The Kendrick gazette. [volume] (Kendrick, Idaho) 1892-1968, 1905-09-29
Big FIRE AT BUTTE
MILLION DOLLAR LOSS In Cen.
TRIAL BUSINESS DISTRICT.
Conflagration Started About $40 a.
m. Sunday, West of Main and
South of Park Streets-Public Ii
brary Suffers by Loss-AH Fire Ap-
paratus in County in Use.


a loss estimated at about $1,0O 900
Sunday consumed the entire portion
of Butte lying between the Shodail
block and Renshaw alley, on the
south side of West Park street, and
half destroyed the public library. II
totally destroyed the following blocks
Maule, York, Barrett, Woodward and
Odgen.
The fire call was turned in at $40
a. m. At noon the four story Symons
store was a of flames and the
public library and other places were
burning simultaneously. At l O'Clock
Mayor M~acGinniss announced the fire
under control.
The Miner building, the Broadway,
Harvard, Argyle and other buildings
were licked by the hungry flames, but
good work on the part of the owners
and firemen from the hill prevented
what seemed for a time a general con
migration, as a stln wind was blow
ing the flaming embers everywhere.
BY IL O'CLOCK every piece of fire ap-
paratus in Silver Bow county was at
the scene of the fire. The depart
ments from the ttarus, Cora, Parrot,
Original, Gagnon, Anaconda and 9TH
er mines responded with alacrity and
rendered great service. The fire bat
talions from the Centennial brewery,
from W~alkerville, from Williamsburg,
the Butte reduction works and other
places answered the general alarm and
lent valuable assistance to the regu-
lars.
A. H: Wethey, general manager of
Senator Ciark's Butte properties, vol
unteered the use of the fire crews from
the Clark mines and the Butte reduc-
ton works as soon as he learned of the
extent of the fire. Mr.. Wethey also
called up the water WORKS and offered
to start the pumping plant at the Butte
reduction works If it was found neces-
sary.
About noon telephone messages be-
gan arriving from Anaconda, Helena,
Dillon, Missoula and other places, Of
fering the services of ,ne fire depart
ments of the various cities. Anaconda
was n of the first to volunteer and
her offer was accepted. At 1928 three
hose wagons and a steamer with full
crews, accompanied by Mayor McKen-
zie and other citizens, were placed
aboard a special train for this city.
Exactly 80 minutes were consumed
in making the % mile run to this city.
Quickly the apparatus was removed
from the cars and within three min
utes after the train pulled into the de-
pot Acting Chief Harper and his men
were on the scene and had several
streams playing on the big blaze. The
Smelter City tremen went to work
with a vim and spirit that encouraged
their tired brothers, who had been bat
thing with flames since early morning.
The big steamer began pumping, and
with it's assistance water vas directed
into the interior of the plaze with good
effect.
Fire Hard to Fight.
1t was about 9 o'clock when .ne
fire broke out and First Assistant Fire
Chief J. T. Shinnick and his men went
to work at the tap of the gong, and at
first opening smoke, thick, yellow
and ~suffocating, belched forth, making
entrance impossible.
The cigar company in whose place
fire was first fought occupies part
of the ground floor and basement of
the big Symons Dry Goods company's
building.
The firemen realized that to keep
fire confined to the basement and
away from the elevator shaft was the
hope of saving the block. Three
lines of hose, manned by crews who
CALAMITY braved the smoke, advanced
into the poisonous cloud and poured a
food of water into the hole. Unfor-
tunately, the basement of the Symons
company was easily drained, and the
basement being a double one, with a
subbasement beneath it, was impos-
sibie to flood.
The men could not reach the seat of
the flames, but several went through
real sidewalk windows and held
streams as close as they could to
origin Of the smoke.
Spread Of the Blaze.
Finally, with a favorable change in
wind, which kept the smoke back
the fremen broke in the
three doors on the ground floor and
poured the water in the direction of
elevator shaft, which roared like
mill race. A perfect geyser of sparks
and burning shingles spewed it's tor
rent across the roofs of buildings,
patches of flames from the
Renshaw hall all the way to the Park
building. From II o'clock until noon
The Symons company building burned
tree as a bonfire, anu the department
confined it's labors to saving adjacent
property. The Renshaw building seem
doomed. as did the Lewis, King and
Clark buildings. Louis Rosenstein, in
he Clark block, stayed until his plate
glass windows cracked, when he lock-
ed up and was forced to fee.
Early in the course of the fire Chief
Of Police Thomas Mulholland had
stretched ropes across Renshaw alley
later across Park from the Shodair
block to Boucher's. across West Ga