September 14, 1902: FOREST FIRES IN WASHINGTON
Men on Horseback are Rescuing Women and Children
Tacoma, Wash., Sept. 13--Forest fires are now burning in every county of western Washington from British Columbia to the Columbia River. The conflagrations are the most extensive in Mason, Thurston, Chehalis, and Lewis Counties, to the southwest of Tacoma. The towns of Elma and Folsom in Chehalis County have been partially destroyed. Each was the center of large logging, lumber, and shingle mill industries. Other towns which are in great danger are Shelton, Mattock, Black Hills, Bucoda, Rainier, and Castle Rock in southwestern Washington. Enumclaw and Buckley in the Cascade Mountains are threatened. The latest reports from Manson County are that every portion of that county are in flames with the exception of Shelton.
The logging camps of Thomas Bordeauy near Olympia are surrounded by flames. Forty men have left here on horseback to rescue the women and children. The Grays Harbor branch of the Northern Pacific is on fire, even to the ties in several places. Many farm houses about Enumclaw and throughout southwestern Washington, together with other farm property, have been destroyed.
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