Arizona republican., 1906-01-12
A MESA FIRE
 LOSS $4O,OOO
Five of Principal Business
 Houses Burned
The Flames Had Their Origin in a Powder Explosion in Stapely @ Co.'S Store.

lelephone message received here
 last evening brought the news that a disastrous fire had visited the business section of Mesa City and that a num-
 Der of stores located on Main street in that city had been totally destroyed
 The information was very meagre for
 the reason that the telephone exchange
 is located in one of the buildings de-
 stroyed and the telephoning had to be
 done while the building was burning
 It was brought to an abrupt ending by the wires leading. into the building fall ing and the connection being broken.
 Enough however was learned to know that the total loss will reach be- twen S30,000 and $40,0OC which was covered to the extent of about eighty per cent by insurance. The origin of the fire was the explosion of a quan- tity of powder in the store room of O. $. Stapley company, the cause of the explosion not being stated The fire confined its ravages to five buildings
 From the Stapley company the flames found their way into the room
 or Passey and Mets, dealers in fur niture and undertakers. Their stock had been added to recently and was naturally of that material that added fuel to the flames The store was al- most completely gutted only a small, part of the stock being saved by re- moval to the street.
 While the store room of Passey and Nets was burning sparks started a blaze on the roof of the building oc- cupied by the Mesa Cooperative Mill ing company and one of the store rooms of the Stapley company and they burned very quickly. Between the two, in a building of brick, is located the offices of the Wells Fargo company and the Mesa station of the Consoli- dated Telephone and Telegraph com pany. Other than the books of the sta tion and few articles of express, lit tie in this building was saved
 The loss to Stapley and company in whose building the fire originated was. the heaviest. They carry a line of hardware, agricultural implements bi- cycles and paints. The stock of the company is owned by O. s. Stapley. J. w. Clark and Joseph Rogers.
 The fifth building to sustain dam age was the Toggery, a gents furnish ing store under the management of MT. Griffin. The building is owned by P. A. Tharaldson of the Hub Clothing company of this city and it is also un- derstood he is largely interested in the stock of the company. Most of the damage to the Toggery however was to stock carried into the street as the flames approached the building but the building itself was badly scorched the plate glass in the store front be- ing shattered. MT. Tharaldson when seen last evening said his building was valued at s500O and the stock of the Toggery at $4000. His insurance was less than 90 per cent of his valuation at the first of the year.
 When the fire first started the Phoe- l nix fire department was telephoned to ! and requested to send aid. On account of a wind that was blowing it was feared that the fire might spread to the residence part of the city or to the i large opera house building which is in | the immediate rear of the section l burned. Assistant Fire Chief Sim mons answered the Mesa call but af- ! ter inquiry into the water supply of | Mesa decided that the department 1, would afford little. or no relief and so | advised the officials at Mesa.
 This is the second serious fire to | visit Mesa within the past few years, 1 a fire four years ago destroying prac-7 -ically the same section. At that time many of the buildings were recon structed of brick and extra precautions 1 Tn the way of fire walls were taken.j The city has no water supply however and there is no way in which a fire r )f any great dimension can be put un- control No doubt the fire walls built 1 following the former fire had much to | 10 in preventing the fire spreading through a larger district.