_All the country knows of the forest fires which caused loss of life and
property in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York and other States,
in September and October, 1908. It has been estimated that the losses to
property amounted to $50,000,000, most of which lay in the destruction of
forests, of which thousands of square miles were swept by fire._
_In their progress the fires destroyed several towns and villages
and many farm houses. Chisholm, Minnesota, a town of probably 5,000
population, seventy-five miles north of Duluth, was destroyed in an
hour. At 5:30 o’clock in the afternoon of September 6, a sudden shift of
wind deluged the place in a moment with an overwhelming rain of burning
leaves and embers. Almost every building in the town took fire at once.
The surprised and panic-stricken people could do nothing but seize a few
valuables and run for their lives. When the fire died out it was found
that only sixty-five structures of any kind remained standing, but that
not a life had been lost. Prompt relief measures were taken, with a state
commission in charge. A relief fund of about $130,000 was contributed.
Mr. Ernest P. Bicknell, National Director of the Red Cross, visited
Chisholm and inspected the progress and methods of relief October 13 to
16, and reported that the methods were good and that normal conditions
were being restored rapidly. Hundreds of men were employed in rebuilding
the town and houses were going up like magic. Eighty-seven cottages
have been built by the relief committee. Employment in the iron mines
surrounding the town was not interrupted by the fire. This fact greatly
simplified the work of relief, as the usual income of that part of the
population least able to endure loss, was preserved._
[Illustration: MICHIGAN FOREST FIRES—SOME OF THE HOMELESS.]
_While in Duluth on October 16, the National Director of the Red
Cross learned of a disastrous forest fire, which had occurred in the
northern part of the southern peninsula of Michigan on the preceding
day. He hurried to the scene, reaching there on the 17th, and for two
weeks devoted his time to the work of relief in that State. Following
are extracts from the report of the National Director covering this
work:_—EDITOR.
“The summer and fall had been excessively dry here, as elsewhere, and
there had been little wind. Farmers had been clearing up their lands,
burning logs and stumps and accumulated rubbish, as is their custom at
the end of the summer. In thousands of places fire was smouldering in log
heaps, and in the roots of stumps and in the peaty soil which, when dry,
will burn without flame and with little smoke until extinguished by rain.
“Early in the afternoon of October 15, a strong wind from the southwest
sprang up and almost in a moment these smouldering fires burst into
flames. The effect was as though the entire country had taken fire at
once. The wind, whose velocity is estimated to have been fifty miles an
hour, carried a vast wave of flame which destroyed everything combustible
in its path. Several men whose homes were destroyed assured me, with
entire seriousness, that the air was on fire. The area damaged extends
approximately seventy-five miles along the northeastern shore of the
lower peninsula and reaches back inland from fifteen to twenty-five
miles. The center and worst of the fire covered an area perhaps
twenty-five miles long and ten miles wide. Within this smaller area were
the villages of Metz, Posen and Bolton, surrounded by an agricultural
country occupied by Polish and German families in moderate circumstances.
The Detroit and Mackinac Railroad passes through this district and each
of the villages named is upon the line of the road.
“The village of Metz was completely destroyed, not a structure of any
character remaining. The village of Bolton was also completely destroyed
with the exception of a small church. Posen was saved by a desperate
fight. The open farming country offered little hindrance to the progress
of the fire, which in many instances leaped across treeless spaces of a
quarter of a mile or more, destroying all buildings and fences between.
The number of homes destroyed in an area ten miles square was 177. The
number of persons made homeless and temporarily destitute by the fire in
an area twenty-five miles long and ten miles wide was about 2,000.
[Illustration: RUINS OF CHISHOLM.]
[Illustration: ONE OF THE SHACKS CONSTRUCTED BY RELIEF COMMITTEE.]
“When the people of Metz, early in the afternoon of October 15, realized
that the village was in danger, they telegraphed to the railroad company
for a relief train to carry the women and children to safety. At 2:30
P. M. an engine arrived with a steel gondola car—a steel box with solid
walls about four feet high and without roof. The danger did not appear
immediate when the train arrived and the people delayed to gather up
their more valuable portable property and load it into the car. The
trainmen urged haste, but the people were determined, and hours passed.
At 5:30 P. M. the train started with about forty-five women and children
huddled in the open car. Four trainmen were on board and a farmer and
his wife, who were trying to reach home where their children had been
left earlier in the day. Two miles from Metz a line of box cars stood
on a siding close to the main track. On the opposite side of the track
was a huge pile of cross ties awaiting shipment. Both box cars and cross
ties were burning. The heat had warped the rails of the main track, but
the dense blanket of smoke prevented the engineer from seeing what had
happened. The train dashed into the furnace between the burning cars and
the burning cross ties and was wrecked. Seventeen of those on board were
burned to death. The fireman and brakeman and the farmer were among the
killed. The rest were women and children. Those who escaped clambered
over the sides of the car and crawled along the ground to an open place
where they lay on their faces several hours until the fire had subsided.
The wreck occurred within fifty feet of the home of the farmer. The
farmer’s wife escaped from the train and reached the burning house. She
rushed in, in search of her children, and her bones were found later
among the ashes. The three children, the oldest nine, had fled to a
neighbor’s house near by and were saved. Many who escaped from the train
were terribly burned.
[Illustration: REFUGEES AT POSEN.]
“The men of Metz, who remained to fight the fire, escaped without loss
of life. One of these men told me of his escape. He threw some small
valuables into a large wooden candy pail and started to run along the
road through the woods. Presently his hair began to burn and his face to
blister. He felt himself failing. He emptied the contents from the pail
and put it over his head. With this protection he managed to crawl along
the road to a field and escaped, with clothing on fire and many injuries.
“After driving about the region a few hours, in order to gain an adequate
idea of the extent of the loss, I took a train for Detroit for the
purpose of conferring with officers of the State Branch of the Red Cross,
concerning relief measures. Some relief supplies were already arriving,
contributed by the people of the City of Alpena, twenty-five miles to the
east, and hurried in by the railroad company. I found Detroit awakened
to the situation. Mr. Emory W. Clark, treasurer of the State Branch,
and Mr. Ralph M. Dyar, secretary, had been in conference the morning of
my arrival. Mr. Clark took me to call upon the Mayor, who requested me
to attend a meeting of business men, which he had called to assemble in
his office at noon. The result of the meeting was the appointment of a
relief committee. Mr. Clark was made the Red Cross representative upon
this committee. The committee appointed Mr. J. D. Hawks, president of
the Detroit and Mackinac Railroad, its representative in the field and
requested me to return to the fire district with him to help organize and
direct the work of relief. It was arranged that we should start to Metz
that same evening.
[Illustration: ONLY BUILDING LEFT IN BOLTON.]
“In the afternoon, this being October 19, the Red Cross opened a large
downtown room for the reception of clothing intended for the fire
sufferers. Mrs. R. McD. Campau, an active and enthusiastic member of
the Red Cross, took charge of the supply depot and plenty of volunteers
joined her staff. The afternoon papers announced the arrangement
conspicuously and before night supplies began coming in. In a week so
much clothing had been received that the supply room was closed and the
public requested to send no more.
“In the fire district three relief stations were opened at Metz,
Posen and Alpena. The Alpena relief committee, which was extremely
active and efficient, had charge of the relief station in that city. A
committee of women managed the clothing distribution, while the men’s
committee handled other supplies, including hay for live stock. At
Posen the railroad company gave the use of its freight house for relief
headquarters. At Metz the railroad company placed freight cars upon a
siding for relief supplies. The company also gave the services of a
number of its capable officers for the work of relief. For example:
President Hawks, of the railroad company, not only gave substantially all
of his own time, but detailed the General Superintendent of the road,
the Chief Engineer, the District Passenger and Freight Agent, and other
men of proved ability. The railroad company also facilitated in every
possible way the shipment of supplies of all kinds and put into service a
daily relief train which transferred supplies as required from one relief
station to another, carried the relief workers back and forth, etc.
“As the climate of northern Michigan is severe, and winter was close at
hand, the providing of shelter was of immediate urgency. Mr. Waterman,
the chief engineer of the railroad, designed a ‘shack’ which could be
built quickly and cheaply and the work of housing the homeless, who
in the meantime were crowded with almost incredible congestion into
the homes of their more fortunate neighbors, began promptly and went
forward with the utmost speed. The ‘shack’ consisted of unplaned lumber,
long, upright boards forming the walls, rough boards forming the roof
and floor, and the entire exterior of the structure covered with tar
building paper. Each ‘shack’ was 14 by 16 feet and contained three small
rooms. About twenty carpenters were gathered up along the line of the
railroad and brought into the relief work. The plan of procedure was for
the farmer to receive the lumber, paper, windows, hardware, etc., for a
‘shack’ and haul it to his farm. Then one carpenter would be sent to the
place to direct operations and with the farmer and his neighbors helping,
the ‘shack’ would be quickly completed. If two or three ‘shacks’ were to
be in a group, one carpenter could supervise all at once.
“On October 29, exactly two weeks after the fire, thirty-eight ‘shacks’
were completed and occupied on the sites of burned homes and twenty-four
‘shacks’ going up. It was estimated that about 150 ‘shacks’ would have to
be provided by the relief committee and almost as many more for horses
and other domestic animals. These ‘shacks’ cost, complete, only $50 each.
“On October 24, Governor Warner announced the appointment of a State
Relief Commission. It was composed of seven men, including Mr. Emory W.
Clark as a representative of the Red Cross. It also included Mr. J. D.
Hawks, president of the Detroit and Mackinac railroad. The Commission met
on October 26, and elected Mr. Frank Buel, a prominent lumberman of Bay
City, chairman, and Mr. B. M. Wynkoop, manager of the Bay City Times,
secretary. The State Commission requested me to meet with it on October
30, and visit the fire district. This I did, and after a day with the
members, became satisfied that they were men of affairs and that they
had accepted appointment on the Commission for no purpose other than a
sincere desire to serve the State. At this meeting it was decided to take
over the relief work and put it upon a permanent basis with men in charge
who would be paid for their services, but continuing substantially
the same methods of administration then in use. As superintendent, the
Commission employed Mr. F. E. Merrill, who had had a responsible position
in the relief work from the beginning, and who was given leave of absence
by the railroad company for the purpose.
“From two sources should come help which will materially lighten the
burden of relief.
“First, from insurance. The total insurance upon the property burned was
$149,000. Of this amount $95,000 was upon village property and $54,000 on
farm property.
“Second, from the sale of lumber and from wages in lumbering operations.
The trees which were killed by the fire will produce good lumber if sawed
this winter, but if they remain longer they become almost valueless,
except for fuel. Thus in order to save their lumber, the farmers must
get their burned trees to the mill this winter. That will mean unusual
activity in the woods. Those who own timber will realize some income from
its sale and those who do not own timber will find employment with those
who do.
[Illustration: HUT CONSTRUCTED OF BLANKETS—ONLY SHELTER OF TWO WOMEN.]
“The total amount of relief funds collected in the various cities
could not be accurately ascertained up to the time of my departure
from Michigan, November 1, but was approximately $50,000, including
$5,000 given through the State Branch of the Red Cross. This, with the
contributions of provisions, clothing, lumber, etc., it is hoped will
be enough to carry the work through to completion. In the event that it
does not suffice to purchase seed grain for the farmers next spring, it
is believed a small additional fund may be obtained by an appeal to the
public, or perhaps through an appropriation by the State Legislature.”