Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1870-06-20
GREAT FIRES OF THE WORLD.

few years ago the whole number Of
dwellings in Constantinople was esti-
mated at eighty-eight thousand. A
confagration that destroys seven thou
sand buildings, involving the loss Of a
thousand human lives and a hundred
millions of dollars In property, is a
calamity that can hardly be realized
"a ona-twolhh VI the entire city Is In
ashes. The Turkish capital is pecu-
liarly subject to these terrible vista
lions. The large number Of wooden
houses, the scant supply Of water, the
fatalistic doctrines of the Turks, which
impels them to remain passive victims
of such catastrophes, aud the absence
of an effective fire department, all
combine to subject the city to the risk
Of great destruction whenever q fire
occurs. Large tracts of houses have
been repeatedly swept away. This re-
cent fire is said to have originated in
the "Pera" suburb, which is largely
inhabited by the "Franks," and is
more densely populated and closely
built than the purely Turkish quarters
of the city. Within the last quarter Of
q century, and previous to the late
fire, the whole of the same quarter
(Pera) has been burned down. In one
night in ls5l-'52 there vert seven
fires, which destroyed thirty-fve hun.
dred houses. But this last conflagra.
tlou destroyed twice that number, and
probably extended over greater space
and worked greater destruction to life
and property than any fire in modern
times, except the "great fire !" In Lon
don in 1866, and the destruction Of s
large part of Moscow in 1872. There
is q record Of a great fire in Constan'
tinople in the year 532, at which time
it was said the whole city was burned
down, but the number of houses it con-
tanned at that time is'not known. This
fire was brought about by a riot, which
originated in a faction fight about "the
circus, and before the tumult was sup.
pressed, thirty thousand people were
killed" The great historic fire Of
modern times is that which commenced
In London on the I'd of September,
1866, and continued for four days,
sweeping over 1876 acres of ground, and
destroying 50 churches, many public
buildings, $4,000 houses, laying waste
400 streets, and leaving more than Q
hundred thousand persons homeless
To commemorate this event, it will bt
remembered, the London Monument
was erected, with an inscription which
gave great offense to a portion Of the
people, and which was finally obliter
ated by order of the Common Council
of London in 1881. In more recent
times we have the conflagration Of
Moscow, which occurred on the I'd OF
September, 1912. This, however, was
an act of war. Moscow having been
entered by Napoleon l. and the French
army, the Governor, Rostopchin, or
dered the city to be set on fire, and
II, $40 houses, including many palaces
and churches, were burned. The
inhabitants had been previously re-
moved from the city to the interior
On our own continent we have had
many disastrous fires, but none Of
them approaching in magnitude any
of the foregoing in Europe. Taking
some Of them in chronological order,
we note first the great fire in New
York, December l6, 1885, when COX
warehouses and other buildings snd
merchandise were destroyed, to the
amount of $40, 900, 700. At Charleston,
S. c., there wa a fire in April, 1888,
when the "burned district" covered
l45 acres, including l,15s buildings.
At P~ittsburg, Pa, a fire on the 10th Of
April, 1S45, destroyed 1000 buildings,
valued at $4,000, 900. At Quebec, in
Canada, there were two great fires in
lS45-one in May, when 1850 dwell
ings, Inhabited by $4,000 people, were
destroyed; and the other in June,
burning 1866 dwellings. In the fol-
lowing year nearly the whole Of st.
Johns. Newfoundland, was destroyed
by fire, leaving 5000 people without
homes. At Albany, n. Y, 600 build
ings and a large number Of steamboats,
were destroyed by fire in September,
lsis. Next in order is the great fire
in st. Louis, in May, ls49, which
swept away nearly all of the houses
on 10 blocks of that city, and burned
twenty-seven steamboats, at the levee
In san Francisco, California, from
May Sd to 9Th, 1851, nearly 2,50(
buildings were burned, many lives
were lost, and $3,5OO,0O0 worth o.
property destroyed; and on the ensu'
ing 22d of June over 500 building
were destroyed, involving a loss o.
So, 900. 900. At Montreal, Canada, July
Il, 1852, q fire destroyed 1900 house:
and $1,000, 900 worth Of property
The city of Charleston, S. c., OH De
cember IL, 1851, suffered to the extent
of 80, 900, OOO,a large area having beer
burned over, and several churches
nearly all the public buildings, banks
and insurance offices destroyed, and
several thousand persons left without
homes; and again, on February II
1865, after the evacuation by the rebe,
troops, Charleston was set on fire b.
the explosion Of gunpowder, and sui
fered to a great extent. On the Fourtl
Of July, 1866, a large district in Port
land, Maine, was destroyed by fire
10, 900 persons were left homeless ant
3d. 900, 900 worth of property con