The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1905-02-28
Fire Destroyed Several Million
Dollars in Value on the New
Orleans River Front.
A HEAVY BLOW TO SHIPPING.
Nearly Dozen Squares of Modern
Wharves and Freight Sheds With
Their Contents Are Gone.
Hundreds of Loaded Care and Vast
Quantities of Freight, Including
10000 Bales of Cotton, Went
Up in. Smoke.

=
ing millions Of dollars loss in phys
ical property and that strikes a seri-
Gus temporary blow at the immense
export trade of New Orleans, swept
the river front and wiped out the vast
freight terminals of the Illinois Cen
Nearly a dozen squares of modern
wharves and freight sheds, two mag
nificent grain elevators, hundreds OF
loaded cars and vast quantities OF
freight, including 10000 bales of cot
ton, were destroyed, together with a
large number of small residences. 1t
has not been determined whether
there has been any loss of life. The
ocean going shipping seems to have
escaped serious damage. A number of
firemen and employees of the docks
were injured. Actual estimates OF
the losses are impossible, though they
may exceed 100000.
The Stuyvesant docks extend from
Louisiana avenue almost to Napoleon
avenue, a distance of II squares. The
wharves between these points were
covered with miles of trackage and
steel and iron sheds ran the whole dis
lance. The two grain elevators were
of the most modern construction, the
upper one having a capacity of mil
lion bushels.
Warehouses Filled With Freight.
Thousands of bales of cotton, several
thousand packages of sugar, great
quantities of cotton seed oil and oil
cake, lumber, and every conceivable
variety of freight filed the ware
houses and sheds. Practically all the
export business handled by the Illinois
Central was put aboard ships at these
docks. The docks and appointments
have been under construction for ten
years.
The fire was said to have resulted
from a journal that had not been
sufficiently oiled. The whole plant was
equipped with gigantic water tanks
and fire extinguishing apparatus, but
the blaze, small at the beginning, al
most instantly got beyond control.
communicating through the conveyOrs
to the lower elevator and some to the
sheds.
In half an hour the fire covered two
squares; the lower elevator was prac-
tically consumed and it was sweeping
with irresistible fury both up and
down the river AS soon as it became
known that the scene of the fire was
the Stuyvesant docks harbor tugs has
tened to the wharveS, and vessels that
were moored there were pulled out
into the river.
Spread With Great Rapidly.
At the same time switch engines
were rushed to the wharves and hun
dreds of box cars loaded with freight
were drawn to points above the upper
end of the terminals before the fire
reached them. Many hundreds more,
however, were consumed. The wind
was blowing down the river when the
blaze began, and the fire spread with
greater speed in that direction. BY 8
o'clock the lower elevator and sheds
and wharves from Amelia street to
Louisiana avenue, a distance of six
squares, had fallen in. Fortunately
Louisiana avenue is very broad thor
oughfare, and the further spread of
the fire beyond that point into resi-
dence section was checked. Between
those points, however, the flames
swept to complete destruction many
cottages of the poorer classes, the oc-
cupants in a great many instances los
ing all they possessed. With the wind
in a favorable direction the river
boats, the employees of the road and
the fire department concentrated all
their energies in an effort to save the
upper elevator, between Austerlitz and
Constantinople streets, and to check
the fire at that point. The fire, how
ever, gradually worked past the point
occupied by the elevator. Heroically-
the forces kept at work, but ultimate
ly they were beaten and the big steel
structure, covered with corrugated
iron, suddenly bust into flames and in
half hour was complete wreck.