80 Report of the Forest Commission, 



morning they came to business with bloodshot eyes and the marks of a hard 

 night generally upon them. Nearly the entire male population put in the 

 night fighting the forest fire north of the city, which for hours threatened to 

 sweep all before it. Bankers, lawyers, merchants, doctors, laboring men, 

 everybody took a hand in the fight, and by their exertions managed to save 

 the city. 



At 11 o'clock last night the fire had reached a point on Forest Hill, only a 

 mile distant from town. The track of the flames was two miles wide and lay 

 through a region thick with dry brush and timber. The wind was blowing a 

 gale, rendering it impossible by reason of the heat and smoke to approach 

 nearer than 100 feet to the blaze. The flames were leaping to the tops of pine 

 trees and jumping 100 feet high. Along the line of this wake of fire were 

 scattered 1,000 men or more with axes, shovels and pine boughs, cutting down 

 trees, building brakes and fighting back the ever-advancing flames. 



Conquered by Hard Fighting. 



All night long they battled, while reinforcements kept pouring in from Lead 

 City and neighboring towns. Still the fire advanced, helped on by the wind, 

 and the contest seemed hopeless . Just when the men were exhausted and all 

 hopes almost given up, the wind veered and blew away from town for about 

 half an hour. The precious moments were taken advantage of. A swath 

 100 feet wide was cut in front of the fire, the timber carried off, and when 

 the wind again changed and blew toward the city, the flames found nothing 

 to feed on. Occasionally they would leap across the clearing, but hundreds 

 of men were ready to beat them out. 



So all night the fight lasted and now it is thought all danger is past. Five 

 hundred men still remain to watch the flames, but unless a high wind arises 

 no apprehension is felt. The damage to growing timber is so vast that it can 

 not be estimated, in addition to which the city has expended about $10,000 in 

 controlling the flames. 



For the first time in a week the inhabitants will sleep in security to-night. 

 A hundred men are engaged to-night in beating out incipient fires and guard- 

 ing against another outbreak. All of the districts where the fire threatened 

 Dead wood are under control, except a space in City Creek gulch, where the 

 flames have gained the heavy timber and can not be extinguished. A cordon 

 of men is stretched around this place, guarding against a nearer approach of 

 the fire . 



Desolation for miles and miles marks a scene where a few days ago a heavy 

 growth of underbrush and large timber flourished. The hillsides and valleys 

 are black with the ruin, while the smoking timbers of cabins scattered here 

 and there mark where many prospectors have been driven forth by the flames. 



The strictest watch will have to be kept over the burnt district, as the least 

 wind starts into activity the smoldering fires. The fire in Two Bit gulch is 

 still raging fiercely, sending up dense volumes of smoke and destroying an 

 immense amount of valuable timber. No important towns are in its track and 

 by no possibility is it thought it can reach Dead wood. 



