The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-02-27
NEW ORLEANS The
LATEST TOSUfFER
Six-Milion-Dollar Blaze in the Ores.
cent City.
HIGH WIND WAS BLOWING
DOCKS AND ELEVATORS GO UP
I'M SMOKE.

Al EW ORLEANS Feb 26.-Fire involv-
IN ing millions OF dollars loss in phys
zeal property and that strikes a seri-
Gus IL temporary blow at the immense
export trade of New Orleans swept the
river front tonight and wiped out the
vast freight terminals OF the Illinois Cen
IraL known as the Stuyvesant docks.
NSarY a dozen squares of modern
niticent grain elevators. hundreds of
loaded cars and vast quantities of freight
lncludlng 1000 bales of cotton, were de-
stroyed, together with a large number of
small residences. The fire was still rag
ing hercely at midnight at which time
II 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 shin
ping seems to have escaped serious dam
age. a number of firemen and employees
OF the docks were injured. Actual esti-
mates or the losses are impossible to OBJ
tam tonight, though they may exceed
The Burned Area.
The Stuyvesant docks extend from Lou
lslana avenue almost to Napoleon avenue,
distance of twelve squares. The wharves
between these two points were covered
with mllSs of trackage and a steel and
IRON shed ran the whole distance
The two grain elevators were of the
most modern construction, the upper one
Tn,al nav, a capacity of a million bushels.
thousands of bales of cotton, several hun
dred thousand packages of sugar. great
quantities of cotton seed oil and oil cake
lunlDSI ana every conceivable variety of
freight filled the warehouses and sheds.
Practically all the export business han
died by the Illinois Central was put
aboard ships at these docks. These docks
ana improvements have been under con-
StructiOn for ten years past. elaborate
extensions and immense Investments haV-
ing been made after the constitutional
convention of 1898 made il possible for
the road to invest permanently at this
point.
Trivial Cause.
CLOCK II was said to have resulted
from journal that had not been suf-
ficiently oiled. The whole plant was
equipped with gigantic water tanks and
fire eXtinguishing apparatus, but the
blaze, small at the beginning. almost in
simultaneously got beyond control COM
municaIing through the conveyors to the
lower elevator and some of the sheds.
The response of the fire department was
prompt, but owing to the fact that the
terminals were not readily accessible be-
cause OF fences and tracks, the engines
In half an hour the fire covered two
squares. the lower elevator was practical
" consumed and the fire was sweeping
lrreslStbly both up and down the river.
As soon as il became known that the zone
of the fire was the Stuyvesant docks,
harbor tugs fastened to the wharves and
vessels that were moOred there were
pulled out into the river.
At the same time switch engines were
box cars loaded with freight were drawn
10 points above the upper end of the ter
HllhdIs peIore me lire reached them
Usual High Wind.
Hundreds more, however, were con-
sumed. The wind was blowing down the
river as the blaze began. and the fire
spread with greater speed in that direc-
ton. By O'Clock the lower elevator and
sheds and wharves from Amelia street to
Louisiana avenue, distance of six
squares, had fallen in. Fortunately.
louisiana avenue is a very broad thor
oughbare and the further spread of the
fire beyond that point into a residence
section was checked Between the points
named, however. the flames swept to
complete destruction many cottages of
the poorer classes. the occupants in a
great mary instances losing all they pos
sessed.
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 Austria
litz and Constantinople streets and to
check the fire at that point The fire.
however. gradually worked past the
point occupied by the elevator. Heroic
ally the forces kept at work but ulti-
mately they were beaten and the big
steel structure, covered with corrugated
iron. suddenly burst into flames at 1899
and IN half an hour was a complete
wreck