The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1920-01-15

State authorities of the state of Wis
consin may be asked to make AN inves-
LEGATION Of fire which early yesterday
morning destroyed the great plant of
the Jefferson Ice company of Chicago
ON Powers Lake in this county entail
ing loss variously estimated at from
100000 to 100000. The great builing,
one of the largest ice houses ever erect
ed on any Of the lakes in Kenosha
county, was burned to the ground and
the people in the neighborhood were
powerless to fight the flames. The early
morning fire spread with such rapidity
that it was impossible to offer resistance
to it and today searchers were digging
into the debris of the ruins fearing that
some one may have been burned to
death in the fire. The officials of the
company were expected to come from
Chicago to Powers Lake today TO take
some further steps to demand proper
investigation of the cause of the fire.
Recalls Activities of I. w. w.
The burning Of the big ice house re-
called to the people in the neighborhood
activities of the /. w. w. in the Ke-
nosha ice cutting districts several years
ago and it is thought possible that the
big plant of the Jefferson company
went down as a result Of incendiar-
ism. There has been no trouble with
the ice cutters on the lakes this year
and so far as is known there has been
~ disco ;efo o+io,, oynapr +bo man on,
ployed. The force on the lakes is very
small as it has been announced that the
harvest is to be limited one
This big house of the Jefferson com
pany, having a capacity for storing
more than sixty thousand tons of ice,
had not been opened for the yer and it
had not been opened for the year and it
would not be filed. So far as the people
in the neighborhood know no one had
been in the neighborhood of the big
house at the time of the fire. There had
been no fire in the house this season.
One of the Old Houses.
Chairman Thomas Fleming of the
town of Salem, declared today that the
house was one of the largest as well as
one of the Oldest in Kenosha county.
sit was one of the pioneer ice houses
of the county and it must have been
worth at least sixty thousand dollars in
its present condition and it would have
cost twice that amount to replace it at
present prices, said Mr.. Fleming this
morning. - The cause Of the fire APP
pears to be complete mystery. The
house had not been opened and so far
as the officials of the company knew
there had been no one in the neighbor-
hood of the house in the past few days.
OF course it might have been used as a
sleeping place for tramps who came into
the neighborhood to help with the ice
harvest, but If it was, this fact was
not known to the men in charge of it. =
Big E4s$ase Was insured.
1t is said that the Jefferson company
carried insurance on the big ice house,
but no one seemed to be able to say
whether or not the amount of the in.
surance would cover the loss. The JEFF.
fcrson company has several otheH
houses in the county and these were
being closely watched today.
Reports from several districts of the
country have told of the burning of
big ice houses and in fearly every case
the origin Of the fires have been de-
clared a "mystery." 1t is improbable
that the big house will be rebuilt as
the Chicago companies are now finding
it easier to manufacture ice than cut
it from the lakes.