The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1907-01-10
SAINTS HERALD BURNS
Lamont Suffers a $4,000 Loss by
the Burning of their Big Print
ing office Last Saturday.

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Lamont sustained big loss in the
destruction by fire last Saturday morn
ing of the Saints Herald printing Office,
the main business enterprise of the
town, and one of the biggest printing
and binding plants in the state of Iowa,
the total loss aggregating over $4,000
with only $4,000 insurance on building
and contents.
The fire was discovered by the girls
employed in the mailing room about
twenty minutes before eight o'clock,
the flames starting in the press room
which was in the basement below. A
shaft or small elevator connected the
press room with the mailing room and
this acted as flue for the flames and
in few minutes the whole building
was mass of flames. The origin of the
fire is not known, but it probably
started either from spontaneous com-i
bustion or the furnace, no one being in
the press room at the time, although
several had been there a short time
before. 1t was reported that the fire
was caused by the explosion of the
gasoline engine, but this was incorrect
as the engine had not been started that
morning. In less than fifteen minutes
after the fire was discovered the build
ing was so filled with smoke that no
one could enter it, and aside from the
books, mailing lists and few small
articles in the managers room every
thing was destroyed, all the type,
presses, machines, etc. One of the
greatest losses was the destruction of
the church library which contained
many rare and valuable books, many of
which can never be replaced. Nothing
was saved from the historians Office,
and the work Of years in this line is
lost. Many old historical documents
were destroyed which can not be re-
produced. In the building were three
vaults in which were stored many valu-
able plates, church membership records
and the original manuscript of the
Book of Mormon, and it is thought that
the vaults stood the test all right.
Two of the vaults were opened Monday
and the contents found in good condi-
tion.
For several years there has been
talk that the printing plant would
eventually be moved to independence,
Mo-, and the destruction OF the plant
gave rise to rumor that the new plant
would be located at independence, to
which place President Joseph Smith,
his son, Frederick Nj. Smith, who will
| succeed his father as president, Bishop
Kelley and other prominent officials
have moved in the last few years. The
citizens of Lamont at once took prompt
action and big meeting was held at
the brick church Sunday morning at
which time S13,045.5O was pledged as a
fund to assist in rebuilding the plant
at Lamont, and this sum will be in
creased considerably by more COM
plete canvass. Should the church
decide to move the Office to Independ-
ence it would be hard blow on
Lamont, as the plant gave employment
to about one hundred people.
Work was commenced at once to con-
tinue the publication of the Herald,
and for the present it will be issued
from the office of the Lamont Chronicle.
The printing office was moved to
Lamont from Plano, ILL.,, in the fall of
1881 and has been gradually enlarged
each year. The original building was
a frame structure brick veneered,
30x70, two stories high. Some years
later an addition was built two stories
high and full basement which about
equalled the floor space of the original
building. The Office was most COM
plete one, having new presses, stereo-
typing plant, book bindery, etc. Here
all the papers, books and pamphlets
issued by the L. D, = chnrch and it's
auxiliary organizaUlons were printed,
and an immense amount of work was
turned out each year. The weekly
payroll was big one and the Lamont
people will make hard fight to retain
the enterprise in their city.
assessors Adopt Schedules.
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