From the Elizabethville Echo, April 26, 1928, a news story about a fire which started in a grass field near a saw mill between Woodside Station and Millersburg and spread toward the mountain. Before the fire was “outened” it destroyed a significant amount of sawed lumber that was not covered by insurance. In addition, about 30 acres of timberland belonging to the saw mill owner were also damaged.
FIRE DESTROYS LUMBER MILL
FIRE WHICH STARTED IN FIELD SWEPT MOUNTAIN
Last Thursday afternoon, when a fire started on Berries Mountain, between Woodside Station and Millersburg, a very high wind fanned the flames as they swept over a large area before being brought under control. The fire started on the south side of the mountain, it is claimed, and with the high wind, it soon swept over the top and down the north side. A sawmill, owned by John Snyder, located on the mountain about a mile from Millersburg, was destroyed. The fire fighters worked under the supervision of H. N. Miller, fire warden, and only late at night was the fire brought under control.
The fire, it is claimed, started in a grass field several hundred yards from the sawmill, and the wall of flamed reached the woods, before it could be outened. Mr. Snyder says that 50,000 feet of sawed limber, 2,000 railroad ties, 125 truckloads of slab wood, 1 1/2 carloads of laggings, and machinery were totally destroyed, resulting in a loss of about $6,000, which was not covered by insurance. Timber on Mr. Snyder’s own tract of about thirty acres was damaged by the fire, but Mr. Snyder expected to resume operations in several weeks.
The fire was stopped when backfires were started along the road which leads across the mountain at Woodside Station and through the Gap on the top.
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Articles obtained from Newspapers.com.
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