The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1911-01-07
LOSS REACHES
i HALF M|||0N
Heavy Damage Attends Min
neapOlis Fire.
ALL EMPLOYEES ESCAPE

Despite Partial Destruction Of General
Electric Plant by Explosion Eleven
Men Grope Their Way to Safety
While Debris Falls Upon Them, In
jurino Two-Portion of City Tempo
rariIy Without Light and Power.
Minneapolis, Jan. This city was
plunged into darkness and it's COM
mercial life almost paralyzed by an
explosion of the $4,000 wire" leading
into the power plant of the Minneap-
oils General Electric company Eleven
men employed in the building made
their way to safety by cropping their
way through the valley of the mill
race after the explosion. The plant
was wrecked and tangled mass OF
wire, machinery and lumber was
thrown in every direction by the force
Of the explosion. Fire followed and
completed the demolition of the build
ing.
Three men were injured and the
damage to the property Is estimated
at 100000. Three separate explo-
sions, accompanied by ear splitting
cracks and vivid display of the blue
electric flame, occurred. The cables
conducting $4,000 volts of electric
energy broke and sent their power in.
to the vortex, adding to the terrific
force which caused the destruction.
There is nothing left Of the power
plant beyong the charred wreckage
level with the water In the river.
A short circuit in a cable, either
caused by displacement of some metal
conductor, a weak spot in the insula-
ton. or the sudden burning out Of a
fuse is thought to have caused the ex.
plosion.
Electricity Ignites Coal Gas.
Blistering, binding arcs of electric
ity, powerful enough to bore through
inches of solid steel, rent the air, ig-
hitting coal gas In the boiler room and
communicating with twenty dynamos
on the top floor. Cables snapped and
writhed, wheels ground and whizzed,
the lights were all extinguished and,
for the minute, the building stood out.
uned by a CHASTITY blue light, with
darkness as background. That was
followed by an upheaval beginning In
the basement. A twenty-foot strip OF
roof at the front end of the building
rose upward, followed by tangled
masses Of wire and machinery.
Eleven men who had just started to
work on the three different floors
made their escape in the darkness
through the valley paralleling the mill
race. That none of them met death
in the attempt to escape is considered
. miracle. The possibility of escape
10 ascribed to the sudden rush of air
which drove everything outward.
The burning of the plant put five
svb-stations out of commission and
affected the West Side OF the city.
Lights In that section were all out
and factories power shut OF. Depart
nent stores and hotels used candles
for lighting and many elevators were
stationary.
Newspaper Extra on Hand Prsss.
Among the most seriously hit by
the shutting OF of power we're the
newspapers, who are practically de-
pendent on electric power to run their
plants. Eager cries for news shortly
after the fire could not be answered
until the Journal showed into use a
hand press Of pioneer days. On this
. one-page extra was issued. At 1920.
however. the two larger papers Of the
city received power from q neighbor.
Ing plant
The shutoff of the lights was not
the only serious result of the power
house fire. Factories, manufacturing
concerns, printing houses, hundreds
Of business consumers Of electricity
suspended temporarily. Operations on
the grain exchange were hampered by
the inactivity Of the tickers and tele-
graph service was affected.
The East Side station is valued on
the books Of the Minneapolis General
Electric company at $720.000 and is
insured for $4,000. The boiler
house. big smokestack and one stand
OF transformers are believed To be IN
condition for repair or reconstruction,
but the plant proper is practically a
total loss.