New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-06-08
SEATTLE ALMOST A RUIN.
THIRTY-oNE BUSINESS BLOCKS BURNED
DOWN.

hAOlNU FLAMES AGAINST WHICH THE FIREMEN
ooNTENDED IN vAIN-THE LOSS ESTIMATED
AT s7oooooo-A TERRIBLE BLOW TO
BOOMING CITY
Portland, Ore June 7-Following is a copy
Of The San Francisco EXaminer'sn report OF the
great fire in Seattle: The entire business portion
of Seattle is now nothing but smoking ruins
About 3 yesterday afternoon some turpentine
caught fire in tie basement Of a two-stOry frame
building on the southwest corner OF Front and
Madison sts. The building was owned by Mrs
Margaret J. PcuteuS. The first story, which was
leased by the Seattle Shoe Company and the
upper floor, occupied for Offices, were soon ablaze
An alarm was instantly turned in, and the
Volunteer Fire Department responded promptly
but IL was impossible to make any headway
against the flames THIS building, like most Of
the others Of its kind in the business centre was
not detached, but was corner one Of row Of
frame buildings, all Joined together and Of various
heights. Naliantly did the Fire Department fight
the fire, but without avail, for the buildings Of
tindcr were an easy prey TO what within ten
minutes from the time 1t started, developed into
n OniagratOn.
Adjoining the first building was q wholesale
hquor-storc, Dctz e Meyers, ard as soon as the
fire reached the barrels OF liquor they exploded
far and wide. The Denny block, in which WAS IA
wholesale confectionery store Gilmore x Com
pany's real estate office and several other esab-
lshmentS, including a number OF professional
Offices and some lodging apartments, soon
licked up com plctcly. This cleared out the entire
square. The efforts 10 food the Coleman Build
Ing on Frontst. 10 the SOUTH were utterly use
less, for the flames leapcd across Marion-st with
greedy rapidity 10 two saloons-thc Palace and
Opera House-and in less than thirty minutes
another square was burned to ashes, taking in
Addison S. Smiths grocery, Merchants Wholesale
confectionery and fruit store, j. W. Lang 81
COmpanys drugstore, John Spcnccr's plumbing
and stcam-ftting establishment, B. j. Grsham's
tailor shop, Edgar Bryan's rawnshop, Palace res
taurant, Simson Brothers shoe store. Gering &
Okonnelrs jcwclry store, Shnstcr's barber shop,
LcSly'S clothing store and DOnaly & Mhron's
clothing store
While this square was burning. the OPEN House
block, on the east side Of Front-st, between
Madison and Marion, and extending up Marion
haif way o. Second-St caught fire in the upper
stories. This building, u fine threc-story brick
structure owned by George f. Frye aud valued ut
Sl2O,000 soon yielded the irrcpressible tongues
Of fame. With II went the Seattle Pharmacy,
the warehouse OF the Golden Rule Bazar,
Harris a Company's large dry goods and clothing
store, Abcnathy's shoe store, Croose & Company'S
undertaking establishment, Latour's large dry
goods house. and Broadmans paints and oils
establishment, clearing up another square. The
Kenyon block, 10 the north OF where the fire
originated, had To go too, notwithstanding the
wind was from the east, little by north. In
this block were the job printing establishment OF
The Evening Times NcnCn N Yaugh'S music
store, aud Barics's tGIlor-shop.
From the Opera House block the fire, now fast
becoming a monstEous conhagrstiou, swallowed
up the square 10 the south, consisting OF all
the two-stOry frame buildings occupied by f. LOrcs
Golden Rule BI1,r the California Clothing House,
Gordon Brothers large tailoring establishment, tha
Oriental hnr, aud several other big con-
Germs. Notwithstanding the progress Of the
flames, the fire department struggled with deter
miuation 20 save the most valuable portion OF
FrCnt-st. 20 the south, between Columbia-st. and
Ncsler, which contained magnificent row Of
brick buildings OF two and three stories high,
where four banks had their ofices--the Bank Of
Commerce, Merchants National. First National,
and the Washington Guarantee and Loan ANsocia-
ton and Savings Bank. This row consisted Of
a corner block occupied by TOklas, Sngerman
d ComIunys gigantic wholesale dry goods, etc,
place: the Union Block, the Pain Building, the
san Francisco Clothing House, Star Block, the
square. All the telegraph offices were in Central
Square. It was generally supposed that the entire
water front would go, but II was hoped, II such
WA, inevitable, thcsc buildings could be saved.
The Safe Deposit Company also had IA building
IN this row.
The explosions of giant powder were powcrlcsS
Ia prevent the spread OF the flames, and the
clouds OF binding, sunocntIng smoke. Onward
the c0nha grafton went cracking, roaring, almost
,hricking The thrrC-story building 10 the rear
Of Toklus Sinsc'Inan x Co.. which was Weton
Il Compnnys sail factory, va, an easy prey to
the terrible heat and cnd"rs from the burning
Commercial Mil and Lumbcr Yards The fire
81 on communicated TO Ioklas, S.ngcmun n Com
paDy. The water was giving out and IN" streams
ilom several lines OF hose only reached th" second
story. The Tacoma Fire Department had
come over from Tacoma IN sixty
two minutes on the Puget Souhd
Shore Railroad but both departments combined
were powcrlcss, and the attempts 10 blow up the
Union Block were mere disastrous TO the valiant
Hrc-Hghtcr, than 10 anything else MI TINS row
u buildings succumbcd although tho occupants
had time 20 get out most Of their valuable elects
The square north gave way 10 the fire easily and
soon the roof Of the thrceNtOry Occldcnhl Hotel
the finest hotel in the city, got ablnz'
Before the conhagration reached lc>icrave,
ToklaS, Sngcrmun ~ Co, Colbcrgs wholesale
grocery. the banks above mentioned IrccnS shoe
store, Humphreys bookstore. and Lowman
lIanfords book stationery and job printing cstnb
Iishmcnt, went TO ashes On lcsleravc, the
Western Union, Pacific, Postal and Puget Sound
Telegraph Companies were burned out, also the
building Of :" The Daily Po,t lntclligcncrr' Office
Of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, and
many lawyers and doctors who occupied offices
in the buildings. The Commercial Mill Com,
pany, Mechanics Mill Company Seattle Shipbuild-
ing and Dry Dock Company. Ferry estate, Nil!cry
Butler. Isaac Horn, J. s. Bailey, Captain Starr,
+. :. i. IIuitt, Angus Macintosh, Seattle Land
Shore and Eastern, Gordon Hardware Company
Seattle Hardware Company, Moran Brothers, Sut-
olne Baxter, ]. f. Mcknight, A. p. IIotaling
W, S Iadd, John Collins, who owned the Occi.