1248 



Canadian Forestry Journal, August, 1917 



above the siirroimding mountains 

 and were visible for many miles 

 aroimd. 



Climbed over Mountains 



At camps 12 and 14 about 125 men 

 were employed. These were in the 

 path of the flames and with their es- 

 cape down ihe logging railroad en- 

 tirely cut off, they were obliged to 

 seek safety by travehng over sur- 

 rounding mountains and beat their 

 retreat cross country as best they 

 could. Many were successful, but 

 it is feared that at least 10 were over- 

 taken by the fire and perished. 



\\'ithin a large radirs from the lire 

 the heat was unbearable and while 

 rescue parties and medical aid were 

 rushed from here promptly great 

 difficulty was experienced in getting 

 near to attempt to release the trapped 

 men and as far as fighting the fire 

 was concerned, it was beyond human 

 power. Many head of live stock 

 were used in the logging operations, 

 some of which escaped by being cut 

 from the vehicles by the drivers, and 

 being liberated some raced through 

 the flames down the valley, the har- 

 ness, manes and tails aflame. 

 Tried Flight hi] Engine 



George Bronson was one of the 

 engineers on the logging railroad. 



Apparently he had attempted to 

 bring his engine down through the 

 fire and escape in that manner, but 

 fallen timbers obstrucied the track 

 and finding it impcssible to proceed, 

 he sought safety in the nearby creek, 

 where he was found frightfully burn- 

 ed, with his head submerged. 



Cavannia had been pinned down 

 by a falling timber and burned to 

 death. PacqT.ette Mas the most hor- 

 ribly biirned of the bodies so .far re- 

 covered. 



Search parties are to-day operating 

 through the fire swept area and a 

 heavy shower last night has ma- 

 terially cjuenched the fire and also 

 temporarily brought about a con- 

 dition whereby the starting of fires 

 will not be so great. 



Apart from the loss of life the prop- 

 erty loss to the Elk Lumber company 

 will be heavy. The three camps are 

 completely wiped out and it is said 

 large quantities of logs and material 

 also v/ere destroyed. This is ex- 

 tremely unfortunate, as this season 

 is the first for three years that the 

 large sawmill of that company has 

 operated here, and the disaster yes- 

 terday will almost certainly result in 

 all operations being suspended for 

 some considerable time. 



The Fire in the Crow's Nest Valley 



. On Friday afternoon, July 20th, in 

 the early afternoon a fire started at 

 the head of the flume of the McLaren 

 Lumber Company on Allison Creek 

 in the Crowsnest district in the prov- 

 ince of Alberta, close in the vicinity 

 of a small sawmill which was erected 

 at that point for the purpose of saw- 

 ing m'aterials with which to con- 

 struct the Hume. The forest ranger 

 for the district in the service of the 

 Dominion forestry branch, Mr. F. 

 B. Boiillon, got word of the fire about 

 4 o'clock and started in to fight it. 

 The lire was then creeping up the 

 Crowsnest Mountain and it had to 

 be fought on both sides from Allison 

 Creek and AIcGillivray creek. Men 

 \vere got out from McLaren's mill 



and mills further east on the Crows- 

 nest Valle^,' and from the town of 

 Coleman, and the fire was attacked 

 from both sides, and by Sunday 

 morning it was fairly well controlled 

 although it had been impossible by 

 that time to have complete fire lines 

 constructed. Air. R. M. Brown, the 

 Forest Supervisor, and Mr. E. H. 

 Finlayson, the District Inspector of 

 Forest Reserve, also arriyed and 

 assisted in the organisation of the 

 fire fighting. The wind began to 

 blow very hard again and by after- 

 noon a gale was sweeping through 

 the pass, the result being that the 

 fire got up into the tree tops and 

 swept up the mountain side. In 

 the evening the wind having dropped, 



