Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1905-06-28
PAPER MILL GOES
UP IN SMOKE.
UNION FIBER co. LOSES $50, 600 AT
FREEPORT.
Freeport Paper Mill Caught Fire from
Friction Thursday Afternoon and
Burned 10 the Ground in an
Hour and a Half.

Again has an overwhelming disaster
come TO the Freeport paper mill at
Freeport. Two or three times before
in its long history there have been
heavy losses by fire, and on Thursday
afternoon, while the manager, Mr.. E..
W. Hoyt, was spinning home from a
trip north for the company, and just
at time when the plant had been
developed to point where it was to
the greatest utility to the company,
and had been running night and day
with large force of men, it was
levelled to the ground by the demon
of fire, in less than an hour ana a
half.
The fire started shortly after two
O'Clock in the dryer, presumably from
friction. Although every precaution
had been taken to prevent this very
thing yet it spread SO rapidly that the
efforts of every one at the plant and
in Freeport TO save it were i'll vain.
The excellent fire fighting equipment
of the mill was put into play but the
dry chaff and straw burned rapidly
and an east wind carried the flames
to all parts of the mill. so that III a
short space of time the entire plant,
together with 200 TO 800 tons of straw
had been destroyed. The persistent
efforts of 30 TO 40 men saved the re-
sidence of Mrs. Klien on the property,
but the furniture had TO be removed
from the building and was damaged to
quite an extent.
This mill has for several years been
owned by the Union Fibre Co., of
Winona, Mimi. Oh which Mr.. E. w.
Hoyt of this city is director and
superintendent of mills. The company
has twelve or fifteen mills, and are
getting ready to build more. 1t will
oe necessary tor them to build such a
plant to take the place of this one
Just as soon as possible. and while it
has not vet been decided whether or
not il will be built at Decorah, or
near here. yet it is the hope and de-
sire of all our citizens that such will
be the case. 1t is certainty that the
Freeport mill was paying proposition
and we believe that when the company
considers the matter in all its phases,
lnatIn 70 build IN, thi.
ritory.
In an interview with Mr.. Hoyt the
next morning after the fire, he gave
us in substance the following, con-
cerning the fire and his opinion of the
reconstruction of the plant:
q arrived home from the north on
the 80 train Thursday afternoon,
and on getting off was informed that
the mill was burning and that Mr.
Easton was there with team to take
pe down. When | reached the plant
| found everything in ruins. Our loss
surance. The location of the mill
made it almost impossible TO secure
good insurance to any great extent.
The fire started i'll the dryers. AL
though two men were in the room at
the time and used fire eXtinguishers
and chemical engines together with
hose they were unable to stop it. We
had pretty fair facilities for putting
out small fire as we had chemical
engines and hand granades together
with other eXtinguishers, also about
500 feet of two-inch hose. We had "a
pump running with the water wheel,
and one with the engine, but it had no
force, there being a strong east wind
carrying fire from one building to
another and in less than two hours
time the whole plant together with
the straw was burned. The loss is
little greater at the present time than
it would have been several months
ago as we have several large contracts
TO fill that must be gotten out before
the first of the year. The mill was
running day and night to its fullest
capacity. The mill was fully equipped
and was doing not ONLY good business
but a very lucrative one for the Union
Fibre Co., as their bi-yearly trial
balance shows tina. this mill heads
the list in the way of profits. 1t
will be positively necessary to build
nil of its equal capacity somewhere,
in order TO help out the large plant at
Winona. Although all together there
are twelve to fifteen plants, this is
the only one aside from the main
factory at Winona that produces the
manufactured article. Just where the
mill will be rebuilt, l am unable
to say, but / cannot see how we can
avoid building another of this mill's
capacity,at least, or adding to theWin-
Ona plant. -