, 1865-06-02
+ From the IDAHO WORLD.
The Conhagration.
IDAHO CITY IN AsHEsl

The COnhagrat1Cn.
IDAHO CITY IN ASHESl
Idaho City has been visited by one of those
great disasters which occasionally fall upon com
munities with crushing, deadening weight A
great fire on Thursday night May 10th, laid
nearly the entire town in ashes, sweeping away
the fortunes of very many ofits business men,
and leaving innumerable families homeless and
destitute The entire business portion Of the
town was completely destroyed. A narrow cat
tered remnant of buildings on the outskirts of
the town alone remain to mark the boundaries
| Of Idaho City.
The fire was discovered about 10 o'clock in
I the evening, breaking out in massive sheets Of
/ fame from thereof OF q dance house on Mont
/ romerv street Persons who saw the FIRE when
/ it first appeared on the foof, asserU that 0ut
moment elapsed before the whole upper portion
Of the building was enyeloped in flames. The
/ wind at this time was blowing from the south.
Ina few minutes the adjoining buildings, in
/ Guiding the Sherif's and Probate Judges Office,
! Wells Fargo & Cos Express Office, the Idaho
Saloon, kept by Cunningham and Lawrence,
and Totmans saloon were also on fire BY
this time the alarm of fire brought together
\ nearly every one in town. and strong effort was
made to check the further progress Of the fire,
but without any avail whatever. 1t swept furi-
/ ouslv up the range Of buildings on Main and
! Montgomery streets, carrying every building be-
fore it, Taylor's Exchange, the City Hotel,
/ Magnolia Hall, Harris drug store, the Umatila
market, followed in rapid succession At this
time the wind was blowing strongly up the creek,
and it was the general opinion that the lower
portion ofthe town would escape but as the
flames swept through some of the two-story
buildings, they seemed to gather strength and
an uuquenchable ferocity. The east side of
Main street was next on FIRE. MiX's drug store,
Robertson & Co.'s Jewelry store, Charlton g.
Langworthy's brokers' Office, Fred Bells saloon,
bauren saloon, and others on the east side,
and on the west side the Washoe
saloon, PIior's saloon, PeFs bakery,
Cans & Bro bowling saloon, and others were
on FIRE together Every building on Main street
was destroyed up to and including the old
American hotel The wind, MEANWHILE, contin-
ued to increase, blowing in puhs from every
point of the compass Lurid CLEANS of light
ming shown out from the black, lowering bank
Of clouds in the south, while over the doomed
town the flames cracked and roared with hend-
ish exultaGon. The Forrest Theater opened
for the second night only and which at the be-
ginning Of the fire was crowded with careless and
happy audience of ladies and gentleman to wit
ness the Potter troupe in Shakespeare "Romeo
and Juliet was soon doating in flaming brands
through the sky. I'll.
The wind at this time changed its course and
commenced blowing from the north and north
west The conhagration having destro ed near-
iy the whole upper end of town, now seemed To-
part and turn in two fiery circles, to the right
and left Turning to the right from Rosst Il
Rcbies Office and the American Hotel, it came
furiousy down High street. Hero greatmany
new buildings had been recently put up for
residences for families. These soon disappeared
but few of the owners saving anything of
much value. The left wing of the fire turned
a.. g. NJ, frfsfl ofo III
ing westwardly across the lower end of Wall
street to Commercial. AT this stage, the whole
town presented q fearful sight. The forked
tongues Of fire seemed to lick the very clouds
dense volumes of black smoke rolled down the
Basin; the whole city from bank to bank was
sea Of boiling flames, sweeping with the gale IN
q fiery wave to the southward. AS it rolled
down toward the lower end of town, it broad
ened out on each side, climbing up on East Hill
as high as the residences of Mr. Charlton and
Col Hail. destroying the old Sherifs Office, Of
fee of the District Clerk, Highly Co.'S store
international hotel, Pickwck Hall, Claressy's S
saloon. Smith Stern store, and every build
ing on both sides of Main and High streets as
far south as the south side Of Wallula. The
Catholic Church was saved by an extraordinary
effort-one hundred men, we are told, were on
the roof at one time. Every building on Com
mercial street, as far east as the Church, was
4 burned On the western side of the town, moth
was left but AIcGrorty's building, near the foot
ofWan Street, and Ben. r Woods store On
Montgomery street, everything is gone down to
the corner of Commercial. The block including
Mr. Gaby's house and Dryde's stable was saved.
The Methodist Church was badly injured, win
dows destroyed and sides broken in, but was
not destroyed The private residences south OF
this church were not injured, being the westerly
portion of Wallula and Commercial Every
thing was lost on Main as far south as Powell
& Coe' The water running through Wallnla en-
abled the citizens to check the fire at this point.
To sum the whole up, the town from the Jenny
Lind Theatre on the north, to Powelo on the
south has entirely disappeared. The town was
built Of wood and the fire once started, ran
through it like pile of shavings. The city was
provided with comparatively nothing to extin-
gush the FIRE A few hose were put ct work,
but were of little service. But few buckets
could be obtained. The was at the mercy
Of the conaagraton
1t is impossible at this time to make any reli-
able estimate of the total loss incurred within
thar fatal one -Four aud three quarters Most of
the business houses were provided with fre-proof
cellars, which, with few exceptions, stood, the
fire. A large amount Of general merchandise is
therefore fortunately still preserved, with which
business may be resumed as soon as buildings
can be erected.
The origin Of the fire is not known, but it is
generally supposed to be the Work OF ncendla-
ries: Several attempts were made during the
week to fire various portions ofthe town, which
failed When first discovered, the flames were
breaking through the roof with snch violence as
to excite the suspicion that some infammable
material was used to insure the certainty of a
conhagradon. Many suspicious parties have
recently come into the country frcm districts in
which they were too wei known-from Walla
Wala Montana and Nevada. The chances for
plunder was incentive enough for any deed, how
ever infamous If discovered the punishment
due them cannot be made too great.
Sources OF HONEY .-Wm. Lockens, franklin
Co. Pa, saws that he has had much experience
in bee-culture, and thinks that locust blossoms
and white clover afford more bee-food than all
Z other sources combined. He says 81 took of
a cap June goth, with twenty-five pounds o.
honey. ] put on an empty one which took of