54 Report of the Forest Commission. 



Fled Into the Lake for Refuge. 



Patrick finally reached a space where the road opened out from the lake , 

 and here met 21 homsteaders and their families, who had been fleeing 

 through the blinding smoke ahead of the flames. All the members of the 

 party threw themselves into the lake and remained there until the flames had 

 passed over. None were seriously injured, but all were so exhausted as to be 

 unable to go further that night. They lay on the banks of the lake until 

 morning, and then started back over the road by which they had come, in the 

 direction of Sandstone Junction. Patrick has not seen or heard of them 

 since. Eleven of the settlers, one a woman with an infant five weeks old, got 

 into a canoe and paddled out into the lake. 



West Superior, Wis ., September 4. — Nearly all those who survived the 

 terrible forest fires in northern Minnesota have now been removed to places of 

 safety in Superior and Duluth, and, as a heavy rain has quenched the flames, 

 there will be no further casualities. The work of searching for the dead is 

 making good progress. Yesterday afternoon 54 bodies were buried at Sand- 

 stone, most of them charred beyond recognition and were buried wherever 

 found. When the relief train reached Sandstone not a sign of a building was 

 left in the town. Around or in the ruins of each house were found several 

 human bodies. The living inhabitants of the town were brought into Su- 

 perior at midnight. At Hinckley 328 bodies were lying in the street. At 

 Pokegama. on the St. Cloud division of the 'Great Northern, there are 28 

 corpses. They are still lying unburied, the rest of the people having left the 

 place. At Partridge only two are dead, though not a building is standing. It 

 is almost impossible to tell where Partridge was, as the whole surrounding 

 country is in ashes. 



How Hundreds at Hinckley were Saved. 



William Best, engineer of the passenger train on the Eastern Minnesota 

 road, which saved many lives, said to day : 



Soon after leaving Superior, at 1:15 P. M. on Saturday, I had to light the 

 headlight, owing to the dense smoke which turned day into night. The heat 

 as we approached Hinckley increased. I expected that when we reached that 

 point we would get in the open and escape the smoke. My surprise was great, 

 therefore, when we found the fire right upon the town. It took but a glance 

 to see thac the town was doomed. The wind blew at a great velocity, and the 

 flames fairly leaped through the air. The people, taken by surprise, were 

 helpless. Almost in an instant the town was swept by billows of flames. 

 We could not pass Hinckley, and there was no use to look for orders, for 

 communication was cut off. It was one of those cases where men have to 

 make up their minds in an instant what is to be done and do it without hesita- 

 tion. Here were hundreds of panic-stricken people who were doomed if they 

 were not instantly rescued. On the other hand, the safety of the train and its 

 passengers lay in prompt retreat. To stay and rescue as many as we could 

 was our duty, of course, but the great question — and upon it hung the lives 

 of many hundreds — was how long dare we wait. 



"Ed" Barry was there with No. 23, in charge of the engine, and W. D. 

 Campbell, the conductor, as plucky and brave fellows as ever passed a mile- 



