Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-07-06

[As,orian. JAY si.l


I Yesterday WA an exc edincly VAR
.. day. Tue wind blew steadily from %
! west, bat the streets and house wall
felt w.rm. The long continued drou,h
had made tue whole CITY unusually dry
, aud even where careless pass-
dropped cigar stump. the shoulder
ing plank sh,Sed ho~ l,ltle cause wa
needed TO start a dreadful blaze. Abou
SIX clock the breeze had gone dow
In measure, the streets we're full o
people, when Suddenly the dreadful FIR
alarm vas sounded. A dsuse volum,
OF block smoke and Quinn Of q !,
showed that it WAS no common scare
bat that Astoria's worst fears we're real
lied. Quick AS il takes 10 write il ths
computes we're on the ground to ind
the Cl.tsop mill, f1rnerly George
Hume's In sheet Of fame. The FIRE
swung around from the engine room
where is seetped TO have originated. and
licked up the lumber piles and srors-
house, giving out the most intense n at.
No. rs we're stationed by Chief Barry
in front of Barth i Meyers, No. Is on
Hume's dock. The efforts of the de-
partment were at first to contiae the
rire TO its original limits, but the cursed
wind famed the ierv mass which set
the houses across sixth street in a blazs.
A large barn standing on SquemoQua
street was full of goods and coal oil.
| This was the poist conferred on bv the
Department. Streams were put onto il,
and an opening bsiug made in the
building, hundreds of cases of coal OIL
we're carried up To Olney street. The
goods were thrown into the water, and,
| notwithstanding the intense heat, every
case of GOAL oil was got out.
We have never seen a hotter ire; nor
| ono in WHOM the firemen worked hard
| or. Indeed nothing but the most super
human exsrtion saved that building.
Everyone worked. The idea suggested
| to blow up the building was good one,
and should our unfortunate little citv
ever be scourged 50 again, the first and
only thing TO do will be to blow up or
pull down all in the way of the fire and
cut OF all connection that IL would be
likely to feed On. 1t was evident from
the first that all on the roadway between
the saw mill and O'Brien's hotel was
doomed. No time was there TO save
anything. The dry houses were glowing
aud burst into sheets of flame that in
| stantly spread. Every available force
was brought into rsQuisition. Men
worked till they dropped and Others
took their places. They stood in clouds
of smoke and kept the fire at bay; Fla
wells pump sent d good stream; the one
lack WAS sufficient hose to throw another
stream; the old hand engine WAS brought
up from Hustier's wharf but was of lit
tie avail. The fire leaped across the
street and beginning at the q. X. lOdg-
ing house burned that, Greenburg's
store went next and the great column
Of crimson b ims sEep' d 'wn the road
way. Amid the ,sr # the advancing
flames swept on by the breeze, could b..
resrd the crash of f. ng timbers and
the sharp decorations of cartridges.
Inc roadway was one solid mass of
fame. The houses, the street itself, the
= dewalks, everything. The history of
that dreadful hour IN never he writteR
There was no frenzy. From Frank
Fabrs's down past Luigi Serra's, and
Mrs. Grsat's, to Ike Fosters and across
to Fsard d Stokes, and on the other side
from Spsxarth's down past the Centsn-
NAL. everyone saw that there was
no help and that their property was
doomed. Nothing left but to seize
money An va!usb;es and rush out up
the hill. 1t was awful. 1t is useless to
attempt any description of it. Where
everything was built of wood, dry and
| seasoned, wind blowing and the great
masses of fame advancing with appall-
ing speed, the wonder is that there Is no
loss of life to report. To talk of what
"might have been" had Chief Engineer
B ,rry's order that showed excellent
judgment and one which should have
been Obeyed IL useless now. His idea
WAS to mass three streams IN one point
and check the fire from crossing where
the q. Il. IL N dock presented AN inter
estinR mors-l for the fire. But through
s0me misunderstanding that was net
done. Perhaps il couldn't have been.
Barry WAS up Ill front and he and in
deed every member of the three compa-
MES did all that men could do to stop
the fire. When the flames threw out
long crimson tongues through the o. Il.
4 ". dock 1t was evident that everything
in that end of town was gone. Mr..
Noyes and the clerks got out the books
Of account and valuable papers. Ev-
erything else WAS a total loss. The
docks and coil bunkers, the immense
amount of goods, including $4,000
| worth of salmon. AZ miles OF water
pipe. ETC., is gone. OF the 10000 cases
of salmon the scandinavian had 1900
cases insured, the Occideut, 900; the
X. l.. had 1000; the Astoria Packing
Company, 1000; the Point Adams Pack
ing Company, 1000, uninsured.
The burr ing of fOard Il Stokes store
furnished an example of depravity that
We would prefer not chronicling; hu-
| man nature does get very low: brutes in
human shape stood there stealing,
/
down wine, and throwing provisions to
their comrades in boats below. A man
that would steal during a fire deserves
| but one punishment, and that Is death.
By half past seven the fire was at its
| mass of yellow flame; the steamers
swung out into the stream, their decks
| filed with silent spectators; every
housetop was covered with men who
oeased throwing water on roofs and
walls to gaze on that sublime spectacle.
| The flames were resistless; a blast took
the fire under the roadway to burst up
| in dozen places, and house after house
twisted into ruin. At the upper dock it
spent itself for want of further material;
out of the thickly settled area from the
sawmill to O'Brien's hotel, nothing at
eight o'clock Was left but the last men
toned building. On the hillside, the
saving Of the priv ,te residences seems
mira ,ulous. Ell Tsylor's house was the
point of danger. BY superhuman ex-
ertions it wa saved, and with il large
number of buildings that stood in the
greatest psril. Every one in the vicin-
ity had p ,cked up in readiness. and had
Mr.. Tayior's. Mr.. Adler's, the hospital,
and one or two others caught, the whole
of that portion Of the city would have
been dsvoured. Throughout all, the
fire comp ,nies did all that men could
do; they deserve the highest praise for
their Efforts, as do the citizens that AT
the. risk of life went into the burning
warehouse and carried out case after
cnss Ut coal oil. 10 individualizs the
lpss is impossible. fortunately there
WAS no serious mi.htp TO life or limb
the mill ia whish the fire originated
Was a dano~rou. institution and should
not be rebuilt IN thnt place. The great
est los to the owners Was the burning
of the immense quantity Of manufac
tured lamber. the Insurance. Vas Gil,
OIL. The most important vas the los
Of the d Il. d N. docks. These struc
lures. including the oosl bunkers, with
their contents were VALUED at $4,000
| rk~ ~ tr,xa - ahnut lJSl I'm n.