St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-07-04
Yesterday Smith & Richard
sons Diamond Mill Was
Totally Destroyed.
Losses of Almost SIS, 600 En-
tailed by the Sunday
Confiagration.
Evidence That Otto Won Sic
fert'S Death Was Not Ac-
cidental Entirely.
Mayor Winston's Return.
Possible Relief From the
Fireworks.

\ ~ . w Va ASe
Another big saw mill has been de-
stroyed, and the wonder is that the loss
is not at least three times what it will
amount to-between $40, 600 and 1000.
Yesterday afternoon little before 2
O'Clock the Diamond mill, the property
of Smith 81 Richardson, located at
Eighteenth avenue north and the river,
was discovered to be OH fire. Right
from the start the alarm was general.
This was done none too soon. 1t was a
very hot fire while it lasted. The de-
partment did some of the best work it
has ever done since it became fire de-
partment in preventing a spread of the
flames. The mill was surrounded by
piles of lumber and latli, but the fire
was confined to the mill ITSELF The
heavy rains of this summer doubtless
had some influence In preventing. a
more disastrous conflagration. The
piles of sawdust and saw mill refuse
were thoroughly wet and offered little
vantage ground for running blaze or
for falling sparks.
This fire will go on record as another
of mysterious origin. How it started no
one can tell. No one has even reason
able theory. 1t was first discovered
some distance from any fire around the
mill, and out of the way of possible
sparks from the smoke stack. When
first seen the fire was OH the saving
floor. The Waterman who discovered it
turned III an alarm Immediately. then
he and his associate. began to use the
apparatus at the mill to stop the blaze.
They could do nothing. The whole
building was covered with a sheet of
flame before they could get action on
any part OF it. When the department
arrived the saw mill proper was gone
beyond hope. The.firemeT turned their
attention to saving the lumber in the
yard and to the planning mill and prop
erty of Joannin IL Hansen. the nearest
building to the Diamond mill. They
partially succeeded. The fire did reach
the kiln of the Joannin d Hansen fac
tory and damaged it somewhat.
FreFArmstrong, the foreman of the
mill, says he is at utter loss to say how
the fire originated. The mill was shut
down Saturday night and the fires in
the boiler room were low. He had been
working around tile mill all the morn
ing and had gone home to dinner. 1t is
the custom of the company to have but
one Waterman OH duty on Sunday, but
yesterday was SO close to the Fourth of
July that Mir. Armstrong had two men
stay there. They were both on duty
around the mill at the time of the fire.
One OF them was coming up from the
boiler room when he saw the fire on
the saving floor, on the north side of
the mill. He says it blazed up and
spread quicker than he could tell it. AS
soon as the saving room was enveloped
the flames extended to the oil room.
Two or three barrels of oil were stored
/ there. They exploded, scattering
burning oil in all directions and giving
a fresh impetus to the fire. After that
there was no hOpe.19 :f7,,T.c; go F-.9
Mr.. Armstrong says it is possible that
some one walked through the mill and
droppdd lighted cigar in the sawdust,
setting the fire. Otherwise he cannot
understand how it all happened.
The Diamond mill was one of the
largest iii Minneapolis; but one, the Ell.
Z. Akely mill, having a greater capacity.
Foreman Armstrong says that during
the month Of June the mill averaged a
cut OF 222. 900 feet of lumber every ten
hours. Recently the mill has been
running twelve and one-half hours a
day, and employing l35 men. This mill
had stood at Eighteenth avenue north
for fifteen years. 1t has undergone ex-
tensive repairs within few years. The
mill itself and the machinery were
valued at $4,000. ALI OF this is a total
| loss. The saws and shaftlng are so
| burned and bent and twisted that the
| salvage Will amount to nothing. The
| proprletOrs carried an insurance of $780,
600. or this amount So, OOO was placed
with the companies represented by E.
| B. Ames " Co., and the remainder with
Il. >. CorSer'S companies.
| Inc mill was saving logs belonging to
Il. f. Brown. His loss will 2be Slight,
not over $500, and all on lumber that Law
close up to or inside the mill. The
| Pioneer Fuel company bought the wood
| from the mill and had few wood. carts
so close to the fire that they could not
he removed. But their loss is nominal,
| not over 5000. JOannin. d Hansen, the
owners OF the planning mill at Seven
| teenth avenue north and First suffer the
| greatest loss after Smith &RichardsOn.
| Their kiln was damaged somewhat.
They cannot tell what the loss is until
they get inside today and see what kind
OF lumber was stored there and how
badly it was damaged. tt is not
thought, however. that. their loss will
reach more than $780, fully covered
by insurance. gs9e.
The logs at the Diamond mill will be
distributed among the, other mills, and
Smith d Richardson will go right along
doing business. They will rebuild their
mill as soon as they can effect settle
ment with the insurance companies.
They expect to put-up mill of even
greater capacity than the one burned.
The loss of their mill Just at this time
falls more heavily upon them than it
would at any other, time. A couple of
months later would not have been SO
bad. The destruction of mill capable
of saving $4,000 Oct of lumber every
ten, hours will seriously affect the total
lumber cut in Minneapolis this year.
Probably no fire in MINNEAPOLIS i'm
months, or years, called out such a
crowd as did that fire of yesterday. The
street railway company made money
out of it. Every car from down town
until long after the fire was out was
packed. and people from all over Min
ndapolls came TO the scene Fully ten
thousand people visited the scene of
the fire, many of them women with
children in arms and young ladies who
wanted chance to see thoSe>natty fire
men at work against the enemy. They
saw the fire department do as good
work as it ever did in the world. The
stopping of that fire before it had ex.
tended into the big piles of lumber was
work that deserves not little credit.