The Great Timber Fires of 1887
As drought conditions persist, devastating fires tear through the logging camps and timberlands near Seattle.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A forest fire has broken out again in this vicinity, and is causing much damage. In logging camps, sheds, and other camp outfits, the loss is heavy. The fire is within a mile of where some men lost 225 cords of wood and a quantity of tent and other property. This is in the neighborhood of Hewitt's Mill, which was destroyed by fire last year. The weather is dry, and if there is no rain within the next forty-eight hours, greater damage than last year may be expected. News worth of the fires is coming in fast, and a crew of men started from the city to fight the flames. A fire is raging in the woods much south of Portage, and a number of men are hard at work fighting it. A large amount of timber was swept away and other property was also destroyed.
“The weather is dry, and if there is no rain within the next forty-eight hours, greater damage than last year may be expected.”
In August 1887, Seattle residents were already anxious about the 'dry spell' and the vulnerability of regional timber assets to fire. Today, this anxiety has shifted from economic loss of logging equipment to the existential threat of wildfire smoke and forest management in a warming climate.
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