Nov 1, 2020
Reprinted from The Sabbath Recorder dated November 21, 1878
Prairie Fire in Nebraska
A North Loup correspondent sends us an account of a very destructive prairie fire in that vicinity, by which our Sabbath-keeping friends were heavy sufferers, clipped from the Greeley County Tribune, date not given, from which we make the following extracts:
On last Tuesday afternoon the fire took a general stampede along the North Loup valleys. The wind was blowing at a rapid rate, and the fire on the west side of the river came down Mira Creek Valley, destroying everything in its way, to the town of North Loup. Our reporter has obtained the names of the following persons and their losses: Daniel Fossy, hay and grain; Dr. Badger, hay and grain; Daniel Merritt, hay and grain; George Larkin, house, grain and hay; Judson Davis, hay, grain and 8 hogs; Wm. Prentice, hay and grain; A.H. Babcock, S.P. Horr, and I.S. Bristol, lost all their hay, grain and stables; Amos Travis lost his grain; Frank Gardiner, his hay; Wm. Holliday, his house and grain; J. Vernon, hay and grain.
Albert Davis & Co., lost two threshing machines, their hay and grain. One of their machines, the Minnesota Chief, was new, they having received it only a few days since.
Judge Shaw, on the Cedar, is reported to have lost 800 bushels of wheat and 70 tons of hay.
Albert Cottrell, of Davis Creek, who was fighting the fire, became surrounded by the same, and in attempting to make his escape, he perished in the flames. Morse and William Green, in attempting to rescue Mr. C. were severely burned, and it is thought fatally.
We learn that Eddie Babcock had a narrow escape from being burned to death, he having to jump in the creek close by, to save himself.
At about 9 o’clock in the evening, a fire came in from the north, and it was by the untiring efforts of all hands present, that the Scotia Hotel and court house were saved from being destroyed by the elements. Mr. Craig lost about 18 tons of hay. We were glad to learn that Scotia was lucky in not sustaining as much of a loss as some localities, but must sympathize with those who had the misfortune to be not so lucky.
The fire was terrible, was so wide spread and coming in all points at once, people could not combine their forces to fight, but it was every man for himself, and the fire for all. This wholesale destruction is not from the carelessness of the farmers, for all had taken extra precautionary measures to guard against it, but with the sweeping wind it was of no avail.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/sabbathrecorderscan/SR+Vol+34+(1878)/Sabbath +Recorder_1878_34_47.pdf