68 Report of the Forest Commission. 



In attempting to escape from the fury of the flames one party of 17 took 

 refuge in a boathouse some distance out in the lake, reaching it by means of a 

 sidewalk built on piles in the water. 



The flames slowly began to burn the sidewalk, and as the only means of 

 escape back to land was thereby cut off, the occupants were obliged to stay in 

 the boathouse while the structure was burned over their heads. Only two out 

 of the 17 escaped. 



Eight cars of supplies contributed by surrounding cities have arrived at 

 Phillips, but a great quantity of food, bedding and lumber is still needed. 



Hundreds Flee from Their Homes and Others Are Fighting the Flames. 



Ashland, Wis., September 3. — Smoke and dirt-begrimed settlers of the for- 

 est have been straggling into Ashland all the forenoon with tales of the loss of 

 homes and everything on their farms. They are taken into the homes here, 

 and everything possible is being done for their comfort and relief. 



A straggler who walked in from Benoit this morning says that everything 

 is gone there but the mill and lumber. At Ashland Junction a passenger 

 train got into the flames, and caused great consternation among the passen- 

 gers. Women and children screamed, and it was almost impossible to quiet 

 them. 



Unless rain takes place soon, the results will be ruinous. All the way from 

 Superior to Chippewa Falls the train on the Omaha road, on which I came 

 down, was hardly out of sight of the light of forest fires. For a hundred miles 

 square, the forest is ablaze pretty generally. Many homesteaders have had 

 their places completely destroyed. The fire has run through the pine slashings, 

 but the worst fires are in the standing timber. I never saw such fires as from 

 the car window this side of Hayward. The flames ran up the high trees, and 

 burned the needles and trees very quickly. The fire was so hot that the car 

 windows on the train I came with were broken by the heat . We had to stop 

 the train a dozen times between Hayward and Chippewa Falls to put out the 

 burning trees and culverts, and see if the small bridges which had been charred 

 by the flames were sound enough to carry the train across. 



Ashland, Wis., July 27. — Communication is now shut off with Fifield, and 

 it is feared that town is destroyed. It is thought here that the fire which 

 swept Phillips has reached Fifield . 



At 7 o'clock Ed. Ensign, a well-known lumberman, telegraphed to the mayor 

 here from Fifield for bread and meat to be sent down there at once; that there 

 was " 500 women and children between Fifield and Phillips without food, and 

 the fire raging fiercely around them." The mayor and a committee are now 

 gathering supplies which will be sent down in the morning, if a train can get 

 through the flames. Mr. Bartoe, whose family resides at Phillips, received the 

 following message at 6 o'clock from Fifield: 



Loss of Life Feared. 



1 ' Your wife and baby are in the woods near Phillips without food and 

 clothing." 



He is half crazed with grief, but is unable to send any help. It is feared that 

 many lives are lost, as the hundreds of women and children in the woods, and 

 fire all around them, some must perish surely. 



