Iowa Old Press
Hawarden Independent
April 2, 1925
A prairie fire, which according to old timers equaled in speed and
spectacularity the prairie fires of pioneer days, swept the John Alderson
farm near Seney Sunday. It is thought that the fire started from sparks from
a freight train which had passed shortly before the fire was discovered. The
fire burned rapidly over forty acres of stubble and sweet clover. A plowed
field served as a barrier for the spreading of the flames. About one hundred
people were out fighting the fire to save buildings and machinery which
happened to be in the path of the fire. While the men were fighting the
flames, a number of women and children broke up a flock of milling sheep in
an adjoining pasture to prevent a possible stampede. The sheep were
terrified by the clouds of smoke which blew by them occasionally.