The silver blade. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1895-1903, 1895-06-29
Great Fire in San Francisco Left
Acres Of Smoking Ruins.
IT RACED FOR FOUR HOURS
Warehouses, Lumber Yards and Factories
Melted Before the Element Which
Defied the Firemen.

San Francisco, June 27.-At o'clock
this evening an alarm was sounded
from Fourth and Brannan streets for
a fire in the box factory Of Wright,
Carrick & Williams. The fire spread
rapidly and in q few minutes the Fifth
Street Furniture Company was mass
of flames. AS soon as the fire chief ar
rived and the alarm was sounded, and
despite the work of the firemen it was
not long before the whole block bound
ed by Fourth, Fifth, Bryant and Bran
nan was a mass Of flames. A third
alarm, calling all the fire apparatus of
the city into use, was sounded, but still
the fire spread.
At 1880 p. m. the fire was beyond con-
troll and the prospect was that it would
sweep to the water front, half a mile
away. No estimate of the loss could be
made, but it was believed to be al
ready $2,000,000. The buildings in that
section of the town are mostly wooden,
devoted to manufacturing interests.
There are large number of brick win
cries and if the fire reaches them the
loss will be enormous. The fire has
already reached Fourth street.
The yards Of the Spring Valley Water
HI. Euler were destroyed. The box fac
tory of Korbell Bros. at 723 Bryant
street, also the stable of Fl. Washburn
at 657 Bryant street, and the carriage
factory Of G. w. Phelan and the soda
factory Of J. Horstman were all de-
stroyed in short order
The high wind which famed the
flames and swept them on their mad
40 n \
grees and the situation became critical
in the extreme. Long tongues of flame
shot out from the burning mass clear
across the street and from time to time
the hose had to be turned on buildings
which threatened to involve still larg-
er territory in the conf1agration.
ONE BLOCK GONE.
The firemen, reinforced by the full
department by this time, fought man
fully to confine the fire within the
block where it originated The block
bounded by Fourth, Fifth, Brannan- and
Bryant streets was destroyed with the
exception of the machine shops on the
corner of Fourth and Bryant
Within short time the fire had
reached the huge brick building on the
corner of Fourth and Townsend streets
formerly occupied by the Southern Pa.
cific company as general Offices The
Arctic Oil Works are also in that vi
entity and lumber yards are numerous
The docks are close by and huge coal
yards are scattered through the Sec
ton. The wind has shifted and the fire
is now sweeping in two directions II
has spread across Sixth street and also
across Fourth and to the southeast.
FLAMES GROW FIERCER.
While the fire department was strug-
Cling with the flames, which grew
fiercer and fiercer every moment, every
available resource at the command of
the Southern Pacific company was
drawn upon to check the advance of the
fire fiend in a southerly direction. The
intense heat made it difficult to utilize
to it's full capacity the water supply,
which was anything but sufficient, ow-
ing to the unusual number Of hydrants
called into play all over the district.
The water tower rendered the most
efficient service, furnishing jet Of wa
ter which could be rendered serviceable
where the other streams thrown upon
the flames were turned into steam be-
fore they had barely left the nozzle.
The Wright, Carrick & Williams box
factory is entirely destroyed.
Main & Winchesters harness factory
on Fifth and Bryant streets is a COM
plete loss. The houses along the lines
of cross streets surrounding the block
bounded by Fourth, Fifth, Bryant and
Brannan all are more or less in flames.
with the fire working to the northward
across Bryant street.
WAREHOUSES; CAUGHT.