Drought and Forest Fires Gripping the Inland Empire
A grim report from the Colville Valley details parched crops, ruined timber, and a sun obscured by thick smoke.
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.
No rain during the past six weeks. The condition of the crops is fast becoming hopeless, though some early sown grain looks remarkably well considering the unusually dry weather. We have had no such dry season since the summer of 1860. Both hay and grain will be light crops. The forest fires still continue. At night the mountains appear like illuminated cities set upon hills. Those who had cord-wood remaining in the woods have had a greater part of it consumed by the devastating element. The air is thick with smoke, almost entirely obscuring the sun, which resembles a big red ball of fire, the spots upon which can be seen by the naked eye.
“At night the mountains appear like illuminated cities set upon hills.”
This 1883 account of 'illuminated' mountains and smoke-choked skies mirrors the increasingly frequent 'smoke season' in the Pacific Northwest today. The fear of crop failure in the Colville Valley highlights the historic vulnerability of Washington's agricultural economy to the region's climate cycles.
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