Report of the Forest Commission. 87 



Wilkesbarre, Pa., September 3.— Forest fires are reported as burning 

 fiercely in the Pine Creek lumber region, and valuable property is in great 

 danger there. Owners of mills and lumber in that neighborhood who reside 

 here have been notified that there is imminent danger of serious losses, and 

 have been advised to come on without loss of time. 



The fire has been burning in the Babbs Creek district since Saturday, and 

 to-day it climbed over the mountain, and for a time it looked as if the town of 

 Balltown, in Forest county, would be destroyed. This, also, was saved by 

 hard work, and it is now said to be out of danger. At other points the 

 woods have been back-fired for a distance of six miles in order to save prop- 

 erty. Forest fires are also reported from Potter county . 



Bradford, Pa., September 4.— The forest fires are still burning fiercely, and 

 there are no indications of rain. The woods surrounding Kushequa, a lumber 

 camp, are on fire and the place is threatened. Assistance has been asked of 

 this city, and a steamer and a number of firemen have left for the scene. 

 Millions of feet of lumber have been destroyed. The fire still rages near 

 Johnsonburg. Advices from Kane say the fire is still raging there, and that 

 a house occupied by a man named Shelby was destroyed last night, and the 

 family had a narrow escape from death. Reports from Mount Jewett say 

 the large sawmill of James Doyle & Co. is on fire, and that the forest fires are 

 rapidly encroaching on the town. The town has but one hose company. 



A large force of men are fighting the flames. 



Milford, Pa., September 4. — After fighting the forest fires for a week they 

 have at last been gotten under control. The fires reached with an eighth of a 

 mile of this town last night, but at 5 o'clock this morning the flames had 

 entirely disappeared. Thousands of feet of lumber have been burned. 



Coudersport, Pa., May 11. — To-night the pretty little lumber and farming 

 towns of Austin, Costello, Galeton and Moore's Run are on the verge of a 

 panic, two especially being threatened with annihilation from fires that seem 

 to form an impenetrable wall on every side. For several days past the skies 

 have been lighted with fires, apparently in every direction, but little fears 

 were entertained by people living in the towns. In spite of every effort, how- 

 ever, the flames crept steadily toward the towns. At Moore's Run, on the 

 S ; nnamahoning road, a train load of 75 men, sent out from Austin last night, 

 had been fighting back the fire by every conceivable means, but were finally 

 obliged to retreat. The men hastily boarded the train and started to make a 

 run to another point, when it was found they were hemmed in by the forest 

 fire on one side and a huge skid way of logs on the other. It was finally 

 decided to dash past the burning skidway, and the engineer and fireman, with 

 th-ir faces covered with dampened cloths, and their hands and arms wrapped 

 in wool, mounted the little engine and pulled out through the wall of fire. The 

 75 exhausted men gathered in groups on the flats for protection, or lay on their 

 faces on the floor. As the blazing furnace of logs was approached the heat 

 became unbearable, and the smoke so blinding and stifling the men were 

 obliged to cover their mouths with cloths. Just opposite the millions of feet 

 of burning logs, where the heat and smoke and flames were the greatest, a ter- 

 rible thing occurred. The engineer had forgotten that such great heat would 

 surely spread the rails, and he pulled the throttle wider in the hope of sooner 

 escaping from a torment of heat and smoke. Then there was a lurch, an 



