Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1911-01-11
B|G FIRE At A||PLs;
CITY THROWN IN DARKNESS FIVE
HOURS ~ DESTRUCTION
OF. POWER PLANT.
LOSS IS OVER HALF A MILLION
Disaster Result Of an Explosion
Caused by Unexplained Trouble
In $4,000 Volt Trans.
mission Cable.

bondage shortly before dawn today
injuring three men, destroying ap
proximately 100000 worth of proper
ty and paralyzing the industries of q
city OF 100000. Four separate explo
slons, accompanied by ear splitting
cracking and vivid blue flames, par
TALLY wrecked the main power plant OF
the Minneapolis General Electric Com
pany and started fire which burned
the building to the waters edge.
Say All Men Escaped.
Although officers and employees OF
the plant assured both the fire depart
ment and the police that all got out OF
the building, there are rumors that
! bodies may be found when the ruins
are searched. The injured are:
Joseph Rhodes, night foreman !;
painfully bruised about chest; City
hospital.
John Rymeski, left arm broken;
City hospital.
A. L. Severason, burned about face
ind hands.
Sparks Flash, Then Explosion.
The short circuiting of a cable,
'aused either by misplaced metal
conductor, a weak spot in insulation,
Or the sudden burning out of a fuse,
Is thought to have caused the explo-
sions.
clustering, binding arcs of electric
ity, strong enough to bore through
solid steel, burst forth, igniting coal
gas in the boiler rooms and commune
eating to the 20 whirring dynamos on
the upper floor of the building.
Cables snapped and writhed, wheels
ground and whizzed the electric lights
grew DINNER and went out and for
the minute the building stood outlined
in the CHASTITY blue light of the de-
structive electric current playing
havoc. Darkness then was followed
by terrific upheaval from the base
ment. A twenty-foot strip of roof at
the front part of the building, rose
UP in the air followed by tangled
masses of wire and machinery. It was
& coal gas explosion. Fire followed
Immediately.
Twelve Men Barely Escape.
Twelve men who had just reported
for work made their escape. That
none met death either by being caught
in the explosion or by electrocution,
is considered almost miraculous.
The entire city was in darkness five
hours.
Most of the small and medium sized
manufacturing concerns were entirely
disabled, but most of the larger fac
tories have private plants. The hotels
resorted to tallow candles.
Minneapolis was cut off from te1e-
graphic communication with the out
er world. The North American and
Western Union Telegraph companies,
the railroad telegraph service and the
entire stock ticker service at the
Chamber of Commerce and through
out the city was suspended.
Newspaper plants were sadly Grip
pied. Every daily paper in the city
gets it's power from the company and
it was not until noon that typesetting
machines and presses could be oper-
ated.
The work done by the company's
officials in rehabilitating the service
and permitting the current to be
turned on by noon, with the arrange
ments that are being made to get pow
er from the street railway company
and private concerns, restored the
downtown service, but the residence
position is still dark. Work has al
ready begun clearing the ruins, to
erect new million dollar plant.