The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-06-08
All tho Business District Raw.
aged by Flames.
PEOPLE MADE HOMELESS
The Loss Will Aggregate More Than
Three Million Dollars.
Fire Started at O'Clock Yesterday AT
ternoon and IN an Hour Cut a
Swath Three Blocks Wide
and Ten Long.

o CLOCK The Qre naQ TeaCnSu The 0Iett |
Northern tracks, ten blocks north, gut
ting the entire district three blocks east
TO Broadway.
A strong fight was made to prevent the
flames crossing Broadway, but by p. m.
they had crossed in several places. The
telegraph wires were all burned, so it was
impossible to reach Grsnd Forks or Hills
boro to ask for help. Probably 1000 peo-
pie are homeless.
The fire has just crossed the river to
the Moorehead side at the Fargo roller
mill, which will be burned Among the
principal firms already burned out are:
Hersan, dry goods; Cranes restaurant:
Magill, farm machinery; Northern Pa
cific Elevator buildings; Western Union
telegraph office; Morton, real estate;
Red River Valley National bank;
-=z)oily ForaR; Merchants State bank;
opera house; Tyler, real estate; the
plants of Mccormick, Walter A. Wood,
Minnesota Chief. Deering, and John
Deere, implement warehouses; Coles
livery; Grand hotel; Jennings drug
store; Lewis grocery; Christians drug
store; Sheridan hotel; Appel Bros; ;
Minneapolis Dry Goods company; Lo-
esgan's studio; American Iron works; the
lrContinental house and Van Brunt's i'm
- plement house.
no A strong wind made the fire travel so
quickly that hardly anything was saved.
The flames went through brick buildings
as easily as wooden ones. The loss Will
be over g, COO, 600 as nearly tire entire
business district of the city IS Quilted al
ready.
At 10 CLOCK tonight the fire was still
burning in couple of dozen places, the
wind changed to the north and was driv-
ing the flames back on the burned dis
trict. A block In the middle of the city,
from Robert street and Front street south,
four blocks wide and ten blocks long, is
blackened plain of ashes, with not
dozen buildings left standing.
The fierce south wind drove it
like a prairie fire. Brick buildings
seemed to melt away into heaps OF crumb-
ling sand, and it was impossible to force
enough water through the mains to fight
the fire.
Conservative estimates of the loss at 10
O'Clock is g, 600, coo, with not TO exceed
one quarter of insurance.
Plenty of help is now here, Grand
Forks, Wappeton and Casselton having
sent hose companies. Over 3, 200 persons
tonight are homeless and it is almost i'm
possible to verify reports OF accidents.
James Flynn, the S-year-old son of q
former aldermen, is reported burned also.
Three children of Photographer Gilbert
and an unknown man cut off from the
stairs in the third story of the Chaplin
block, trying to save some property.
Practically but one hotel is left in town
the Headquarters. The fire burned all
around it, but SO far IL has been saved.
Only one restaurant is left in town. and
i
largo number OF people VIII sleep IN the
court house and school houses on the
south side. President Hill wired to
opened the Grand Pacific hotel at Moor
head for the firemen. Only two grocery
stores are left in town.
The fire was started by hot ashes from
the Gem restaurant thrown out behind
igniting some loose paper back Of Hose
man s dry goods store. Somebody left
the front door open and inside of two
minutes the wind drove the flames
through the building and out on the roof.
In the next fifteen minutes the flames
ran two blocks west, taking brick build
ings and all, then jumped across the street
TO McGill's big machinery warehouse.
North and east of this for four blocks
each way are big machinery depots,
mostly two-story wooden buildings and
this time of year filled to the roof with a
years supplies OF farm machinery for
First in one roof and then in another
tongues of flame broke out as the whirl-
ing fire flakes settled on the shingles.
Inside of half an hour the whole space OF
four blocks wide was a whirIwind OF
flame, the property consumed there
being valued at 81 ,250 600. The only
machinery houses saved are Walter A.
Woods and the Monitor Press Drill.
The firemen tried to confine the flames
south OF the Northern Pacific avenue but
failed. The Opera house block soon
burned and while the Grand hotel was
burning on the east flames shot over
Front street burning barns and the Fargo
Forum Office. The printers had just time
20 lock the forms while the Office force
kept back the flames.
1t had been expected that the three
story brick building OF The Red River
National bank would arrest the flames,
but it went in fifteen minutes. The fire
burned rapidly up the east side OF Broad
way. but was confined to that side of the
street. It then went through the residenc:
district north of the Great Northern
track, making clean track five
blocks wide for ten blocks, while isolated
fires could be seen over mile NORTH
caused by the flying cinders. The WIND
shifted again and the flames caught the
Minneapolis q Northern elevator con-
tanning 100, 900 bushels of wheat, the
, north side of the school building and the
Great Northern depot, Dut the names or
the latter were extinguished.
The east side OF Broadway containing
large number of business houses and The
Fargo Republican Office was burned. The
flames being at last across Broadway soor
made short work of two blocks between
Mears and the Citizens banks. Just
little further west was the thre,
story brick Chaplin block. the four story
Columbian hotel and the brick HagamaI
block occupied by E. M. Rathworth
wholesale grocers. Three quarters OF al
hour from the time the Columbian hote
caught nothing was standing but tn,
walls of the big brick. The Citizen,
bank for long time resisted the flames
but at last they crept west of it ant
burned Elliot's hotel, stopping tw,
blocks west of the city hall, which wa
Quilted The flames then took a shoe
north toward the Great Northern freigh
depot, burning the new Methodist churcl
on Robert street and a large number 0
residences and small stores.
Secret societies suffered severely, losinl
balls with nearly all their property
Every open space is filled with confuse
collection of household goods, buggies
merchandise, legal libraries, ETC., hur
riedly carried there. Numbers of peopl
are sleeping tonight on the bare groun
by the side OF all that is left of thei
personal effects. The militia are on dut