Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1903-02-11
~CARLSBAD'S BIG FIRE.
The Beet Sugar Factory Totally Dss-
troysd by Fire.
the PARTICULARS OF the BLAZE.

From Carlsbad Argus. Feb. 6:
On Tuesday morning at about $3.50
O'Clock an alarm OF fire startled the
inhabitants of Carlsbad. and practic.
ally everybody in town turned out
when the news spread that the big
beet sugar factory was burning, The
blaze originated in the iron warehouse
just north of the main building, which
was stored full of a miscellaneous as.
sortment OF infiammabIe material.
comprising a lot of hay. corn. cotton.
seed and furniture. Before the fire
department could get to the scene.
this house was practically consumed.
and the main building was blazing at
the windows and under the caves of
the roof. The fire department, how
ever, cut no figure in its presence. as
the nearest waterplug was over three
blocks away and the fire boys did not
have more than 100 feet of serviceable
hose, most of it leaking so badly that
it would not have thrown a stream
strong enough to have reached the
second floor. much less the third. in
which the fire was the fiercest. Be.
sides. 1t Is very doubtful If the LOO
feet of hose, which is the sum total
thereof, would have reached the blaze
by several hundred feet. The chemk
cal engine was on the ground
promptly. but it was wholly in
capable of successfully combating
such a big con1agration. However,
the crew bravely fought on long after
their task was hopeless. and until their
chemicals were exhausted, kept up a
futile stream on the fire.
Some hard work was done by in
dividual firemen, but the greater
part ven for naught, the only sal
wage being about twenty-five feet of
one of the beet sheds and a small de-
tached shed on the extreme north.
This preservation was due almost
wholly to the unaided efforts of Albert
Ceavy. who occupies the old scale
house as a residence. A little hard
work and a considerable expenditure
Of muscle would have saved practically
all OF the beet sheds, but 1t was impos-
sible to secure volunteers for the labor
of tearing down a section of them to
interrupt the flames, by depriving
them of food.
The loss vas practically a total one,
and approximates $125, 900. AS far as
known here. there was no insurance,
the local agencies refusing to accept
the risk after active work was closed
down, unless a day and night watch
man was employed by the company
to care for 1t. This heavy expense
the company decided not to incur,
risking destruction by fire rather than
to incur the certainty of hundreds Of
dollars of annual expenditure. The
owners are Milwaukee capitalists,
headed by Messrs. Uihlen and Wuest-
hoff. of the Schlitz Brewing Co. There
Is a chance, however, that these
shrewd business men have something
of insurance, placed with eastern
agencies.
Besides the loss on the factory it,
self, several local men lost various
merchandise, which was stored in the
warehouse, where the fire originated.
]. d. Walker lost about a carload Of
hay, Ramsey Bros. a carload of cot
ton seed, G. II. Webster and j. F.
Rarey a small amount of corr each,
and H. F. Christian several hundred
dollars worth of household goods.
This loss is a severe blow to this en-
tire community. and it is extremely
doubtful now If the beet sugar indus
try will ever be revived in this Sec
ton. The company contemplated re-
suming active operations in the neal
future, probably next year; but now,
of course, il is highly improbable that
the Milwaukee people will invest fur