Firefighters work to contain and extinguish a mountainside fire on the north side of Berries Mountain, near Woodside Station in 1935. This fire was one of many that occurred in the vicinity of the station. Newspaper accounts of some of the others appear below. Note that the cause of several of these fires was sparks from locomotives on the Lykens Valley Railroad (operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad).
_____________________________________________________
From the Elizabethville Echo, August 19, 1897 (as summarized in “Echoes of 35 Years Ago,” August 18, 1932):
The barn of Fred Fickinger, residing near Woodside Station, was destroyed by fire this afternoon. Farming implements, the season’s crops and several head of livestock were destroyed by the flames. A spark from the threshing engine caused the blaze.
__________________________________________________
From the Elizabethville Echo, August 26, 1897:
It is now definitely settled that the fire which consumed F. W. Fickinger‘s barn near Woodside Station, originated from burning chaff which had come in contact with a hot box at one of the machines. The loss is estimated at about $2500, with a $1500 insurance.
_________________________________________________
From the Elizabethville Echo, April, 1899 (as summarized in “Echoes of 35 Years Ago,” April 12, 1934):
The greenhouses of Martin G. Hinkle near Woodside Station, were destroyed by fire Sunday night. About 10,000 tomato and pepper plants, together with many flower plants were burned. The dwelling house and barn were in great danger of being burned.
_________________________________________
From the Elizabethville Echo, July 29, 1904:
The dwelling house of E. N. Keefer near Woodside Station, with all its contents, was destroyed by fire on Monday night.
__________________________________________
From the Lykens Standard, August 4, 1904 (as reported in the Millersburg Herald, July 29, 1904):
FIRE NEAR WOODSIDE STATION
Monday evening between 9 and 10 o’clock, the residence of Elmer Keefer, in Upper Paxton Township, a short distance from Woodside Station on the Summit Branch [Railroad], caught fire from some unknown cause and the building with nearly all its contents destroyed. The family was awakened by the smoke entering their sleeping apartment and it was with come difficulty that Mr. Keefer got his wife out of the house. He next turned his attention to rescuing the children sleeping up stairs. The house was already in flames and filled with smoke. He procured a ladder by means of which he he removed the children to safety out of the window but narrowly escaped with his own life, the ladder burning from under him before he reached the ground. His face was horribly burned. Beside losing all their household goods they are left with scarcely any clothing. The origin of the fire is a mystery. The property was formerly owned by his father in-law, and is known as the John T. Hoffman property.
________________________________________
From the Elizabethville Echo, March 7, 1907:
Elmer Keefer expects to build a house during the summer on the site where his burned down, near Woodside Station, several years ago.
________________________________________
From the Elizabethville Echo, May 11, 1914:
THREE FOREST FIRES IN REGION LAST WEEK END
Three forest fires burned over mountain tracts in this area during the week end.
One of the fires, according to State Forest Fire Inspector Charles W. Mattis, burned over an area about sixty acres on the south side of Mahantongo Mountain, east of Deibler’s Gap, Friday afternoon.
Forest fire crews were called from Elizabethville and Pillow to help extinguish the blaze.
The same evening, about 10 p. m., a fire burned over a tract of about three acres on the north side of Berries Mountain, east of Woodside Station.
On Saturday morning fire fighters were called to extinguish a fire in the section of woodland between the milk plant and Swab Wagon Company storage sheds, south of Spruce Street and the Lykens Valley Railroad tracks, town [Elizabethville]
The burned-over area covered approximately three acres, Mr. Mattis said.
________________________________________
From the Elizabethville Echo, December 13, 1928:
FIRE BURNS OVER MOUNTAIN LAND
The first mountain fire on Berries Mountain this year, burned over a considerable area last Thursday evening. The fire was confined to an area north of Fisherville, on the south side of the mountain, and burned west at a point, nearly opposite Woodside Station. It is said that deer which had made their home there fled before the flames, which will temporarily spoil this area for hunting. The belief is that a careless hunter was the cause of the fire is advanced. Fire Fighters from Armstrong Valley had the flames extinguished by early morning.
________________________________________
From the Elizabethville Echo, June 16, 1932:
ANSWER FOREST FIRE CALL
Forest Fire Crews of Elizabethville and Rife were summoned to a fire between Lenkers and Woodside Stations on Berries Mountain last Friday morning.
The fire is believed to have been started from sparks from a freight train locomotive. The blaze covered less than ten acres.
________________________________________
From the Elizabethville Echo, July 13, 1933:
FIVE MOUNTAIN FIRES REPORTED THIS WEEK
Five mountain fires burned over woodland in this district on two days of this week. Four of them are believed to have been started by sparks from Pennsylvania Railroad locomotives. Destroyed acreage however was small.
Three of these fires started at different points and times on woodland adjoining the branch railroad south of Aaron Erdman farm east of town, Tuesday. Fire Warden Clayton Bechtel, and Inspector C. W. Mattis of this place [Elizabethville] supervised firefighting crews. About four o’clock yesterday afternoon, a fourth fire believed to have been started by locomotive sparks burned over two acres on Berries Mountain east of Woodside Station.
The most serious fire however, occurred Tuesday on lands of the Lykens Water Company east of the State Game Preserve on Broad Mountain. An area of about 100 acres, all of young timber was burned over, according to Fire Inspector Charles W. Mattis of this place. Crews from Lykens and town, fought the blaze.
________________________________________
From the Elizabethville Echo, May 2, 1935:
FIRES SWEEP NEARBY WOODLANDS
The above picture [top of this blog post] was taken during the height of a blaze that swept over the north side of Berries Mountain, two miles west of town [Elizabethville[ last Thursday afternoon. Men in the foreground are members of the CCC Camp south of this place, raking leaves prior to backfiring against the advancing line of flames.
Scenes like the above were repeated on nearby mountain tracts several times last week. The first fire in this section was reported April 18th [1935] and burned over territory near the scene of last Thursday’s fire which swept over the crest of the mountain onto the Armstrong Valley side. It was extinguished late the same afternoon, but not before a second fire was reported on the same side of the mountain, but between Lenker’s and Woodside Stations. Members of the regular fire crews, CCC members and Railroad maintenance gangs assisted in their extinction.
The third timberland blaze last week burned over a large tract in the vicinity of Big Lick Colliery between Lykens and Williamstown. On Saturday, a fire that started on the Dauphin side of Peter’s Mountain burned over the top to the Powls Valley side several miles southwest of Matamoras. This was extinguished late Saturday evening.
Heavy rains in this section this week eliminated further hazard for a short time at least.
________________________________________
From the Elizabethville Echo, April 17, 1941:
FOREST FIRE NEAR WOODSIDE STATION
A forest fire burned over an area of about 125 acres on the north side of Berries Mountain, east of Woodside Station on Tuesday.
The blaze was reported about 2:00 that afternoon, and was brought under control about 10:00 o’clock the same evening. Charles W. Mattis, Upper Dauphin Forest Fire Inspector, said.
Fire crews comprising bout one hundred men from various communities in this section battled the blaze.
Rains last evening aided the fire fighting crews to extinguish a blaze that covered a very large acreage on Stony Mountain, Mr. Mattis reported.
________________________________________
From the Lykens Standard, April 18, 1941:
SECOND FIRE ON BERRIES MOUNTAIN BURNS LARGE AREA
The second fire within a week was discovered on the north side of Berries Mountain east of Woodside Station Tuesday afternoon at 2 o’clock and was brought under control with more than 100 men battling the blaze, only after 100 acres of land had been ravished by the flames. The work of the firefighters was completed at 10 p. m. the day of the discovery.
Last week a fire in the same locality burned over a 90 acre area.
___________________________________________
From the Elizabethville Echo, April 24, 1952:
FIRES SWEPT WOODLAND AREAS
Fires during the past week swept over more than 300 acres of woodlands in this area.
Two fires on the north side of Berries Mountain, east of Woodside Station, covered about 200 acres before they were extinguished last Thursday afternoon.
A third blaze the same day, burned over a tract of about thirty acres of mountain land, 1 1/2 miles east of Elizabethville.
On Sunday afternoon, another fire swept approximately 100 acres, east of Klinger’s Hollow, on Berries Mountain. Extinguished about 8:00 p. m., fire fighters were recalled when the blaze broke out again several hours later.
Forest fire fighting crews from Millersburg, Fisherville, Rife, Lykens, Loyalton, Gratz and Elizabethville were called to fight the fires.
_________________________________________________
News articles from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.