Extent of Damages
The fires ravaged the towns of Vale, Bucoda, and Elma, Washington. Although the fire's namesake is for the town of Yacolt, Washington, that town did not burn in the fires. The loss of all property was assessed at a 1902 value of US$12,767,100 million. The property damage in Multnomah County, Oregon was estimated at more than one million dollars.
The fire dropped one-half inch of ash in Portland, Oregon. The smoke was so thick that street lights glowed at noon in Seattle 160 miles (258 km) away and ships on the Columbia River were forced to navigate only by compass. Yacolt, Washington was approached by the inferno close enough to blister paint on the town's 15 buildings, but the wind changed, causing the fire to veer north toward the Lewis River, where it burned itself out. At this point an estimated total of 500,000 acres of forest burned in the fire.
Interestingly, the timber industry on the Columbia River garnered 13,590,599 board feet of shipments in October, 1902, setting a new record for production in a single month.
Read more about this topic: Yacolt Burn
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