Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1902-04-07
SANTA FE, N M, MONDAY APRIL 7, 1902
BIG FIRES AT SANTA ROSA
AND ALAM0G0RD0
The Old Town Of Santa Rosa Almost Wiped Out
By the Flames. .-..Looiing Of Merchandise
While Store Buildings Were on Fire.
BOX FACTORY AND PLANNING MILL OF THE
ALAMOCORDO LUMBER co. IN FLAMES

The Old town oil santa Rosa was II
flames on last Friday night. The fir
started in the Shane building and in
few minutes almost the entire tow
was in flames. From the Shane build
ing the fire spread to the right. to tn
Baca meat market and the barber shop
thence to the Coleman and Walsh sa
loon building. Both of these building
were entirely destroyed.
In the east the fire spread to the Pc
terson saloon and restaurant, then tt
the Clanrish general merchandise store
and postoffice. .s
On account OF the scarcity of water
it was almost impossible to check the
flames. The fire spread to the Marshal
warehouse, then to the Gillespie place
on the left of the Gillespie building
several small buildings and tents
which burned up.
! The last building to burn was a sa-
| loon. The men succeeded in checking
the fire by going down the street and
tearing down and dragging the build
ings away. The stores were stripped
of the goods before the fire reached
them and those which were not burned
were stolen. G. l.. Marsh is the heav-
lest loser, his stock of merchandise was
valued at $4,000 with very little insur-
lance.
The entire loss will reach 100000. The
fire is supposed to have been the work
frI,
force of men at work for the merchan-
disc firms, no one was hurt If the
wind had increased during the progress
of the fire, not building in Santa Ro-
sa would have been left. The fire will
bring the population of old town to the
new town.
The buildings in that part of the
town are all light frame structures,
built by the merchants and saloon men
in the first rush there and the
with rapidity that threatened to COM
pletely destroy the town, The fire
spread up and dow the street. There
was no water with which to check the
flames and as a last resort several hea-
Wy charges of dynamite We're used,
successfully checking the blaze. AS it
was, the new Rock Island buildings
and the new buildings on the plaza are
left standing.
The fire is believed to be a blessing in
houses being detroyed, the entire bust
ness portion will now be moved
on to the plaza, or new town
where hotel and several other build
ings are already constructed and work
on others under way. A large number
of men were at work during the fire, at
tempting to save the contents of the
buildings, but beyond a few slight
burns, no one was hurt.
BOX FACTORY AT ALAMOGORDO
IN FLAMES.
The box factory and planning mill de-
partments of The Alamogordo Lumber
Company caught fire Saturday morning
and were almost totally destroyed, the
loss to the company being estimated
at $40, 900, with about $4,000 insurance.
Both buildings destroyed were frame
throughout and were heavily stocked
with pine lumber. The flames for
while threatened to destroy the entire
plant and to spread to the shops of the
Ell Paso and Northeastern railway,
which stand only short distance
away. BY heroic work, the No. saw
mill was saved and the fire checked.
The loss of the box factory and plan
ing departments will cripple the COM
pany seriously until the buildings can
be rebuilt. 1t is understood that this
will be done at once. The Alamogordo
Lumber Company is backed by the AL
amogordo Improvement Company and
the Ell Paso and Northeastern railroad.
1t manufactures pine lumber from the
timber districts of the Sacramento
mountains and now has in course of
construction one of the largest tie
picking plants in the country The ori-
gin of the fire is. not known.