The Smoke Over the Okanogan
Forest fires fueled by arsonists are devastating the landscape and choking the residents of the Okanogan country.
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.
Mr. Alfred Downing, a draughtsman of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern railroad, has returned from three weeks' stay on the east slope of the Cascades, in the neighborhood of Lake Chelan. Mr. Downing says that the whole country east of the mountains, from the Stampede pass to the British line, is ablaze with forest fires. The country is as dry as a chip, and the fires have covered large areas and millions of dollars worth of timber has been destroyed. The smoke from the fires hangs like a huge black pall over the country, obscures the sun during the day, the moon at night, and the inhabitants are made ill and dispirited. It is reported that the fires in that region were all started by a band of outlaws whom the sheriff of Okanogan is in pursuit of. The sheriff, with a posse, has been in hot pursuit, and the outlaws set fire to the forest when closely pressed to impede the steps of their pursuers.
“The smoke from the fires hangs like a huge black pall over the country, obscures the sun during the day, the moon at night, and the inhabitants are made ill and dispirited.”
This account of massive forest fires and the human toll of persistent smoke in Eastern Washington echoes contemporary concerns regarding the increasing intensity of wildfire seasons in the Pacific Northwest.
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