Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1897-08-19
the fire, relieving our boys who were
nearly played out.


nearly played out.
Too much credit cannot be given to
both Rhinelander and Amigo for the
promptness with which they responded
to our requests for aid and if they are
ever in need Of similar service, Eagle
River will gladly respond.
When the fire was finally got under
control it was found that of all the
lumber in the yard, only one small pile
of timbers containing fifteen thousand
feet remained. The balance of the
yard had been swept as clean as it
could have been done with teams.
About fifteen million feet of lumber
had been destroyed besides all Of the
shingles, lath, pickets, etc.
The fine barns of the Gerry Lumber
Co., were also in ruins, A portion of
these barns were used as warehouse
in connection with the company's
store and contained considerable hay,
feed, ETC., all of which were burned.
Their logging sleighs, tote sleighs and
two cutters were stored in the barn
and were destroyed, as well as num-
Der of sets of harnesses.
Besides the Gerry Lumber Co.'S.
property, four dwelling houses and one
barn were burned, with all or por-
tion of their contents. Mat Retgler's
nd re- toto
He and his wife were away at the time
up at Rummels at work for Mr.. Finger
and nothing was saved. Otto Deckert
lost his house and barn and a greater
part of his household goods. Chas.
Draeger's house was burned but the
greater part of his furniture was
saved. F. w. McIntyre's house, occu-
pied by Tom Neil, was burned. Mrs.
Neil was at home alone and only sue
ceeded in saving portion of her
goods. Several others living in line
of the fire and who moyed out had a
portion of their goods burned after
they had been taken out
The Gerry Lumber Co.'S. loss was at
least one hundred and thirty thousand
dollars and it may foot up to consider
able more than that amount. The loss
on the dwelling houses and contents
was between twenty-five hundred and
three thousand dollars. There was no
insurance on any of the houses or their
contents. The officers of the Gerry
Lumber Co. had no means of knowing
the companies which were carrying it,
as the policies were all in the Apple
ton office. They were not carrying as
much as they had previously as the
mill had not been running for some
time and they considered the dangerof
fire as comparatively slight, but they
think that the insurance will cover
about one half the loss.
Mr.. Miller, the secretary and treas
urer of the Company, came up from
Appleton the next morning to consult
with the vice-president, Mr.. Finger,
who is also the manager.
Both the gentlemen informed the
representative of this paper that the
company would continue to do business
here and would GO to work at once to
stock up the yard again. That they
would commence saving the logs
which they have been raising from the
lakes as soon as they could be got to
the mill and that by the time they had
them sawed they would have other
logs on hand to keep the mill running.
The blow to the company is a severe
one. For the past two or three years
orders have been light and they had a
large stock of lumber on hand which
they had been carrying and paying
taxes and insurance on. Lately bust
ness has been picking up and they
have been shipping as fast as they
could get cars. At the time of the fire
they had orders ahead for between
thirty and forty cars of lumber and it
is hard to have it all burn just when
they were beginning to realize on it.