The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-10-22
Night Mans Family Hurt.


ana two children, who were slightly hurt
Dy the railing house. The woman and the
TWO children We're taken to a house about
mile away by HabershaW and three
0Iner employees OF the packing company
When they returned they found that the
part OF the cottage that remained was
on IRE. They endeavOred to put out the
flames. but the terrific wind famed them
10 Jury and they soon spread to the lard
house and the smoke rooms of the plant
and from there to the main building,
which was soon in ruins.
The fire was decidedly spectacular and
the reflection of the flames could be seen
for miles away Burning embers and
flrebrands were scattered for miles by
the gale.
Within two hours from its inception. the
fire had reduced the plant to mass of
Smouldering ruins.
The lumber and inflammable materials
in the plant were food for the hungry
flames and they. as they Ieaped up, were
blown to all parts of the plant. as many
as half dozen fires having been started
at almost the same time.
Men Were Helpless.
The handful of men were helpless to
check the spread OF the fire and could
merely watch the work of destruction.
The north walls Of the main plant and
the walls of the engine room are the only
ones that remained standing. All the
buildings in the immediate vicinity were
burned To the ground. These included
several temporary wooden structures.
The stockyards TO the north of the
packing plant were untouched by the
flames. though the employees worked all
night to prevent stampede of the
stock. There were 5000 sheep and 800 cat
tie in the yards preparatory TO the open
ing of the plant and these became fright,
ened at the fire and flying emberS. and
threatened to stampede all night The
work of the stochmen was made more
difficult because the wind had blown
snFna n. Il
to be braced and repaired all night.
Several trains going north from Salt
Lake were tied by the fire several hours.
debris from the ruins having blown across
the tracks.
1t was expected that the plant of the
Utah Packing company would be IN oper-
alton within q fortnight, and invitations
were TO have been issued in a day or two
for the opening The fire will cause a
delay of several months before Salt
Lakes new packing house Will again be-
come reality
Director Leary's View.
James c. Leary. member Of the board
of directors and OF the executive commit
tee of the Utah Packing company, was
undiScOura ged and undiSmayed last night
when he returned from an arduous day
at the ruined works. There IS a good
deal. after all. to be thankful for, said
Mr. Leary. I'VE saved the yards and the
livestock with value running into many
thousands of dollars. and my judgment
is that the capital of the company has
not been seriously impaired. My Judg-
ment is that the net loss will not aggre-
gate more than $50. 600
THE plant will certainly be rebuilt as
quickly as the material can be assembled
and the work gotten under way. The field
here is too good one for men Of capital
to overlook in Salt Lake City, at mod
crate estimate there are 1900 people who
eat meat In territory contiguous TO the
CITY there are $1,000 more eaters. The
whole constitutes the best unoccupied
field in the United States for packing
plant / know of no similar territory
that has not from one TO four or five
plants
The fire is serious blow in that it de-
lays our entrance into the field. but il is
BY no means fatal blow. We had eX-
pected 10 have our friends out to the plant
for a reception and dance on the evening
of Nov l. Invitations 10 this event had
been engraved and refreshments of vari-
Gus kinds ordered. This function. smil-
ingIv will necessarily be postponed for
a few months, but it viii only be post
poned We had built what has been pro-
pounced by experts to be the most COM
pIete plant of it's size and type in the
country Now we viii proceed to dupli-
cate il as rapidly as possible