The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-22
DIG FIRE on 81. sIMoNs.
Two Mills and Lumber Destroyed,
the value Being SI47.OOO.

Brunswick. Ca. Dec. 2l.-The complete
story Of the big fire on St. Simons island
Thursday night which was briefly allud-
ed to in yesterdays dispatches from
Brunswick. is as follows; The Hilton <
Dodge cypress MILL 100000 feet of cy-
press lumber. 100000 cypress shingles and
100000 laths were totally destroyed by
the fire, entailing a total loss of $4,000
The insurance is not over $4,000, If any al
all. and what may be carried is through
brokers in New York city where the gen
eraI Offices of the company are located
The burned property is all located on the
island at the place known as st. Slmons
Mills" a distance of seven miles from
Brunswick by water and three miles from
the hotel by land. There are two mills
in the plant and both were reputed TO
be the largest of their kind in the south.
in an interview Manager James l.. os-
ter made the following statement IN i.,; az
dition to the figures given above me
fire started about $3.50 o clock IN the room
right over the boiler. The mills have been
running night and day for some weeks,
and we had steam on at the time. The
engineer discovered the blaze, then very
small. and called the superintendent at
tention 10 II. as ne was theh near py.
The superintendent sprang at the water
pipe and the engineer endeaVored 10 blow
the alarm of four whistles. Before he
could Dun the cord the fourth time the
while space above them was envelOped IN
flames and they had to run for their
lives. 1t was a perilOus moment and the
sixty operatives in the mill had difficulty
in escaping awe, so quickly dlu the
flames spread. The mill proper was soon
one mass of flames, and all water con-
nectiOns We're broken. Then II was task
20 make new ones by reducing the sizes
of the pipes to connect with ones at the
other mill, and before that could be done
the lumber yard was burning. If a fire
tug could have reached us at that june
ture $4,000 feet of the lumber could have
been saved, but our tug was away. ana
no water protection was available
and willingly helped. but after an all
night tight we found ourselves at day
break with only handful Of cypress
In Brunswick there was much excite
ment about $3.50 o'clock when the fire was
first noticed. Every available vehicle was
brought into service and great throngs
went out to view the scene from the
boulevard four miles this side of the is
land. Even at that distance the light
was brilliant and all night long the sky
over the entire city was a bright red. 1t
was the grandeSt scene from an artistic
standpoint that has ever been witnessed
here. The burning of the mill will affect
120 families as for weeks il has been work
ing crew of sixty each night and day
and had orders enough ahead to keep it
going for twelve months to come.
The estimated loss is calculated as fol-
lows:
Mill property ............:....: s $1,000
Two million cypress shingles at
$3.50 per thousand ............... 5000
-Four million feet cypress lumber
at 800 per thousand ................ 5000
and Observation-Disclosures. 1000
$4,000
OF course at this early date there is no
one who can tell whether the mill will be
rebuilt or not but il is safe to conclude
It will, owing to the great demand for
cypress products in the market.
1t is very probable that the Altamaha
cypress mills near Brunswick will be
commenced working day and night now
as the same company owns it.
Owing to the immense amount of mill
property they own that is scattered at
various points throughout the state, the
Hilton q Dodge people have never car
1lna haaz-Z inslLranca and Lhi. Is tknLr