Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1900-04-27

Ottawa, Ont, April 27.-The great
est fire in the history of Canada ha!
swept over this city and the city Of
Hull on the opposite bank of the
river. More than five square miles OF
territory has been burned over, anG
more than $500 dwellings, factories,
mills, stores, and other buildings, en-.
failing loss estimated to reach
$50, 900, 900, and between $4,000 and
Is, 900 men, women and childrep arc
homeless.
The fire originated about quarter
of mile from the Main street of
Hull, and as gale was blowing from
the northwest, right in the direction
of the lumber piles and mills on both
the Hull and Ottawa shores Of the Of
tawa river, at the Chaudiere Flats, it
was soon seen that the fire was almost
certain to be large one.
BY half past eleven the fire had got
a good hold on Main street and the
entire street with dozens of cross
streets, was burned. Practically
there is not house left in the street.
About this time the fire made Jump
of nearly half mile and ignited Ed
dy's wood yard, near the match fac
tory. 1t was soon in lanes and the
so mile an hour gale khich was blow
ing drove a high G, ,sAmn Of flame
across Bridge street and set fire to the
Eddy paper mill and the other build
ings of the company.
The fire at this time also sprang
across the Ottawa river and caught
sheds in the rear of the Mckay Mill
ing Co., on Victoria Island, and in a
few minutes the lumber piles on Vic
toria, Chaudiere Islands, one of the
power houses of the Ottawa Electric
Co., the Victoria foundry, and half
the buildings on the two Islands were
in flames.
There are few houses standing in
the suburbs of the burned city. Hull
has population of about $4,000 peo-
pie and more than half of them were
left homeless last night. The entire
business part of the city, including
the court house, postofflce and public
buildings, and newspaper offices is one
mass of ruins. The population is al
most entirely composed of people who
work in the mills or who derive their
business from those works.
The fire crossed the Ottawa river
in the afternoon, took hold among the
lumber piles on the brink of the river
and extended to the lumber yards and
mills. The result is that the whole
of that part of Ottawa known as the
Chaudiere Flats surrounding the Can
adian Pacific railway depot, where the
lumber mills are all located, is fire
swept. The only building standing in
the whole area is that of the Ottawa
carbide factory, which is newly erect
ed and fire proof. From the flats the
fire extended across the Richmond
road to Rochestervlle and as far as
the experimental farm.
Westerly the fire took in Hunton-
burgh and Mechanicsville, so that on
the Ottawa side of the river there is a
larger area covered by fire than on the
Hull side.
The government has given the drill
hall and the city the large exhibition
buildings to accommodate the unfor-
tunatc sufferers. Al. the institutions
in the city which have any accommo-
dations at all have lent a hand to aid
the distressed. The only industry
left standing in Hull is the Gilmour
and Houston lumber mills at the ex-
treme end beyond the city limits near
Gatineau Point.
The Hull Lumber Cos. mills, the
extensive works of E. B. Eddy, both
match and paper factories, as we'll as
his residence are all in ruins, as we'll
as the Inter Provincial bridge which
connects the city of Ottawa with
Hull.
On the Ottawa side of the river the
loss is still greater There are in
ashes the Bronson & Weston Lumber
Co.'S. mills, the j. r. Booth lumber
mills, the Mckay Milling Co., the
Ottawa Electric Railway power