St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-11-16
A QUARTER MILLION
Went Up in the Smoke From
the st. Paul PioW Works.
Fire.
N
The Big Plant a Total Loss,
and Only Insured for
Half. sas
Id;
Over TWO Hundred Men Are
Thrown Out Of Employ al
ment Thereby. = %
The Plant Will Be Rebuilt
Either by the Owners or g
Others. 81,

The burning of the ST. Paul PloW
works, brief account of which was
given in yesterdays paper, was the
most disastrous fire seen in the vicinity
of st. Paul for nearly year. The loss
was fully S250,000, and the insurance
was but s165,00O
The fire was observed at 2:15 yester-
day morning, breaking out of the Office,
which was located i'll the southeast cor
ner of the immense storage building
which stood the farthest south of all the
structures belonging to the plant. There
was strong southeast wind blowing,
and the flames were sent into the heart
of 100000 feet of hardwood lumber.
They were soon we'll seated in this and
the whole plant was doomed. Very
quickly the large water tank, which
afforded all the fire-eXtinguishing ap-
paratuS the supply, was on lire, and the
army of men at hand was pOwerleSS to
do anything.
The superintendent of the works, who
lives at Gladstone, telegraphed the St.
Paul fire department., asking for aSss-
lance. Engine Company No. 7,Stationed
at Ross and Earl streets, was sent over
the wagon ROAD to the scene.
When the engine company arrived
the work of destruction was so far COM
pete that nothing could be done, so the
firemen stood by and watched the
destruction.
Big Concern.
The buildings of the plant covered
eight acres of ground. All were of
brick except one, which was irOn-clad,
and three of them were two stories
high and three but one story.
The storage and office building was
full of manufactured goods. These
were invoiced very recently, and the
total value was found to be S150,000
The machinery consisted of plows, gang
pows. harroWs, cultivators, bob-Sleds,
etc. The building was two stories high
and covered nearly four acres of
ground.
The next building north was the wood
shop and paint shop, also two stories
high. 1t contained valuable wood
working machinery, line shafting, etc.
In the second story was the paint shop.
The loss here was $4,000. The buildt
ing still north was the blacksmith shop,
grinding room, polishing room and en-
CINE room. The loss there was not less
than $4,000 The machinery was very
trip hammers, bolt and nut machinery,
etc. ~
North of this was the foundry. In
this were all the valuable patterns and
appliances belonging to great manu-
featuring foundry. Also in it were the
machine shops. In these were the
planes. lathes. drills, land all the massive
machinery belonging to such an estab-
lishment. The loss in this place was
$4,000.
The iron-clad warehouse, which stood
west of the other buildings, contained
an immense stock of plows, harrows
and other finished goods. The loss was
$4,000.
The st. Paul Plow works was one of
the greatest manufacturing establish
ments in the Northwest. Its output was
nearly 100000 worth of machinery an
nually. 1t employed over 200 men the
year round. William Dawson is the
president, and Charles JOY the vice
president. The works were originally
in st. Paul. Early in 1877 they were
burned. In the fall of that year the
company rebuilt in Gladstone, greatly
enlarging its plant.
The vault, containing all the insur-
ance and other valuable papers, also the
books, stood intact, and it is believed
everything in it is in good condition.
The Insurance. was all placed by the
Fire and Marine company, among all
the board companies handled in st.
Paul.
VIII Doubtless Rebuild.
The pillow works plant will, without
. Il