Disastrous forest fires have ravaged an area of a hundred
and fifty square miles in Eastern British Columbia. The mischief is attributed to long drought in the forests a hundred miles north of the National Park, near Banff, where fires had been raging for weeks past. Last Saturday morning a heavy wind sprang up, and the flames swept over the Crow's Nest mining district, destroying wholly or in part the towns of Fernie, Michel, Homer. and Coal Creek, with their lumber mills and surface mining works, and driving the inhabitants into headlong flight. Fernie is situated in a narrow valley, and the fire appears to have swept round the surrounding mountains, all covered with resinous trees, descending the range, and catching the inhabitants like rats in a trap. The loss of life is not yet fully known, but forty persons are stated to have perished, and the damage to property is estimated at from £600,000 to £1,400,000. The railway officials are stated to have behaved splendidly, and almost every town in Canada is contributing to the relief fund. Mr. Fraser, a Canadian geologist and author who knows the district well, attributes the fire to careless fishing-parties or a spark from a locomotive, and dismisses the theory of incendiarism.
