SWEEPING RANGES 

 I IN NE_W HAIPSHIRE 



Valley of the Androscoggin 

 Is Aglow With Glare 

 From Blaze. 



FIGHTING FLAMES 



WITH BACK-FIRES 



2500 Acres Have Been Burned 

 Over and the Loss to Timber 

 Alone Will Be $75,000. 



Shclburne, N. H., Oct. 20.— The sinuoua 

 Androscoggin is aglow toniglit witli the 

 reflected glare of flaming mountain 

 tops. 



From Berlin on the north and west 

 to Bethel at the eastward, across the 

 line in Maine, the wooded ranges are 

 seemingly all afire. 



Twenty-seven miles this torch extends 

 along the high lands that border the 

 east of the river valley, and sleep has 

 come to no man. 



So thickly lays the smok epall that 

 the brilliant headlights of a Grand 

 Trunk locomotive toiling np the grade 

 toward Montreal failed to penetrate two 

 rods as she rumbled past the little Shel- 

 burne depot. 



Situation Is Menacing. 



The ijituation here is looked upon as 

 ( moat menacing of all. 



The fires which have been burning 

 four days and nights arc now beyond 

 I control and sweeping down upon the 

 fanning .section, just outside of Shel- 

 burne. 



So critical had affairs become at night- 

 fall that help was summoned from the 

 neighboring town of Oorham, and every 

 man available was hurried down the 

 line, while other towns were called 

 upon for aid. 



The fire has worked across the boun- 

 dary into Maine and now is raging 

 fiercely in and about the Grafton Notch. 



Hundreds of men with shovels, axes 

 and plows are battling through the. 

 night along the fire line, strangling and 

 ,cJ>Oltlng in the sufEooating sitjoke. 



I Fight Flames Witli Backfire. 



In the weird, half light, reflected from 

 the flaming forest keen axes swing and 

 giant trees are falling with *. noise like 

 distant thunder. 



Toiling horses, short of breath and 

 with smarting eyes and nostrils, are 

 working plow-shores back and forth tn 

 rough-made woodland parks, beside 

 which backfires spring into being. 



In Shelburne and the adjoining town- 

 ship of Success an area twelve miles 

 lang and six or seven wide already has 

 been devastated, causing the desti-uc- 

 tlon of vast areas of heavy spruce and 

 fir. 



By this fire the chief losers up to date 

 are W. K. Aston of New York, who 

 has a large summer estate in Shel- 

 burne; the Berlin Mills Company, paper 

 manufacturers, and George W. Blanch- 

 ard & Sons Company, lumbermen, with 

 offices at Berlin and Portland, Me. 



It is estimated that the immediate 

 loss in timber will reach il5,m. vihl\e 

 the ultimate loss in young growth 

 ruined will be far greater. 



Burn Over 2500 Acres. 



The fire to the westward of Berlin, 

 on Mt. Firest and Black mountain, has 

 burned over 2500 acres and approached 

 to within a quarter of a mile of the 

 residences on Fourth and Fifth avenues. 



The timber destroyed by this fire was 

 not so valuable as that destroyed in 

 the fire to the eastward, as much of 

 the land to the west of the city was 

 not heavily wooded. H. L. Martin and 

 O. W. Fernald were the heaviest losers 

 by the west side fire. 



Reports tonight from Berlin and Gor- 

 ham are that there Is no prospect now 

 of getting the fires under control. 



The smoke conditions In those places 

 are worse than even the oldest resi- 

 dents can remember in years of forest 

 fires in the White Mountain region. 



The fire on the west side of Mt. Firest 

 is burning fully as hard at midnight 

 as at noontime. 



