The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-08-27
WIPED OUT BY FIRE.


 Ontonagon. Michigan, Entirely De- stroyed-Diamond Matchs Big Loss Five Hundred Dwelling Houses De- stroyed-Fifteen Hundred Persons Homeless-The Company's Big One Million Dollar Plant Goes Up in Smoke,
 Green Bay, Wis, Aug. 26-Ontona- gon, Mich, was wiped out by fire yes terday. Photographic communication, which was cut off at o'clock yester- day afternoon, has at last been made with this city. The fire has left abso- lutely nothing of the town. Two thou sand persons who were comfortably housed on Tuesday morning are now homeless and without shelter or food. A message from the mayor of Ontona- gon to the mayor of Green Bay, receiv- ed at 12:45 a. m., asked for assistance, saying they wanted tents and food for 1,500 persons.
 The ruin involves the extensive lum- Der and box manufacturing plant of the Diamond Match company, an es- tablishment alone worth upward of $1,- O00,0 900, and reported to carry about $500,00 insurance on lumber and plant Ontonagon is the county seat of On- tonagon county and the oldest settle ment in the copper district Its popu- lation is about 2,000 It is the Lake Su- perior terminus of the Chicago Nal waukee and St. Paul railroad system. Yesterdays catastrophe began with the small fires in the swamp just south of the town, to which no attention was paid, as they were not considered dan gerous But yesterday morning the wind freshened to gale from the south, the swamp fires were driven into the seasoned lumber piles in close prox- unity, and before effective defence could be made the flames were beyond control, and driving straight for the village at a rate so rapid that nothing was thought of but the salvation of human lives In response to appeals the railroad companies sent all availa- ble engines and cars. At four o'clock yesterday afternoon the operators in the telegraph office were driven from thek keys, and as that office was cen trally located there can be no doubt that the entire town was wiped out. The loss is well covered by insurance, and some companies, notably the Me chanics of Milwaukee, are reported very heavy losers.
 The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad transported the homeless peo- pie to Rockland in box cars, where they got shelter. The loss will aggregate several million dollars, and it is doubt full if the mills destroyed will ever be rebuilt, as nearly all the pine in that county has been cut. The town has Or had system of water works, but 1t appears to have become disabled early and was of little use in fighting the fire Many of the inhabitants lost all they possessed in the fire and are not only homeless, but penniless as we'll and will have to receive outside assist ance or suffer from cold and hunger this winter. Ontonagon was the oldest town in the upper peninsula.
 Among the heavy losers are: Sar- gent, Gennings & Gilkey of Oconto, lumber, $100,000; Louis Reidenger of Marquette, lumber on dock, $25,000; James Norton of Ewing, lumber on dock, $10,000; D. J. Norton of Ewing, lumber on dock, $100o0; William Me- Farlan of Bruce's Crossing, lumber on dock, S10,000; Lows house, four-story hotel, $10,000; Centennial hotel, $5,000; Paul house, $5, 1000; John Hawley's store, total loss, $20,000; Bank of Ontonagon, $5,000; Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul depot; postoffice, court house, Jail and school house, $50,000; James Mercer s large warehouse, dock and coal sheds, $50,000; Ontonagon Miner, newspaper, ! $2,500; Ontonagon Herald, newspaper, $2,500. The waterworks plant and gov ernment breakwater seriously damaged
 The number of dwellings reported de- stroyed is 500
 The property loss in Ontonagon itself, independent of the destruction of the Diamond Match company plant, is s50O,- 900.