MANCHESTER, N. H., June 4.---Forest fires annually occasion some loss in New Hampshire, but never has there been anything equal to the present devastation. Fires have been raging for weeks in Coos County, and great expanses of timber land have been swept before the flames. Within a radius of fifteen miles of Nashua several fires of threatening proportions are in progress. The fires are particularly violent at Milford, Wilton, and Lynneborough.

The Diamond Match Company, which recently purchased many acres of spruce and pine timber in this section, has lost heavily.

At Littleton fires which surrounded and threatened that town during the night had been checked to-day. Last night the town was threatened on two sides. The Fire Department wet down all the roofs in the business portion of the town, and the company was on duty all night.

At Cole Brook thousands of acres have been devastated. The Connecticut River Lumber Company is among the heaviest losers.

Serious fires are burning in the vicinity of Meredith, and two farmhouses have been destroyed.

A telephone message from Groveton says the town was endangered yesterday and the mills closed, and all the men went to fight the flames. The danger for the present seemed past to-day.
Whitefield is surrounded by fire, and the meadows at Jefferson have been burning for two days.

In the White Mountains region, two railroad bridges have been burned, one of them four miles from the Profile House, and the Waumbeck Bridge, between Cherry Mountain and Jefferson.

Men from Fabyans are fighting a fire on Mount Stickney.

During the day the lower part of Mount Lafayette, back of Eagle Cliff, which over-shadows the Profile House, caught fire, and men from the Profile House are watching it to-night. Unless the wind shifts the Profile House will be in no danger.

The veil of smoke has lifted perceptibly to-night all over the north country.

The New York Times, New York, NY 5 Jun 1903
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Transcribed by Linda Horton. Thank you, Linda!