The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1923-07-19

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4 fires in the history of the
Occur d'Alene district. and
possibly the most disastrous
occurred last Friday afternoon and lett
in it's wake the ruins of so on 80 homes.
the entire surface plant of the Hecla
Mining company and the whole bust
ness section of Burke. The fire start
ed in the extreme lower end of town.
or in what is really the upper end of
Mace, and quickly spread to the row
of residences along the foot of the
mountain on the north side OF tie
canyon. At this point a residence was
blown up with dynamite when saved
five or six residences in the path OF
the flames. But the force Of tile blast
possibly carried a brand across pro-
iecting ridge as the Catholic church on
the opposite side was quickly in
flames, which with surprising rapid
ity spread to nearby buildings. 1t was
evident then that the entire town and
the buildings of the Hecla were in i'm
minent danger Famed by a brisk
wind up the canyon, the fire jumped
across the railroad tracks and creek
and enveloped buildings on the south
side of the canyon. Soon the flames
were consuming the high crbbing that
marks the lower end of the Hecla 7
yard upon which were piled probably 7
1901 600 feet of stull timbers. These .
were soon a seething mass of flames .
and the strong wind carried them di-
rectly to the great Hecla buildings.
The roof of the high ore sorting build
ing was soon burning. then the ma
chine shop from which the tall hoist
building was endangered. The big con-
crete building above the sorting plant
looked for a time like it would prove
an effective barrier, but it failed in the
presence of the high wind. The ma
chine shop was dynamited, but with
out apparent check to the fire Dur
ing all this time employees of the Hecla
company, directed by executives were
making every effort to check the
flames with numerous streams of wa
ter under tremendous pressure, but
without success. Finally the fire en-
CINE was placed out of commission by
the fire and the fight was lost. The
great hoist building was reduced, the
company office, residence of the sup
erintendent, chief engineer and others
of the Hecla staff leaving nothing of
the Hecla plant except concrete walls
and the ruins of costly machinery.
Business Section Wiped Out
While the Hecla was being consum- +
ed. the town below was subjected to +
the same fate. Steadily the flames q
swept up the canyon, gathering in the d
Northern Pacific depot, the O.-W. r. y
& N. depot and then the solid rows of 6
business houses on each side of the .
narrow street Nothing could be done n
to stop the destruction until the last "
business house was in ashes. Above fl
the business section there is quite an O
extended open space, practically the a
only structures being the high trestle
dump for the Wide West and a similar
one for the sherman Just above
these is the lower end of the Hercules a
cribbing upon which is the Hercules G
surface pIanss sTind a little further up b
is the Tiger boarding house. 1t was G.
here that the final and successful n
stand was made. From the cribbing u
the Hercules employees kept a battery n
of hose under high pressure playing on 1
the fire and other hose were turned on a
the Tiger hotel This effective work o.
along with the open ground above the c
business section and a fortunate el
change of the wind down the canyon Of
proved successful and the Hercules, 81
Tiger hotel and other property of I
great value in upper Burke were saw II
ed. d
Men Called Out of the Mine. ~
Az soon as the fire had assumed !.
that endangered the Heela o.
warning was sent to the men under .,
ground and orders issued to hoist them -,
to the surface. This was accomplish ~
ed down to the 1900 level When the =,
cage was dropped to the 2000 level =,
the fire had reached the electric pow .
ar lines and cut off the juice, leaving
the employees on that level to make the
wearisome climb to the surface Some
came up the manway in the main
shaft, while others, not knowing the e.
condition on top, came out through =,
the raise which opens on the surface a.
high up on the mountain, making a II
climb on ladders for upwards of $500 =,
feet. All came out safely though with -
IN experience to. their credit through =,
which they hope never to pass through :,
again.
James f. Mccarthy. president and
manager of the Hecla, was on the r.
ground soon after the news reached W
aim in Wallace regarding the fire. m
Under the direction of the executive m
staff. employees of the mine were or er
yanized into fire fighting groups and tn