Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-04-27

most Completely Wiped Out, and n
Large Section of the City of Otta-
wa Laid Waste-A Fifty Mile Gale
Was Blowing and Carried the
Flames Along With FrightfuI RAJ
pfdity-Fire Statted at Eleven
O'Clock Thursday and at Midnight
Was Not Fully Under Control.
OTTAWA, Ont, April 27.-Five
square miles of territory burned
over; more than $500 dwellings, fac
tories, mills, stores and other
buildings destroyed, entailing n loss
estimated to reach $2O,OOO,O 900, and
between $4,000 and $4,000 men, wo-
men and children homeless, is a
cumming up of the havoc
by the fire which has been raging at
Hull and i'm Ottawa since IL o'clock
yesterday morning, and at midnight
1t was not completely under con-
troll.
Most of the lumber piles in Ottowa
and Hull have disappeared and are
now mere heaps of charred wood and
ashes. Half a dozen churches and
schools, a number of mills, the Hull
water works, the Hull court house and
jail, the post Office, the convent, al
most every dwelling place, and about
n thousand dwellings and shops in
Hull have been destroyed. Indeed,
practically nothing of Hull is left but
a church and a few houses beyond it.
The spot where the fire originated is
about a quarter of a mile from the
blowing from the northwest right in
the direction of the lumber piles and
mills on both the Hull and Ottowa
shores of the Ottawa River and Chau-
diere Falls, it was soon seen that the
fire was almost certain to be a large
one. By 1870 the fire had got a good
hold of Main street, and the entire
street, with dozens of cross streets, was
burned. Practically, there is not a
house left in the street.
About this time the fire made a jump
of nearly half a mile and ignited Eddy's
wood yard, near the match factory.
1t was o o in flames, and the fifty
mile-an-hour gale which was blowing
drove a high column of flame across
Bridge street and set fire to the Eddy
paper mill and the other buildings Of
the company.
The fire at this time also sprang
across the Ottawa River and caught
the sheds in the rear OF the Mckay
Milling Company, On Victoria Island,
and in a few minutes the lumber piles
on Victoria and Chaudiere islands, one
of the power houses of the Ottawa
Electric Company, the Victoria foundry
and half the buildings on the two ISL
ands were in flames.
In this city, it is estimated that be-
sides the mills, factories, etc., burned,
1900 residences were destroyed. The
total loss is estimated at SIS, 900, 900
and the insurance at 81, 500, 900.
OTTAWA, Ont, April $3.50 p. m.
The city of Hull has been burning
since noon to-day and all that remains
at the time of writing is a small cor
ner in the east end of the city and be-
fore long it, too, will be in ashes.
There are a few houses standing in
the suburbs of the burned city.
Hull has a population of about IL, 700
people, and more than half of them
are homeless tonight. The entire bus
mess part of the city, including the
court house, %postofice, public build
ings and newspaper offices, is one mass
of ruins. The population is almost en-
tirely composed of people who work in
the mills or who derive their business
from these 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 Claudiere
flats, surrounding the Canadian Pacific
railroad station, where the lumber
mills are all located, is fire swept.
The only building standing in the
whole area is that of the Ottawa car
bine factory. which is newly erected
and f%ire-proof.
From the flats the fire extended
across the Richmond road on to Roch-
esterville, and as far as the experiment
tai farm. Westerly the fire took in
Huntonburg and Mechanicsville. so
that on the Ottawa side of the river
there is a larger area covered by fire
than on the Hull side. 1t is estimated
that at the present time the number of
people homeless in the two cities and
suburban towns is not less than Il. 1000
and it may reach $1,000.
The government has given the drill
hall and the city the large exhibition
buildings to accommodate the suffer-
srs. All the institutions in the city
which have any accommodations at all
have lent a hand to aid the distressed.
The only industry left standing in
Hull is the Goulmer & Houston lum-
Der mill, at the extreme end beyond
the city limits, near Gatineau Point.
and 1t is still in danger.
The large Roman Catholic Cathedral
is still standing, but the flames are
surrounding 1t. Nothing can be done
to stop the fire. 1t will burn itself out
to the waters edge. The Hull Lumber
Company's mills, the extensive works
of e. B. Eddy. both match and paper
factories, as well as his residence, are
all in ruins. as well as the Inter-Pro-
Continued ON Third PaEa(