More Troops Will Fight Forest Fires
Centralia Daily Chronicle
Centralia, Washington
August 20, 1910
Five Hundred Men Called from American Lake to Southern Oregon — Many Lives Are in Danger
PORTLAND, Ore.. Aug. ID.— Five hundred more troops have been called for by the forestry service to fight the forest fires now spreading in Southern Oregon. Two hundred and fifty men will leave the American Lake encampment tomorrow, including two companies of mounted Infantry. Horses which have been hauling artillery at the maneuvers will be used as pack animals.
The soldiers will be divided between the fires now ravaging the Crater lake national forest, where the line of fire extends for 18 miles, and another fire at Buck lake, 36 east of Ashland, where, fanned by the fierce wind, the flames “have endangered the lives and property of a number of settlers.” Here the roar of the flames may be heard for miles, and embers carried by the gale set new fires a mile in advance of the parent flames.
The Crater lake reserve fires are being attacked from both the Medford side and from north Klamath Falls. According to information received from Medford today, the bitter feeling which has prevailed between a number of settlers and the forest rangers has a bearing upon the frequency with which new fires break forth. Before the creation of the reserve, settlers occupied un-surveyed land, but the forestry service decided it was more valuable for the timber than for agricultural purposes. Several forest rangers are reported hemmed In by the fires.
Many cattle are reported to have perished in the fire burning along the Snake river in the Wallula reserve, Ore. The fire at Medical Springs, Ore., which one company of soldiers has been combatting since August, 13, has broken from control.
In the midst of the Crater lake district are several prominent Portland people, including ex-United States Senator C. W. Fulton and wife and Whitney L. Boise and wife, who were on an automobile trip. The automobiles of two other Portland men were wrecked while carrying water to the fire fighters. A number of Klamath Falls business men and their families are camped in the danger zone. It is feared one hundred million feet of timber will be destroyed.
The fire at Larch Mountain, near Camas, Wash., has burned two dams and caused a loss estimated at $15,000. Numbers of pheasants and quail, bewildered by smoke, have flown into the fire to perish. The fire has now reached a district previously burned.
‘A call was made tonight by the forestry service for 50 troops for Pine valley, near Hunlngton, Ore., where a fire was discovered today that is causing much damage.
