The Sisseton weekly standard. (Sisseton, Roberts County, S.D.) 1892-1929, 1905-03-03
FIERCE FIRE AT NEW ORLEANS.
Flames Sweep the River Front, De.
styoyinq Much Property.

Flames Sweep the River Front, De,
stroysns Much Property.
| New Orleans, Feb. 2S.-Fire involv'
ing millions of dollars loss in property
and one that strikes serious blow at
the immense export trade of New Or
| leans, swept the river front last night
and wiped out the vast freight ter
mna1s OF the Illinois Central, known
as the Stuyvesant docks. Nearly
dozen squares of modern wharveS and
freight sheds, two magnificent grain
vast quantities of freight, including
Il, eco bales of cotton, were destroyed,
together with large number OF small
residences. The fire was still raging
furiously at midnight, at which time
it had almost reached the upper end
of the Illinois Central property. 1t
has not been determined whether
there has been any loss of life. The
ocean-going shipping seems to have
escaped serious damage.
Several Were Injured.
A number of firemen and employees
of the docks were injured. Actual es-
Inmates of the losses are impossible,
though they may reach 100000.
The Stuyvesant docks extend from
Louisiana avenue almost to Napoleon
avenue, a distance of twelve squares.
The wharves between these two
points were covered with miles of
trackage and steel and iron sheds ran
the whole distance.
The two grain elevators were of the
most modern construction. the upper
one having capacity of a million
bushels. Thousands of bales of cotton,
several hundred thousand bushels OF
sugar, great quantities of cottonseed
Oil and oil cake, lumber and every
conceivable variety of freight filled
the warehouses and sheds.
The fire was discovered shortly af-
ter o'clock. 1t was said to have re-
suited from a journal that had not
been sufficiently oiled. The whole
plant was equipped with gigantic
water tanks and fire extinguishing ap-
paratus, but the blaze,
Small at the Beginning,
almost instantaneously got beyond
control, communicating through the
conveyors to the lower elevator and
some of the sheds. The response of
the fire department was prompt, but
owoing to the fact that the terminals
were not readily accessible because of
fences and tracks the engines found
difficulty in reaching the flames. In
half an hour the fire covered two
squares, the lower elevator was prac-
tically consumed and the fire was
sweeping with irresistible fury both
up and down the river.
The wind was blowing down the
river as the blaze began and the fire
spread with greater speed in that di-
rection. BY 8 o'clock the lower ele-
vator and sheds and wharves from
Amelia street to Louisiana avenue, a
distance of six squares. had fallen in.
Fortunately Louisiant avenue is a
very broad thoroughfare and
The Further Spread
of the fire beyond that point into a
residence section was checked Be
tween the points named, however, the
flames swept to complete destruction
many cottages of the poorer classes,
the occupants in many instances los
ing all they possessed.
The river boats, the employees of the
road and the fire department concen-
trated 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, however, gradually worked
past the point occupied by the eleva-
tor. Heroically the forces kept at
work, but ultimately they were beaten
and the big structure, covered with
corrugated iron, suddenly burst into
flames at 1920, and in half an hour
was a complete wreck.
At midnight more than nine squares
of the terminals had been completely
DESTROYED