The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-12-29
How Hose was Laid.

anu tnere was no way of getting In
to combat them.
How Hose was Laid.
Two lines of hose from the truck
were attached to the hydrant at Sec.
ono and johnson streets and water
was shot from the one and one.nalf
men and one and threequarters inch
| nozzles, the most powerful streams
tnat can be had. Another line was
stretched from Third and Johnson
streets, two from Fourth and Elk
! change streets and one from Fourth
ana Sank streets. One of the lines
was used In throwing water on the
houses on the southern side of Ex-
change street from Third to Fourth
streets, for sparks were being carried
merrily by the high wind all over that
territory and there was great danger
OF the whole block catching fire. AS
1t was, there were number Of roof
fires, but all were put out before they
spread. Sparks even went as far as
the American Cement Machine plant
at Fourth and Bank and started a
fire on the roof of ,Aat building.
Some of the houses threatened
were those of E. T.. King, 3O2 Ex-
change street; Charles Haubert, 3O4
Exchange street; Mrs. NJ A. Essig,
3O6 Exchange street; Mrs. Catherine
Costello, 312 Exchange street: R. A.
Blake, 314 Exchange, and John Bald
win, PIG Exchange. daHng iEHI iuH fu,.
The building of the Independent
Baking company directly across the
alley from the doomed structure was
fairly sizzling with the heat. and the
Royal hotel, next door, was threatened
from sparks and flames. The Hotel
Keokuk, almost directly across the
street, luckily escaped. The wind car
ried the sparks away from this large
structure and the flremen did not
have the danger of fire in this quar-
ter to contend with. If the fire had
gotten a start in any of the big build
ings surrounding the Gate City Seed
company structure, with the wind that
was blowing, there might have been
serious consequences.
Large Crowd Gathers.
A crowd of several thousand gath
cred last night and the flames could
be seen all over the city. The eleva-
tor was seventy-five feet high and
when in full flame, was -eacon of
light that filled the whole sky with a
red glow. 4ess 80
The flames soon consumed the ele-
vator and spread to the front Office
and display room on Third street and
to the warehouse to the rear.
About II o'clock two heavy explo-
sions were heard in the rear Of the
building. These are thought to have
been caused by the explosion of fire
extinguishers. BY II o'clock the fire
was under control. but all that re-
NAMED was the blackened skeleton Of
the front office. Much valuable ma
chinery was destroyed, along with
many bushels Of corn, wheat, seeds
and other commodities. Mr.. DAVID
son was unable to say today just how
many bushels of material were in the
building at the time of the fire.
Everything was total wreck this
morning. The safe, in which was all
the valuable papers of the concern,
was found intact, although damaged.
In the elevator was the corn, wheat,
calf meal and other cereals. The
warehouse contained clover seed, al
falfa seed, grit, shorts, and large
quantity of seed cases. In the brick
structure was the office equipment,
seed cases, safe and scales. There
were two automatic scales in 1.-THE
building, one in the front Office and
one in the cupola of the elevator.
There was large quantity of heavy
machinery in the cupola. also. Three
motors, two in the cupola and one be-
low, were destroyed.
Built Two Years Ago.
The elevator was built two years