_In their progress the fires destroyed several towns and villages and many farm houses. Chisholm, Minnesota, a town of probably 5,000 population, seventy-five miles north of Duluth, was destroyed in an hour. At 5:30 o’clock in the afternoon of September 6, a sudden shift of wind deluged the place in a moment with an overwhelming rain of burning leaves and embers. Almost every building in the town took fire at once. The surprised and panic-stricken people could do nothing but seize a few valuables and run for their lives. When the fire died out it was found that only sixty-five structures of any kind remained standing, but that not a life had been lost. Prompt relief measures were taken, with a state commission in charge. A relief fund of about $130,000 was contributed. Mr. Ernest P. Bicknell, National Director of the Red Cross, visited Chisholm and inspected the progress and methods of relief October 13 to 16, and reported that the methods were good and that normal conditions were being restored rapidly. Hundreds of men were employed in rebuilding the town and houses were going up like magic. Eighty-seven cottages have been built by the relief committee. Employment in the iron mines surrounding the town was not interrupted by the fire. This fact greatly simplified the work of relief, as the usual income of that part of the population least able to endure loss, was preserved._ [Illustration: MICHIGAN FOREST FIRES—SOME OF THE HOMELESS.] _While in Duluth on October 16, the National Director of the Red Cross learned of a disastrous forest fire, which had occurred in the northern part of the southern peninsula of Michigan on the preceding day. He hurried to the scene, reaching there on the 17th, and for two weeks devoted his time to the work of relief in that State. Following are extracts from the report of the National Director covering this work:_—EDITOR. “The summer and fall had been excessively dry here, as elsewhere, and there had been little wind. Farmers had been clearing up their lands, burning logs and stumps and accumulated rubbish, as is their custom at the end of the summer. In thousands of places fire was smouldering in log heaps, and in the roots of stumps and in the peaty soil which, when dry, will burn without flame and with little smoke until extinguished by rain.