The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1905-05-11
Fire at Anderson Mills.


Al ten minutes past ono, yesterday
afternoon, fire was discovered In the
picker room Of the Anderson Mills. An
alarm Was rung in and the operatives at
the mil with the help of the fire depart.
ment easily extinguished the flames the
damage done being comparatively snail.
Nearly an hour later, fire broke out in
the store room of the "Od Mill". 30
called, which for time threatened the
destruction of the whole plant and re-
quired the efforts Of the entire depart
ment with all the apparatus at hand to
snbdue Il.
There seems to be no question but
that the fire on the fourth floor of the
old mill came from the fire in the picker
room by way of the system of conyeyors.
This conveying system has been intro
duced since the plant was purchased by
the American Wooden Co and distTi
butes the stock to the various parts OF
the mill as wanted, by means of large
conductors through which the stock il
forced by blower One section of thii
system takes the dried wool from the
picker room to the storage bins in the
old mill. After the fire in the picker
room was put ont, il was feared that
burning stock might have been taken
by the conveyoIs to other parts of the
mill and the various departments were
visited to guard against this source.
The room where the fire afterward broke
out was carefully inspected and no
trouble was discovered; but either the
fire was smouldering there at the time
the inspection was made, or it existed
in the conveying system itself and was
blown through to the storage bins when
the machinery was started after the
picker room fire.
The steamer did very effective service,
furnishing two streams most of the time,
with ample pressure The corporation
force pump, located on Mill street, fur
nished one stream which was fairly eff
fectiye, but a leak in the main was dis
covered which undoubtedly reduced its
eff cheney The force pump owned by
the Anderson Mills also on Mill street,
was used for several lines of hose and to
keep up the pressure on the sprinkler
system in the mills and was very effec-
tive. As to the service rendered by the
city va er system there is a variety of
opinion, as well as to the manner in
which the department handled its host
and forces. Many property owners pres.
emit expressed themselves in more forci
be thin elegant language and it was
apparent the opinions w,re Influenced
in most instances as to whe her one war
an owner of stock or paying tribute tc
the Skowbegan Water Co. That there
was good cause for criticism regarding
the water supply and pressure of THU
company, the REPORTER viii not deny
in fact it seems evident there AWAY
must be, for it is a state of affairs tha
has SO long existed that, was there
remedy, it would most seem those il
authority would long ago have TorceC
the issue.
The damage was confined to the "olC
mil", situated at the corner of Mali
and Mill streets. The upper OF fourtl
floor was used for storage only; the
third floor was occupied with the spool
ing AMI dressing departments, the dry
finishing was done ON the second fool
and the wet finishing on the grounC
floor. The loss is princip ally to the roof
the II ines not going below the fourth
floor, estimated at $1,000 A large pro,
portion of the cloth in process, and tin
ished pieces were removed from the
building, some in damaged condition
however and the loss on machinery
cloth and stock is estimated at from
SIS 900 to $25, 200 1t is understood tina
there is ample insurance to cover boil
the loss on the building and its contents
Assistant uperinteDdent, James Nc
Dougal, and W. r. Elliott, chief &C
eountant, were interviewed with regard
to the fire, late yesterday afternoon, bu
would make no statement as to the
value of stock in the building. the
loss on same or the question of in
surance.