A forest fire which started near Moyock in Currituck County several weeks ago is now raging from Guinea Mill, just below Moyock, to the Virginia line seven miles away, and is spreading into the Northern part of Camden county. All efforts to combat the fire have been of no avail and it will continue unchecked until quenched by a heavy rain.
Just how the fire started is not known. It probably started in many places about the same time. It is generally believed to have had its origin on the Wolcott farm, just back of Moyock, where a parcel of new land had just been ditched and the underbrush cut and piled up preparatory to putting the land into cultivation next spring.
The loss will run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Thousands of acres of valuable timber have already been destroyed and if the fire continues in its spread thru Northern Camden, it may reach the Great Dismal Swamp above South Mills and sweep away the great Juniper forests owned by the John L. Roper Lumber |Company and the Richmond Cedar Works.
The destructiveness of the fire is indicated by the fact that the very land itself has in many instances been burned away to a depth of as much as two feet, the land being of a peaty nature and highly combustible following such a long period of drought as we have had this summer and fall.
The smoke from the big fire can be seen distinctly from Elizabeth City, a pillar of cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night.
From The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., Friday, Oct. 29, 1921
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