FROM THREE TO FIVE MILLIONS.
Such Is the Estimate Made of the Damage by the Fires.
ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 3.—The latest advances from the scene of the big fire indicate that there will be a total of nearly 400 lives lost. This included the fatalities at Hinckley, Pokegama, Rutledge, Sandstone, and all the area of country covered by the conflagration.
Searching for the dead under anything like system was only begun this morning. At noon fully 200 dead were gathered in the cemetery at Hinckley awaiting burial. There were two great heaps of naked and charred bodies in every conceivable distorted attitude.
There were sixteen known to be dead at Pokegama. There were fifty-one at Sandstone village, and about thirty more from the outlying country. But it must be remembered that the fire covered a large area of country, some of it very hard to get over by searching parties.
There are many isolated families living in the country, and all suffered to some extent. It will take at least a week to ascertain how many lives are lost, and many of them will never be identified. Many families are being cared for at Pine City and Duluth and Superior. At the former place there are about 500 homeless people, and it is estimated that at least 1,000 people will have to be taken care of until they can get a new start in life.
The wounded in hospitals in Pine City were all doing well this evening. The surgical staff was supplemented by a number of physicians from the twin cities, and, with possibly one or two exceptions, all the wounded at this place will recover.
It began raining at 9 o’clock this morning, but stopped at noon. It is not believed there is any further danger to be feared from fire in the burned region.
The aggregate loss will run into millions, but it is absolutely impossible to give any reliable estimate as so wide an extent of country was devastated. The largest single loss was of the Brennan Lumber Company of Hinckley, which is placed at $600,000 by the officials of the company. The aggregate loss is variously estimated at from $3,000,000 to $5,000,000 and this does not include the standing timber destroyed. The following towns in the Northwest have been either totally or partially destroyed by the flames: Pokegama, Hinckley, Sandstone, Mission Creek, Rutledge, Mansfield, and Milaca, in Minnesota; Bashaw, Barronnette, Benoit, Cartwright, Fifield, Granite Lake, Grantsburg, Gildden, Marengo, Muscado, Shell Lake, South Range, Poplar, Spencer, Highbridge, Ashland Junction, and Washburne, in Wisconsin; Ewen and Trout Lake, in Michigan.
WELCOME RAIN IS FALLING.
All Stations Between Duluth and Rutledge Report Fires Dying Out.
DULUTH, Minn., Sept. 8.—The relief train which left here at 4:30 P. M. yesterday returned with about 250 refugees, who tramped in across the country from Sandstone this morning.
At 10:30 a train, consisting of three coaches, a baggage car, ad two box cars, went out with a large amount of previsions for settlers in the vicinity of Rutledge. At 9:30 o’clock the cheering news came from Rutledge, which is as far as the wire works, that rain was falling. All the stations between here and Rutledge report fires dying out, and that no further trouble need be feared, provided a strong wind does not spring up. Road master Williams telegraphed early this forenoon that he expected to get into Hinckley with a train within a short time. It is understood that there are already relief parties in Hinckley from the south. If the bridge in the village is not destroyed, a through train may be expected here.
The Omaha Road may reports that it is doing nicely to-day. It sent trains from either end between Minneapolis and Duluth this morning.Only one life was lost at Baronette on Saturday, but nothing was left of the town. Some of the people were taken to Cumberland, some to Spooner. Two hundred and sixty people in Shell Lake are homeless, and the dwellings burned number fifty-two. It is estimated that 700 people of Baronette are homeless.
On the line between Spooner and Bayfield the Omaha Road suffered most severely. Four or five bridges were burned, and all wires are down. There is no chance of sending any trains over it for several days.
People at Grand Rapids, on the Mississippi and on the Duluth and Winnipeg Road, were ready to move out last night, but the fires were checked. During last night there was a bad fire at Comstock, a small settlement twenty miles south of Spooner. As there is no operator there, the facts cannot be learned as to the destruction and possible deaths.
ESTIMATES OF THE DEAD.
One Newspaper Correspondent Counted 312 Corpses.
MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 3.—A private dispatch from Pine City says the number of victims near that place from forest fires will reach 425.
Fifty of the leading business men of the city held a meeting to-day. A committee of twenty was appointed of which C. A. Pillsbury is Chairman, and a systematic work for the collection and distribution of supplies has already begun.
Never in the history of Minnesota, and not in that of the Northwest, except at the time of the fires in Michigan pineries in October, 1871, twenty-three years ago, has there been such a terrible loss of life and such suffering as has been caused in Northern Minnesota.
At a late hour to-day it was estimated that between 800 and 1,500 people had been burned to death or suffocated, and the wide discrepancy in those figures is but proof of the utter impossibility of getting reliable information. All wires went down, and it was Sunday night before they were even partially replaced. Both telegraph companies had twenty-five miles of main lines destroyed.
Soon after noon Saturday there sprang up a fierce wind that blew vast volumes of smoke into Duluth, while travelers against the wind soon had their eyes filed with ashes and cinders. The air was as from a furnace, even at the distance—seventy miles—from the nearest blazes of magnitude, and the light of day was long before 4 o’clock completely obscured, so that lights were turned on all over the city. Electricity, however, gave but a feeble, blue glimmer.
Late last night news of the most startling character came in from the line of the Eastern Minnesota Road. The towns of Sandstone, Partridge, and Mansfield, with a combined population of about 1,600 people, were wiped out, and the inhabitants were not to be found. The reports of fatalities in the towns on the Eastern Minnesota Railroad are so fearful that the railroad officials refuse to announce them, believing them exaggerated.The full facts cannot be known till a thorough search has been made in the forty square miles for fire-swept forest. The loss of stock, horses, cattle, and hogs will be total, and the district was a famous dairy region. In many miles square every vestige of vegetable matter was entirely burned away, leaving broken rock covered by a few inches of ashes and dust.
A relief train returned this morning from a run down the St. Paul and Duluth Road, bringing about 250 destitute and blistered people from points along the line. At sandstone fifty bodies, most of which have been identified, were found. The work of searching for the dead still continues. A train was sent out with clothing, and doctors left for the burned districts this afternoon. A special correspondent, investigating the result of the fire in the towns burned on the St. Paul and Duluth Road, counted 312 dead bodies.
A carload of food and clothing will be shipped to Pine City in the morning, and other relief as fast as it can be arranged. Already the contributions amount to over $2,500. The Fireman’s Relief Association appropriated $1,000, and the Police Department will be similarly generous. Resolutions have been ordered engrossed by the business men, which will be sent to James M. Root, the engineer of the St. Paul and Duluth train, as a token of their appreciation of his bravery.
BRIGHTER OUTLOOK IN WISCONSIN.
Only One Man Perished—Property Loss Very Heavy.
SHELL LAKE, Wis., Sept. 3.—Last night, when the ruining fire pervaded the town, citizens fled from the place like rats from a sinking ship, taken only a change of clothes and some few valuables. Consternation reigned, and it was not until after the female portion of the population and the timid ones of the other sex hand been shipped out of here to Spooner on a special train that active measures were taken to check the progress of the fires.
By great efforts the town was saved from being entirely demolished. About sixty dwellings, however, were destroyed and 300 people made homeless.
Baronette, south of here, is entirely cleared out. So far as known, one man, Aleck Erickson, perished in the flames. The loss there is about $25,000.
The loss here is about $100,000. No one is missing here. The settlers in the country are having a hard time, and it was only by herculean efforts that Spooner, north of here, was saved. The insurance here was insignificant. The fires are under perfect control now, and watchers are out to see that the smoldering embers do not get a new start. The fire sufferers are being fed by the more fortunate.
Passenger and freight traffic has been suspended here for the past two days and telegraphic communication cut. The total loss in this vicinity is estimated at $400,000, the Baronette Lumber Company losing 13,000,000 feet of lumber, $135,000; 18,000,000 shingles, $13,000; 4,000,000 lath, $4,000; saw mill, $44,000; plaining mill, $10,000, and other items, making a total of $275,000.
The loss on household effects by tenants and others, most of whom worked for the Baronette Lumber Company, is estimated at $30,000. At Granite Lake the loss is about $45,000. Eight dwellings were also burned there.
CADOTT, Wis., Sept. 3.—In spite of the efforts of the exhausted inhabitants, the flames reached this city, and have destroyed 300 houses, the rendered over 500 people homeless.
Government Send Troops and Tents.
FORT SNELLING, Minn., Sept. 3.—In accordance with and order issued by Gen. Merritt, Commander of the Department of Dakota, Company G, of the Third United States Infantry, stationed at Fort Snelling, left on a special train this afternoon on their way to Hinckley under command of Capt. Hale. The principal purpose of siding the Federal troops was to furnish tents and blankets to the people of Hinckley. The soldiers are equipped with ammunition, and are to do guard duty, protection property and supplies.
Several Incendiaries Arrested.
ASHLAND, Wis., Sept 3.—To add to the intensity of the situation at Washburn, incendiarism has been discovered there, several fires having been started in different portions of the city. Five men have been arrested, three of whom were caught in the act.
When the first men were arrested talk of lynching was prevalent. A large number of deputies were sworn in and placed on guard at different parts of the city with instructions to guard the docks in particular.
Broad Park, Minn., Entirely Destroyed.
MORA, Minn., Sept. 3.—Broad Park, Pokegama Station, a new town on the St. Cloud and Hinckley Branch of the Great Northern, was totally destroyed. The flames burned 3000,000 feet of lumber, a saw mill, hotel, stores, Post Office, schoolhouse, and section house. Twenty-five families in the immediate vicinity are homeless. The total loss of property is estimated at $50,000. No insurance. Many children were blinded by fire and smoke.
Cornell University’s Great Loss.
CHIPPPEWA FALLS, Wis., Sept. 3.—The heaviest loser by the forest fires in the vicinity is Cornell university of New-York, which had nearly $1,000,000 invested in pine lands situated chiefly around Long Lake, thirty miles from this city. Their lands have been completely divested of standing pines, and their loss will be almost complete.
Money for the Sufferers.
A check for $15 from “J. B. D.,” for the sufferers by the fire at Hinckley, Minn., was received at this office today.
Click here to move to September 5, 1894 New York Times coverage of the Hinckley Fire.
