Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916, 1909-09-24
Beach Visited By Bad Fire;
Town Has Narrow ESCAPE
-Four Business { Establishments Viped
Out By Flames at a Loss Of About
$4,000; Insurance $4,000

Beach has been visited bv
disastrous fire and about $50,0O0
worth Of property has been de-
stroyed. At about $50 Saturday
evening a gasoline light plant ex-
ploded in the Model Clothing &
Shoe Company's store and within
a few seconds the interior of the
building was a mass of flames.
It quickly spread to adjoining
buildings and within a couple of
hours four business establishments
were burned to the ground.
Had it not been for A. B. Kel-
logg's cement block building stand
ing in the middle of the block, the
entire town might have been wipe
off the map. With the protection
his building afforded and by he
rioc work on the partof the citizens
the flames were brought under
control at this point and, at least,
the balance Of the saved.
The Farmers & Merchants Bank
building in which the Chronicle
office and the postofice is also
located, had a close call, and was
only saved by determined work.
The town has no fire protection
and had a wind been blowing
there would have been little hope
of saving anything in the path of
the fire. As soon as the fire broke
out the fire company and enigne
at Wibaux was sent for and they
responded promptly, coming down
on a flat car drawn by a freight
engine which happened to be at
Wibaux at the time. But by the
time they arrived the fire was un-
der control and they put forth
their efforts in putting out the
burning ruins.
The fire started very quickly and
spread so rapidly that the clerks
in the building where the fire
originated had to flee for their
lives and nothing was saved from
that building A clerk attempted
to generate and light the lights,
but when he went to turn on the
gasoline, a valve broke and the
gasoline under high pressure was
thrown into the room and onto the
burner which casued an explosion,
badly burning the clerk who mar.
rowly escaped. In almost second
the entire interior of the building
was mass of flames. 1t quickly
brust through the building and
ignited the Lowell Bros. hardware
store on the eas: and the James
Frost pool hall on the west. Next
door to the pool hall stood the
new two story building just com.
pleted by the Beach Land & Loan
Company and occupied by P. H.
Lee, the druggist. A. B. Kel-
logg's cement building stood next
and this is where the fire was
checked. A part Of the stock was
removed from the Lowell Bros.
store by willing hands, but the larg.
est part of their fine hardware
stock went up in smoke, along with
their building and Guy Lovell':
household goods and furniture
which occupied the second floor
Their loss was a heavy one.
Part of the fixtures were remov
ed from the pool hall and drug store
and a part Of the drug stock wa
saved. The second floor of the
Beach Land & Loan Company build
ing was :unoccupied, not having
been entirely completed.
The fight to stop the fire at tn
Kellogg's building was a har'
one and it took determined effor
and heroism on the part Of tn
fire fighters to accomplish it. Tn
smaller back buildings were dyni
mited and pulled out of the way o
the fire.
When the fire broke out it look