SWEPT BY FIRE. Great Losses on Dakota's Prairies. Towns and Farmhouses Destroyed..

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 364, 1 May 1889, Page 5

SWEPT BY FIRE. Great Losses on Dakota's Prairies. Towns and Farmhouses Destroyed..

A IVUnnku'Olis despatch of April 4th says : During the past two days South Dakota j and Minnesota have been swept by a series of windstorms, which have caused millions ot dollars' worth of damage to property and the loss of several lives. The .stoim started on Monday night, and swept over a large area south of the Northern Pacific in Dakota, extending into the southern tier of counties in the State. The greatest damage has nob been caused by the wind alone. In many places (ires, fanned into fury by the storms, have wiped out of existence several small villages and hundreds of farmers' houses, rendering families homeless through a large section of the stoim district. The towns? almost completely destroyed are Volin, Olivet, Pukwana, Lesterville and Movm*- Vernon. Thice or four other villager aie badly damaged. Many head of cattle, sheep and hogs peiished in tho storm or in the flam as. In many places the crops are covered by loose sand and dust, and will have Co be replanted. Travel is suspended on some of the lines of railroad, so great \va& the lorce of the wind. The storm has abated somewhat, but the wind is yet high enough to keep the fires burning fiercely, and fuither heavy losses are almost certain. The damage in Minnesota has been much less than in Dakota, as the force of the »torm was pretty well spent before it reache 1 the border. The losses in South Dakota are !i>2, 000,000 at a low calculation. A despatch fiom Mitchell (D.T. ), says: " Nobody but a man who has stood bclore a prairie fire and tried to stay its awful rus.h and roar when it is fanned by a tresh wind can appreciate its almost resistless force. The fires that have brought so much loss and suffering to Southeastern Dakota in the last fewdays were practically irresistible. The tiames in some instances leaped 100 feet of ploughed ground, and rushed away again on their caieer of destruction. All ordinary precautions were vain. Tne spring has been very diy, and the top ot the ground lias boen dutty or baked, and an extremely high wind prevailed during the fires. Under the?e conditions wherever fire touched the grass it bui&b out with a Hash almost like powder and shot away across the prairie like an arrow, its course ever widening. To extinguish ib by water of course was out of thequestion JPJoughingfire breaks w as slow work and thehigh wind otten drove tho flames acioss them. It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon when the people of Mount Vernon saw the wide-spreading" prairie noithwesfc of them break out into a bla/e. The smoke dashed into and through the town on wings of wind and the flames rushed after with savage fury. Mitchell was telegraphed to for help, and 100 filemen hooks and ladders weiesent. The entire population of Mount vernon and men from Mitchell met the fuiious ilamcs on the outskirts of the town and fought with a will. Despite their efforts 100 families were rendered homeless. The lofcs is *20,000. Outside of the town it is impossible yet to say what the loss is. Lonely little farmhouses scattered over the prauie ate wiped out by dozens. Stories ot losses of life will doubtless come later. A Highmoro telegiam says : " Houses, barns and stock weic burned. Tuesday morning tho wind reached a tenific gale. No ordinary fire-break made any resistance to the sweeping llames. At 3 p.m. the fire reached the heights fifteen miles east of Highmore, where thirteen residences in a town wcie destroyed. At feundoun, Tuesday, another fire started in the noithern part of Hyde county, sweeping away six houses, burning to death Miss Annie Ssveeney and a fiveyear old baby. Eugene Tibbs, Mr and Mrs Tibbs, and Mr and Mrs Ruby arc dangerously burnod, the first two fatally. The losses will reach many thousand dollars. Another despatch says : Stoiies ot the fury of the fire continue to be brought into town by stragglers. They say the \\ind would gather up loose tinder and, hurling it high in air, carry it ahead of the surface fire, alighting on barns and houses and igniting the prairie fifty yards in advance of the surface fire. Houoss and barns were burned where the fire was carried over 100 yards acro&s new-broken ground. A message from Aberdeen (D. T. ) tella a terrible story of the destruction of Leola, the county seat of McPherson county, noted in last night's despatches, has been brought in by couriers. Leola was a town of 300 inhabitants, and the country for miles around was well settled with industrious and thrifty people. They saw the surrounding country neaily devastated. Hundreds of farmhouses are in ashes, and the carcasses ot burned stock are lying along the roadways. It is probable that one- ton th of the damage is not yet reported. The injured men, at last accounts, were very low. Scores of farmers are without seed, wheat, stock or implements to commence work.