East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1911-10-26
ROCK
HAS BAD FIRE
Hotel, Restaurant and Ii
very Barn Razed By.
Early Morning Blaze.
ORIGIN NOT DETERMINED
Entire Populacc Turn Out to Combat
Fire Demon--Town Is Now With
out Public Eating House-Loss Is
Partly Covered by Insurance.

The most disastrous fire in the his
tory Of Pilot Rock early this morning
reduced to a heap of ashes the Pilot
Rock livery barn, the Pilot Rock Ho-
tel and the j. X. Smith restaurant
with most of the contents of the three
buildings and for a time threatened
the de truction Of the whole town. In
fact, according to advices from that
town, had it not been for the heroic
work of volunteer firemen, assisted
by the dampness from, the recent ran,
the flames would undoubtedly have
swept the town off the map. The loss
was partly covered by insurance.
The cause of the fire is unknown.
1t had its origin in the buggy shed
adjoining the livery barn and was dis
covered about . o'clock by John Will
son, who was sleeping in the barn.
Quickly The whole town was aroused
and the combating of the flames be-
gan.
McManus Property Endangered.
The Smith restaurant and the Pilot
Rock hotel stood on the south side
Of Willow street in a row with the
livery barn and they were quickly ig-
noted by the leaping flames. The
pastoffice building owned by J. P.
McManus and the McManus residence
just across the street We're afire sev-
eral times but the bucket brigade
bounted to the roofs and by valiant
work saved these buildings. The
Carnes Bros. mercantile store also had
a narrow escape and would undoubt-
edly have been lost had the bui' ding
not been moved back sixty feet re-
Gently preliminary to the erection of
a new building
All of the contents of the livery
barn with the exception of the four
teen head of horses stabbed there per-
ished and most Of the furniture of
the hotel was lost, although several
pieces were removed from the
ground floor rooms. The restaurant
was practically a complete loss.
10 $ Partly Covered.
The livery barn was the property
Of Mrs. $. L. Morse formerly of this
city, as was The building occupied by
the restaurant. According to County
Clerk Frank Sailing, son-in-law of
Mrs. Morse the two buildings were
inslVed for $1,000. y Forster. who
conducted the livery business. esti-
mates his loss at $1,000 with $500 of
that sum covered by insurance. J.
T. Royer, formerly proprietor of the
French restaurant in this CITY. carried
$4,000 Insurance on his hotel
Withop. eating Facilities.
The fire this morning leaves Pilot
Rock without eating houses. on
March =. ,ae City Hotel, also owned
by Mr. Smith, was burned to the
ground and the town was then badly
handicapped in its accommodation
for strangers. Mr. Smith soon leas-
ed the Morse store building and start
ed restaurant and now for the sec
ond time has had his business de-
stroyed by fire. The Pilot Rock Ho-
tel was one of the oldest puolic hous-
es in the town. having been erected
thirty years ago. Recently Mr. Roy
er made improvements in ii to the
amount of several hundred dollars.
Credit Due Fircmcn.
Too much praise can not be be-
slowed upon the volunteer firemen,
according to those who witnessed the
blaze. The fire equipment of Pilot
Rock consists only of a mechanical
engine, ladders and buckets. The en-
gine was disabled after the first few
minutes OF operation and the fire
men were left with only the primi-
time facilities. However, by their
bravery and persistence, they finally
accomplished what many thought to
be impossible and the town was saw
ed from destruction
Proceeds to State