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A = > 4 } : . 5 " . * a hae i g a s* * 4 : AY c. "oN ¢ » bdesuntiashond eran pidncsane bddioiontantudbuatdusiodot snolidbmmmy ino <tr . rl saad -- ie RATA dui di fa ---le LETT EI LN | a J] May It Never Happen Again! The Disastrous Matheson Fire Of 1916 The extremely dry, hot weather for the last month has created high danger of forest fires throughout Ontario. The account be- low of one of the worst forest fires in North-Am- erica, 50 years ago, could possibly happen ayain, but it should not, if people will only take the correct pre- cautions when camping and enjoying outdoor life. * % 0» Weeks of oppressive heat. Drought, Settlers burning brush. Workmen burning on the railway right-of-way. The wind rising. Fires uniting into one giant ghastly killer racing wildly across the land. Clouds of flame. Ashes dropping. Fear. Courage, Death. Two hundred and twenty-three deaths. Whole: families gone. Whole towns & villages wiped -out. _ One. thou |. sand square miles burned over. That was the story in the Ma- theson area of northern Ontario on July 29, 1916, The Matheson fire was the worst forest fire in terms of lives lost ever experienced in Canada. It wasn't the biggest. The Miramichi fire in New Brunswick in 1825 holds that distinction having burned three million acres and killed 160 people. * INVEST 6% VICTORIA and GREY TRUST Guaranteed Investments. Interest is payable half yearly or may be left to compound Emmerson Insurance Agency LIMITED 191 Queen St. Port Perry Telephone 985-7306 The Porcupine Fire of 1911 which burned Timmins, South Porcupine, Pottsville, Goldlands, Porquis Junction and Cochrane killed at least seventy-three people. Best known, perhaps, is the Haileybury fire of Oct- ober, 1922 which burned twice the area of the Matheson fire, claimed 43 lives and left 6,000 people homeless, There were only three more tragic fires in' North America. 1.500 died in the Peshtigo fire in Wisconsin in October, 1871-- the same time that Chicago burned. 418 died in the Hinck- ley fire in Minnesota in 1894 and 438 died in the Moose Lake- Cloquet fire in the same State in 1918. i It is difficult for us to pic- ture today the conditions which prevailed in Northern Ontario in 1916, Transportation and communications were not as 'well developed as they are now. What went on a few miles a- way could be history by the time news of it spread through- out the district. Settlement in that part of the Province was spread out in a narrow ribbon along the Toronto and North- ern Ontario Railway. There 'was no organized fire protection system as exists today. Most of thé new settlers had cut pulp from their lands as a means of earning a living while they prepared to grow agricul- tural crops... The slash left from these and commercial op-- erations presented excellent fuel for an unguarded brush fire, discarded match or cigar- ette. The grass, the muskeg and the crops were dry. Very dry. And it was hot. There had been no rain for three weeks and the temperatures were 'Im the nineties, A wind sprang up and blew. at up to seventy-five miles an hour -- enough to lift the roof off one building that was not consumed by fire. The whole country was like a tinder box. Brush burning, not regulated as it is today, was going on all over the country. Many got out of con- trol. Small forest fires soon sprang up in many places -- Timmins, Hearst, Matheson, Little Abiti- bi, Cochrane. These grew big- ger. Several combined and GUARANTEED INVESTMENTS 3, 4 and 5 Interest Is Payable Half Yearly Or May Be Left To Accumulate when interest is left to accumulate your invéstment increases over 34% in 5 years 308 DUNDAS ST. W. And Compow..« Half Ye dy Year Tot WHITBY that deadly red devil fire was on a rampage. On a farm near Matheson the family -soaked blankets, put them on a haystack and kept soaking them. A girl of fifteen recalled that she burned her hand on the door latch--it was so hot. And ashes falling on a horse in the stable turned it white as if covered with snow, Fast of Matheson a lady was left alone with her two little girls, They had a pail of water. and soaked blankets in it in case the house caught fire and in the yard did. n't so lucky. 1 News of the fire knocked World War I off the front pages of Toronto and other newspapers, The accounts were graphie, tragic, heart-rending-- tales. of little children burned to a crisp, of families strugg- ling into rivers to survive, of others who suffocated in wells, and of the thirty-five who suf- focated in a railway cut at Nushka (now Val Gagne) where they had sought refuge, Two fires were the killers Others were- PORT PERRY STAR -- THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1966 - 5 front from Ramore to Nellie Lake. This was the one that burned out Porquis Junction, Iroquois Falls, Kelso, Nushka, Matheson and Ramore. It par- tially razed the hamlets of Homer and Monteith, A small- er fire in the Cochrane area burned much of the town and caused the deaths of nine peo- ple in the outlying district. The new spaper accounts were full of praise for a number of Continued on Page 10 PLUMBING 985 - 2581 For All Your Plumbing and Heating Needs " CALL yu ART'S R.R. #1, & HEATING PORT PERRY Operated By ART (Pete) PETROZZI they had to flee. The house that day. Biggest was. the one didn't burn but all the buildings that stretched over a forty-mile Licenced Mechanic. PRICES EFFECTIVE Wed. - Thurs Saturday July 27, 28, 29, 30 - Fn. y// 7d EXCEPT TUESDAY 8:30 am. to 1:00 p.m. SATURDAY 8:30 to 6:00 p.m. il iy STORE HOURS: 8.30 am. -9 p.m, This Week's BURNS Il : SWEET PICKLED COTTAGE ROLLS VAC PAK | MEAT FEATURES BURNS WIENERS PACKAGE Ib. PICKLE & PIMENTO | CHICKEN LOAF DUTCH LOAF | MACARONI & CHEESE LOAF Your Choice VAC PAC, 6 OZ. PKGS. T0mm J Delivery CARNATION VAP MILK 2:33 | LIQUID DETERGENT AJAX #45 ST. 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