Los Angeles herald., 1905-12-10
BIG CONFEDERATION
SWEEPS MOUNTAINS
Loss to Forestry and Other Property Is
Estimated at 100000
Mt. Lowe Inclue DestrOyed-Apine Tavern and
Observatory Saved From Flames-LOs Flores
Canyon a Scene of Devastation


smoke begrimed men fought a des-
perate battle with flames which for q
time threatened to sweep houses and
forestry from Ech mountain and
Mount Lowe.
The eonfagration denuded Echo
mountain and caused monetary loss
estimated at over SSoO,oOo. The fire
was one of the most disastrous which
has occurred in this end of the San
Gabriel range.
Throughout the whole night the
weary but determined fire fighters
patroled the edges Of the burned dis
trict, ready to smother out the red
demon should it reappear.
But for their desperate fighting it
seems likely that the whole OF the
beautiful range would be q waste Of
SCARED trunks and gray ashes.
For this once the cause of the great
fire Is nowise in doubt. During last
night slight breeze, which had been
gently touching the crest of the range,
imperceptibly grew to furious gale.
Suddenly a gust fell upon the sloping
roe' 'he pretty dancing pavilion
n h ~ DIS to the east of the power
house which has been used to provide
the electric power to run the cars Of
the incline and the lights on the noun
tain and the trolley road to Alpine
tavern.
Electric Wire Starts Fire
The whole roof of this pavilion was
torn bodily from it's mOOringS and
landed with tremendous crash
squarely on top of the power house.
The long, low house, with it's powerful
machinery, was wrecked Immediately.
The crash brought the employees Of
the Pacific Electric company, who re-
sided with their families in the three
story wooden building OH the eastern
head of the mountain, known as the
Chalet" running to the scene. Blank
ly they looked at the ruins before
them, realizing that they could do lit
tie or nothing alone to clear away the
wreckage.
In few minutes flames broke from
the ruins of the building, a fire so per-
sistent that the puny efforts of the
men made no impression upon 1t.
Here was the source of the fire; when
the roof of the power house was
crushed down upon the machinery the
wires within, alive with the electric
fluid, were ground together, quickly
producing a fire of the fiercest intensi-
ty which. from the nature of the ac-
cident, could not be reached and ex-
tinguished by the ordinary fire fight
ing methods available.
Send Out Call for Assistance
OF course there is no positive proof
that this is what caused the fire, but
it is the evidence and belief of those
who We're on the ground and of sew
eral electrical men who have weighed
the situation carefully.
Possibly when the ruins can be
cleared away better proof can be OBJ
tained or some other reasonable source
of the fire found Until then the short
circuiting of the electric wires inside
the power house will be blamed for
the starting of the fire.
Calls for help were Immediately sent
to Altadena and to Pasadena, and to
the various stations of the Pacific
Electric. But even while the telephone
wires hummed the message the fire
gained headway.
From the power house fire was com.
municated to the garbage crematory
belonging to the Alpine tavern. This
went like flash, and the sparks and
flames crept down the mountain side
Efforts were made to throw water from
the great reservoirs on the mountain
but the wind blew SO fiercely that the
spray scattered and was worse than
useless.
At the bottom of the mountain the
first desperate column of fire-fighters
was met. The wind veered suddenly
and the flames fled with lightning
speed back up the mountain.
Great Gable is Cut
A little after o'clock the fire reached
the chalet" and in a moment that
too, was In flames, a tower of fire
which could be seen for miles across
the valley. Seeing the approach of the
fire, the families who had been occu-
pying the "chalet" fled for their lives
leaving practically everything that
they had in the building.
Then down the famous incline the
fire rushed again. But the fire. fighters
saw the danger in time and had quick.
~ cut the $4,000 steel cable binding
one of the white chariots to the iron
rails at the top and allowing the other
to rush to the bottom of the in
cline. where it crashed through the
platform.
The heavy uestle over whose shud-
dering height thousands of sightseers
have been carried in safety was the
next food for the flames and burned
to the ground. BY this time the en-.
tire slope of Mt. Echo was apparently
in flames, and the wind whirled smoke
and enbers first in one direction and
then in the opposite, making the task
set before the men who clambered uL
ana down the mountain almost unbear-
able and insurmountable.
By 10 O'Clock three hundred men
were on the ground armed with wet
gunny sacks and other hastily pre-.
-----------------