The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-01-06
itself through the buildings west o
the Pelletier store.
Twelve NozzIes il, tIse


Twelve NozzIes in Use.
BY this time twelve MOBILES, in the
hands of thirtytive members OF the fire
department, were in use. But how
futile We're the little streams that
sprayed from the sides of buildings, far
below the roo.
How many times did Fire Chief KEEL
logs pray for u fire engine.
Now the buildings occupied by the
Gillette Hardware company and John
son x Aronsons clothing store, We're a
Seething cauldrOn. The fire was in the
middle of a solid block, flames were
shooting hundreds Of feet into the air.
The whole city was almost as light as
MONDAY The glare spread over the
sky until it was seen as far away as
Cherokee, sixty miles to the east, and
people who saw it there called up Sioux
City to find what was burning.
A subdued throng of 5000 people
damned the streets in every direction
from the fire. Palid women shrieked
hysterical questions. men hurried to
and fro, some advising. others talking
of the big light the fire made. all specu-
lating as to the time When it could be
stopped.
Men carrying ledgers, Juggling cash
registers, pushing trucks With files and
account books, threaded their way
through the crowd. Scores of drays and
chairs, desks, papers and furniture,
forced their way through the jams. the
drivers yelling. whipping their horses
and cursing the crowd. Above all, the
mighty roar of the fire filled the air
with a great, hoarse monotone, pune
tuated by the shrill popping or deeper
boom Of explosives. Through it all, in
cessantly, rising and falling with the
stress of the battle, the hoarse, desper-
ate cries of lunging firemen sounded
through the din. Cries OF warning
swayed the crowd like fields Of new
wheat, while fire horses tingling with
excitement. throwing themselves fran
tlcnlly, plunged now and then through
the masses to new places at the front
of the fight.
Fury of the Fire.
Unchecked, the fire went on its way.
With mad caprice it surged now to the
west and now to the south. Seductive
ly the sire fiend wrapped long arms
| around new buildings and drew them to
his breast. And at intervals. infuri-
ated. he pushed great walls, whole
floors and roofs into the heart of the
|cauldron, hurting upward to new
heights great columns of fame and
showering over a dozen blocks sizzling
| balls of fire.
! Slowly but surely the gentle breeze
| from the northeast was working the
fire south and away from Fourth street
| AS a result, when, shortly after nine
| o'clock, a great .ulst of flame leaped
up from near the alley between Ne
| braska and Jackson streets. the crowd
saw the wholesale and retail china
store of J. X. Prugh, on the first floor
and the Higman & Skinner Wholesale
| Boot and Shoe company, on the second
| floor, in flames.
| Now breath came more quickly in the
anxious crowd. The fire was making
straight for Nebraska street with rapic
strides. Famed by the soft but con-
slant breeze from the northwest, the
flames soon Tapped up the Prugh build
ing. Flames, bending and rising or
mock salutation, touched and touched
again the wood cornice on the top OF
| the Wartield. Pratt. Howell company:
wholesale grocery. AS if pla lying witt
it's prey, the cruel fire, now stopped
and fondled the threatened building
then leaped high in air and surget
back again to the east.
| Again a critical moment in the con
| fdgration had been reached. Would
the fire cross Nebraska street? Watch
ing intently. every one Of the thousand