The Great Burn of 1885: A Summer of Ash and Loss
While Seattle sweltered, the timberlands north of the city were consumed by an unprecedented wildfire season, leaving behind a trail of homelessness, tragedy, and destruction.
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.
During the past week, fires have raged in the forests north of this place with more violence than ever before. They seem to have concentrated in one locality. North of Whalens, in the direction of Snohomish, two dwellings have been burned and a number of barns. The country is full of smoke, and it is almost impossible to get around. The large dwelling house at the Snohomish stone quarry, owned by the operatives, was destroyed last Wednesday. At Snohomish landing, a house and a barn were burned Wednesday. The fire was moving rapidly, and the inhabitants of the island were doing what they could to subdue the flames. The Hitorr logging camp on Snohomish river was taken in by the fire, and virtually destroyed, including the new railroad, store, and the damage is estimated at $10,000. Snohomish was also visited by the flames and injured to the extent of $1,000 or more. Some children were picnicking near Eilson the same day the other events above recorded occurred. One of them, the 11-year-old daughter of a resident named Gilmore, was so unfortunate as to have her clothing catch from the fire burning near them; she was so terribly burned that she died in five hours.
“The country is full of smoke, and it is almost impossible to get around.”
This 1885 account of a smoky, fire-ravaged summer serves as a chilling precursor to the modern 'smoke season' in the Pacific Northwest. While the scale of wildfire management has changed, the vulnerability of communities near the wildland-urban interface in the Snohomish Valley remains a recurring, climate-driven anxiety for Washingtonians.
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