Martinsburg Gazette And Public Advertiser

Conflagration. - Fires have this season spread from St. Paul's Bay, situated about sixty miles below Quebec on the St. Lawrence to the banks of the River Saguenay, over an extent of ground of near seventy miles. At the latter place, they were still burning on the 15th ult. on the tops of the mountains, at an elevation of near 100 feet above the St. Lawrence. At Malbaie, lying about the middle of this extent, thirty buildings, belonging chiefly to poor families, including their houses and barns, were consumed in July. Along the whole line the soil has been very nearly destroyed, besides much valuable timber fitted for exportation or firewood. The direction of the fires was regulated by the nature of the wood; they followed the resinous and birch trees, and they spread in ramification each sometimes several miles in width.