| OCR Text |
Show MOTHER NATURE COMES 10 RESCUE " WfH HEAVY BLANKET OF SNOW i White Covering on Mountains and Rain in Yaileys Cause of General Rejoicing in Mon tana-Storm Extends fiver One l.'undred Square Miles-l ire Conditions Improve Missoula. Mont., Aug. 24. Con II-tlons II-tlons lu the burning forest districts in western Montana continue to improve im-prove Mother uature has come to the res cue and has spread a covering of si-ow over the mountains and a steady rain over the valleys. Scattering Scat-tering reports today show that the storm has extended over au area of one hundred square milos and that every one Interested in the flsht ngalnst the flames Is exceedingly rejoiced. re-joiced. Refugees Coming In. Refugees continue to come In at different points and it Is thought that Ik the end many reported to have been burned to death are unharmed. The Chicago, Milwaukee and Puget Souud officials have started four trains to tho lire district on tho Bll-tei Bll-tei Root mountains and thee tralDS will be used to replace camps; supply sup-ply them and rebuild such portions of the road as have been destroyed. The trains are ampl laden with pro-vicious pro-vicious and material supplies to carry car-ry on tho repair and relief work for some days and before the end of tho week the track hetween the level country and the. Bitter Root summit" should be in fair condition for operation opera-tion In a report rendered to the local ol Mclal's of the Puget Sound line Chief Engineer Pearson said, Avery, the terminal, reported destrojed last Snuday, was Intaet, and had suffered no riro damagi save for a bungalow belouglng to a man named Kelley across the river from the town. The rnllroad company has established permanent wire cvmmonlca,tlon between be-tween Missoula, and Haugan and line-men line-men are lapidly covering the burned district west. Tonight should fin 1 i complete wire still farther up the bill. Northern Pacific Repairing. The Northern Pacific is also carrying carry-ing out au elaborate programme for the repairing of its damaged line between be-tween St liegld and Wallace. Last night a train of nntcrlal was btartel Irom Missoula and In now at the IV-lorgla IV-lorgla bridge which will be re-paired today. Other material ' trains are being made ready and will be fvnt from here as required. Pile drivers arv on hand and the work will be rushed. Speaking of the condition west of Saltez, a local Northern Pacific ofll-clal ofll-clal last night said the exact amount of damage to the track and company Hue equlpmo sewtnto line equipment west of Saltez could rot be estimated until experts had been ovtr the damaged line. The "S" bridge, a structure several hundred feet long must be replaced befor-j traffic can be resumed as there Is no chance to construct a "Shoofly" truck around that structure. Tho Carbon Hill bridge will be difficult to reconstruct. Big Supply of Foodstuffs. I Chief Dispatcher Wllklns of the ' Puget Sound railway reports that all the refugees who found shelter ln the ' St. Paul pass tinnel have left and are thought to be rebuilding their i homes In the mouutalns. There are l three dead engines on the summit i which cannot be moved for somo deys to come. Thero Is, however, a I 1 ig supply of foodstuffs cached In i various places In the bills which will ! be available while the forces In , .charge of the railroad companies 1 property are Isolated. In the St. I Paul pass there Is also an ample sup-I sup-I ply of spring water. Rain Falling Copiously. ' At 11 o'clock today rain was reported re-ported falll.ig copiously In Paradise, the farthest western point reached by the local officials of the Northern Pacific. Saltez and St. Regis send flmllar reports. Latest report indicate indi-cate the storm is coutluuiug.. Supervisor Sup-ervisor Hlnney of tho Missoula na-j na-j tlonnl forest has received word from I more of the ranger statlonn in his c'istrlct saying the storm Is general. ' He has sent out word to all ra lg- ers to keep the fire lighters at their posts. |
