Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-03-23

fire of October S and Q, 1871. the for
csts of Michigan had been blazing at
! many points, and for at least three
days before the occurrence of the SUI
preme calamity, in Il series of cataStro-
Plies in this section, the atmosphere
was made haZy by the smoke that drift
cd across the lake.
| 1t is Il remarkable fact also that for
/ days before the great fire the prarics
around Chicago had been burning. To
the north. south, and west and horizon
after night fall was constantly aglow.
| But stranger still is the fact that the
| fire Of Oct. s and was preceded by Il
| fire on the 18th, which was. up to tina.
: time. the greatest Chicago had ever
known, and that this confagration, cx-
tending over twenty acres in the dis
triCt bounded by Adams street on the
north. Van Burcn street on the north.
| Clinton street on the west, and the river
on the east was itself only one of u
number of extraordinary fires that ha
| occurred here within ten days. The
fire of the 9Th threw 5000 people out of
their homes ana destroyed s75O.00O
worth of property, but the calamity
that followed made it appear insignii;-
Ntill. ' oil NUS tHtOf nave Dec1l du.
vanced with the hope of accounting for
the prevalence of these fires and the
irresistible character of the eliminating
disaster. The popular impression A.
The time was that some mysterious,
highly combustible and explosive gases
in the atmosphere throughout this re-
Gion had not only served to spread
these fires, but had actually caused The
tremendous destruction wrought by the
flames i'll Chicago. At first this belief
WAS ridiCulcd in scientific quarters AMI
attributed to the excited state of the
public mind but Investigations carried
on later seemed rather to confirm than
to upset the theory.
1t is well remembered that the great
fire was accompanied by a tornado
The late William Il. Ogden. in dcscrib-
ing the action of the clements pointed
cut that the fire. as it ate it's way
through the solid blocks of granite and
iron, of the business centre, seemed to
have the characteristics Of Il bIOwpire.
Blocks away from the advancing col
umns of fire Il building would suddenly
becoE.e illumincd: a few minutes more
and 1t would burst into a blaze as if il
had been ignited III hundred places:
a few minutes more and it would be in
ruins. This happened to the Sherman
house, the Grand Pacific hotel, the
!hSelow house. the Palmer house,
Crosby's Opera House, and otter Motel
structures. Hundreds of buildings
were, in fact. fired by the heat-or lie
gases in the air-long before the main
columns of fire had reached them.
Similar experiences were reported
later in connection with the Boston
fire. IF the details tend to show that in
Baltimore the firemen had to contend
against something more than what is
commonly known as natural combus-
tion that fact will help to confirm the
belief held by Chioagoana long after
1871. that the very "air was afire" on
the fatal Stu and 9Th of OCTOBER
These two big fires caused n general
awakening Of the public to the necessity
of better fire protection, and the in
staliation of waterworks systems and
other means Of protection have in
creased more rapidly in the thirty yea1s
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