The Sky Turned to Smoke: Forest Fires Choke Puget Sound

The forest fires continue to rage in Skagit, Whatcom, Snohomish and King counties, also on Vancouver Island and in the Olympic Mountains, and have done considerable damage to railroads, farms and shingle mills. The smoke yesterday in Seattle was not quite so dense as the day before, but in the Straits and lower Sound steamboat men claim it was more annoying than ever. In the vicinity of Olympia old-timers say it is the densest ever known. Steamers as well as trains continue to run under slow orders, and there seems to be no human agency powerful enough to abate the nuisance. A few hours' steady rain would effectually clear the atmosphere, however, and a man with a rain-making machine would have no difficulty at this time in clearing a snug fortune.

Fires continue to burn along the lines of the Great Northern and Lake Shore railroads, but the loss so far has been nominal. Some trouble was reported from burning trees falling across telegraph lines, but all the wires last evening were working well. The most serious incident of the fire occurred to the Great Northern passenger train due in Seattle at 11 o'clock Tuesday night, but which did not arrive until yesterday morning. A burning tree had fallen across the track thirty-five miles east of Everett, and the train was almost upon it before it was discovered. The front trucks of the engine were derailed and the cowcatcher was badly smashed. The passengers received a shaking up, but no one was injured.

Word reached Seattle last evening that the Enterprise shingle mill at Enterprise, ten miles south of Blaine, had burned. It was a small mill, with a capacity of but 60,000 shingles per day. The report that the trees on the bluffs along the Sound shore line of the Great Northern road were on fire is somewhat exaggerated. The trees are burning in some places, but the whole forests in this district are not on fire by any means.

The following dispatch from Whatcom shows that the fires near that place are not as threatening as they were:

WHATCOM, Aug. 29.—The wind died out last night, and danger is probably over. All watchers on the outskirts have been withdrawn, and sufficient back firing has been done probably to protect the city from danger, even should the wind revive. The only loss in the city of any importance is that of the Eldridge mansion. A few shacks of a deserted logging camp back of the Columbia school were burned, but they were of little value. A rancher who came in over the guide meridian road reports twelve bridges and culverts destroyed within three miles of the city, and of the whole road about a mile of planking burned. One thousand feet of planking of the Northeast diagonal road in the city limits is destroyed. The Blue Canyon Coal Company kept a large force of men at work at the mine, but suffered no loss. The plank road from the Eureka addition to Silver Beach is nearly all burned. J. A. Cook's house at Silver Beach was valued at insurance $700. The school house cost $2,500 and was insured. The outhouses of the Mount Baker Shingle Company's mill at Lawrence were destroyed, but the mill itself was saved. The Bellingham Bay & British Columbia railway kept a locomotive and tank car along the line all day and most of the night fighting fire. The marshal had twenty-five extra policemen on duty last night, including two mounted patrolmen, and several suspicious characters were arrested. The street cars are not running today, because of slight damages to the track.

The Mount Baker Shingle Company, at Lawrence, suffered a loss of about $100 by the burning of its cook house, while Commissioner McDonald lost a house and barn, loss $600. Charles Anderson, an old soldier, lost everything he had, including stock, house and papers. The Indians in the immediate vicinity have lost everything and were at the shingle mill today begging for food and clothing. L. C. Barnes, Otis Hind and Charles Johnson lost all their household utensils and clothing.

From South Bend comes the news that the standing timber, valuable for commercial purposes, has not been damaged. A dispatch says:

SOUTH BEND, Aug. 29.—Forest fires are raging fiercely all around South Bend. Thus far the fire has not entered the standing green timber much, but has been confined to settlers' slashings and to old burnt districts. In several instances slashing fires have got beyond control and destroyed crops and barns. A Riverside rancher, J. A. Johnson, lost his barn by such a fire while he was absent in South Bend being married.

OLYMPIA, Aug. 29.—Not for many years has the atmosphere about this city been in such a dense smother as the result of forest fires. Many old settlers think it the thickest ever experienced here, and for once rain is being sincerely wished for.

TACOMA, Aug. 29.—Henry Hewitt, Jr., of the St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company, says it has cost his company $30 per day for the past ten days to fight forest fires and keep their camps from burning up. He agrees with many others that some stringent regulations should at once be made to apprehend wanton forest fire bugs.

PORT TOWNSEND, Aug. 29.—The smoke enveloping the lower Sound and Straits today was more intense and stifling than has been known in years. Vessels could not be distinguished a distance of 100 yards. All steamers plying down Sound ran under a slow bell and took double precaution to prevent accidents.

Reports from Vancouver Island say that the forest fires are destroying much valuable timber and are steadily creeping down on the settlements. Fires along the coast and between Port [??] and Fort [??] have destroyed the telegraph lines or stopped communication.