Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1866-08-01
{ Night O. Fire.
[Erom the Portland Transcript

From the Portland Transcript
# No person who was in Portland on the
4th Of July, 1866, viii ever forget the ter
rible scenes of that night Of fire We have
seen many confacrations, but none which
approached this in the appalling rapiditY
and fury of the flames. 1t gave one i new
conception of the destructive power Of the
d7yocring element, and Justified its claim
to be the Heaven appointed world destroy
cr. The fire advanced with roar, like
that Of some infuriated monster. sending
before it, as the fiery breath Of It's uostrils,
n tempest Of red>hot cirders, each one an
! incendiary n messenger Of destruction.
( Every flying fragment Of fra seemed ami
mated with a fsEdish spirit OF destruction.
/ " hateYor il lit upon wa7 Immediately In
. blaze, and the flames clung to the burns
ing object with u pertinacity 3 hich even
water could scarcely queneh. Meantime
the great body Of the flames advanced with
a steady and irresistible sweep, marching
/ on like cOnguering army, deploying its
| columns right and left. and levclling all
! before it. From the very first it WAS rot
one instant held II check; indeed, so far
az our observation extentcd, it was fought
rather III the rear than in the advance. 1t
stayed not in its des0lating track until it
/ died out for want Of material in the open
/
| along its borders, by the great exertions
/ Of irenen and property owners, it was
! prevented from spreading in some direc-
/ tons, but It's steady advance iG the liroc-
tlon of the wind was uncontrolled. Tho
| city lay, as it were, writhing beneath Che
I folds Of this fiery dragon, which reared
( is flaming head high in the air and sent
up c balelul glow visible 10 woaderirg ga
zcr8 sixty or seventy miles away. People
read small print by its light ten Iaile5 Gi5
tant
Meantime the scene in the streets amid
/ these advancing flames and falling cindcTs
was one Of extraordinary interest With
all the hurry and excitement there was
little apparent confusion. Llcn ana wo~
men went about the work of saving their
property, and citizens aided or looked on,
few realizing the extent Of the danger
None dreamed Of the appalling results
the conlagration was yet TO work out
The streets were filed with teams busy
/ in removing goods and furniture. For the
services of some Of these. most eztortion-
ate prices were demanded and paid
While some were hurriclly removing their
furniture, others refused to disturb an ar
ticle IN their houses and they Jared little
worse than those who laborei hard to
save their property. Much was stolen,
much set on fire and burned by the
talllng cindcrs, ,sand much carried away
to unknown localities and lost. In the
hurry OF removal many loads ielI from the
teams ana tne crash OF crec. cry and glass
- ta. 49, o',, ~. 1lC '''I
.I 80 f..'' :, -
,','i2l' - ,,o- -. s-'I ~ = l,,L
T...l -,--,Il: ,.L:c.J
HI, c r,.-'a 40 I...,-'i ~ sco I'e
, - - - ''',l 80, ~
-, ,l,,I.;-. -. 49,. w
,r.,,,. r.,,,t:.,II., -. ~ - -
- = - ',....,'' :, ~ IN
l1-s !. 49, ,'s y .y IliG
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IL 10y ~ I.J 1is g,.'J ..l-
49, 49, II IL ~ oI:s' S.I1oo a.'' d '-'-g
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had apparently fallen through fear and
exhaustion.