Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-09-26
BUTTE IS
FIRE SWEPT
GREAT MONTANA MINING CEN.
TER RAvAGED BY FLAMES
ON SUNDAY.
RAIN KILLS THE BLAZE
Crowds Gather In the Street and Pray
For a DeIuge - Homes of Copper
Barons Are Denuded of Rich Fur
nishinss When Threatened BY Fire.

Butte, Mont, Sept. 25.-Butte was
ravaged by flames Sunday in fire that
swept away the greater portion of the
business district as If it were tinder
For hours the entire city was in dan
ger. A high wind sweeping through
the Rockies. famed the flames until
they OUTRAGED the f1remen. There was
little water, the buildings were as dry
as matchwood and for half a day it
looked at If the greatest mining city
in the world would be blotted from the
| maps.
Help finally came from the clouds.
Heavy rains, for which worshippers in
half the churches had been praying,
fell IN torrents. and the fire was soon
brought under control. The damage
is estimated at $1,200,000 Of which
100000 is covered by insurance.
Join In Fight for City.
! While the confagration was at its
height nearly every available man in
the city joined the ranks of the fire
| fighters, while the women and chill
dren, the aged and the decrepit sought
refuge far up on the slopes of the hills.
From the mining settlements above
the town thousands Of miners in their
Sunday best came down the trails and
swarmed into the city to give aid,
while other toilers streamed up from
from the shafts and cuttings that hon
eycomb Butte and joined in the strug-
gle against the fire.
! Nearby settlements were notified by
telephone of the fate that threatened
| the city and scores of volunteer fire or
ganizations took the trails with hand
engines, dragging their equipment
miles over the hills, only to abandon
them because the water ran short.
Covered BY a Pail Of Smoke.
The same wind that carried the
flames further into the heart Of the
town rolled down with thick clouds of
sulphurous smoke from the smelters.
1t hung over the fire like a yellow
blanket, half suffocating the men who
were fighting for life and property,
and doubling the fearsomeness of the
scene.
! Two hours after the general alarm
had been given the fire was being
brought under control, when the fire
engines sucked dry. The news that
the water had given out had hardly
reached the outermost bounds of the
throngs that crowded the district
when white-bearded man high up on
the slopes gave shrek and pointed a
i gaunt finger at the sky
"The cloud. the cloud. It's going to
rain. Pray that a deluge may come,
i he shouted.
Pray In Streets for Rain.
The cry was taken up by the thous
ands of spectators on the hills
4 Preachers fell on their knees on the
streets and prayed aloud, while minis
tiers threw open their churches and
led their congregations in supplica
4 tions for rain. Men whose lives and
habits take them far from church
). ideals joined in and abandoning. the
struggle with the fire, raised theil
voices in appeals for rain.
J, In few minutes the thunder clou6
in the southwest had piled UP until il
obscured half the horizon The clouds
rushed together and with sudden
ness that fairly took the breath of the
people away, the storm burst owe
their heads. 1t drove down in sheets
half-drowning the people on the hill
and killing the fire.
Butte was saved.
Big Store is Fire Trap.
The fire started at 8 o'clock in the
morning in the furnace room Of the
Symons store, an establishment that
covers a block. 1t proved a fire trap
and before the department could 10
cate the source of the smoke the film
sy structure had burst into mass o1
flames.
The flames spread rapidly The
breezes carried great flakes of burning
wood whole blocks, and fire burst out
in half dozen points at once. The
Butte public library building, erected
thirteen years ago at a cost of $125,
900. fell next, with its $4,000 volumes
Half the fire force was sent into the
J residence district to protect the resi-
dences Of the copper barons. The
house Of Senator w. A. Clark was
threatened at one time, while tbs
apartments of F. Augustus Heinzt
downtown had their windows cracked
, by the fierce heat from buildings burn
ing in the vicinity. The chattels O
the copper king were moved into thu
street by servants, one of whom was
detailed to the especial task of guard
) !nS the famous bust of Napoleon thai
is Heinze's pride. He fancies that he
: resembles the emperor.
t Fire At Wilmington, Del.
II Wilmington neI Cent OK EI,