible Experiences in Spruce Vallei; 



A vivid picture of the sudden and 

 vicious sweep of the Spruce River 

 \'alley fire will convey to readers 

 some idea of the terrible character 

 of a conflagration in mountain reg- 

 ions. It is w^orth noting that the 

 cause of the outbreak was said to 

 be in a lumberjack's tent, possibly 

 from a cigarette, and also that the 

 flames received a great impetus be- 

 cause of the presence of c{uantities 

 of slash from the lumbering opera- 

 tions. 



This fire yesterday originated Wed- 

 nesday evening about supper iime 

 when it started in one of the tents 

 at camp No. 8, located at the lower 

 end of the valley nearest the Elk 

 river. Everything in the camp was 

 wiped out then, but the 40 odd men 

 stationed there experienced no fur- 



ther serious discomfort other than 

 the loss of their personal belongings. 

 From this the fire spread through the 

 slashings and up the valley to the 

 mountain sides. The men at camp 

 No. 8 and additional assistance furn- 

 ished by J. C. Hart, district forest 

 ranger, were continually engaged in 

 fighting it until noon Saturday, when 

 it was believed to have been extin- 

 guished and strict vigilance not deem- 

 ed necessary any further the men 

 were allowed to get a well deserved 

 rest. 



Within one hour, however, a terrific 

 gale rose and fanned some hidden 

 embers into flame with such rapidity 

 that in no time the fire was revived 

 and utterly beyond control. The 

 flames soared higher and higher and 

 huge volumes of smoke rose high 



