The Coconino sun., 1927-11-25
A. L. & 7. co. SAWMILL
DESTROYED BY FLAMES


it was becoming dark, the residents
Of Flagstaff were startled by seeing
a small column of flame arising from
the location Of the Arizona Lumber
company's mill The flames were
soon seen to spread and in a few min
utes the darkening shadows were brill
liantly illuminated by the flames
which rapidly leaped into the air
spreading light all over the surround
ing country. The continuous sound
clang of the church bell soon brought
all the people to Railroad avenue who
were not already there, and rush
was made for Milltown, to fight the
fire and help save the property But
long before the first man reached the
scene of the conflagration, the build
ing in which the fire originated, and
which contained the engines and ma
chinery, was doomed and any effort
to arrest the flames would have been
futile; therefore the efforts of all
present were directed to saving the
other buildings and the lumber yard
by cutting off the means by which
the fire would spread.
Fortunately the night was unusually
still. Not a breath of air was stir
ring and during the afternoon heavy
rain had fallen, which had completely
saturated the lumber piles and the
connections between the yard and the
burning building. The mill employees
who were on the ground aided by the
Mineral Belt railroad men and others
from the tie camps and the town,
went to work with a will under the
direction of General A. A. Mcdonnell,
and by tearing down a section of each
of the two bridge gangways, one lead
ing to the lumber yard and the other
to the waste pile, the means by which
the fire would have easily spread,
were destroyed An engine belonging
to the Mineral Belt railroad company
made its appearance soon after the
fire started and hauled away all the
cars that could be moved, to a point
of safety. Several cars loaded with
| lumber ready for shipment, which
were standing under the chutes on the
east side were entirely destroyed with
Fthcir contents; before they were
reached the wheels had expanded by
the intense heat and it was impos-
sible to remove the brakes.
The probable cost of the one build
ing, with its machinery, was about
$4,000, which with the finished lum-
| Der stored in it, will foot up the loss
| to nearly 100000. The insurance
carried on this portion of the build
| ing is understood to be less than S20,-
600. In the building was the pom
derous 120 horsepower engine, with a
twelve foot driving wheel and four
immense boilers. There was also
surfacers, moulders, flooring and
picket machines, rip and band saws,
and every kind of machinery neces-
sary for the manufacture of flooring,
siding, ceiling, rustic, molding and
pickets. The mill had capacity Of
about 10000 feet q day and gave
employment to 200 men. Eb. and
| Charley Greenlaw, who were running
the mill on a contract are considerable
! losers. D. M. Riordan, the manager
of the company, was in Chicago at the
time of the fire and T. A. Riordan,
the superintendent, had gone to one
! of their branch mills at Bellemont.
But in their absence General McDon-
ell. A. A. Dutton, Ed. and Chas.
! Greenlaw, the employees of the COM
pany and large number OF cltlzens
of Flagstaff did all that could pos
sibly be done in fighting the flames
and as shown, they did it successfully,
so far as confining the fire to the
| structure in which it started.
The building destroyed was erected
five years ago. When the Atlantic &
1 Pacific railroad had reached the town
/ of Winslow, Ed E. Aver, an extensive
4 lumber dealer in Chicago, who had
large operations in Michigan and
| Wisconsin pineries, shipped an outfit
/ from Chicago and the whole of the
machinery, including the 120 horse
power engine and the boilers were
/ hauled over to the present mill site
by oxsteams, distance Of 60 miles.
/ No pains or expense were spared TO
make the mill as perfect as possible.
/ Mr.. Aver, although he was coming
! into an almost uninhabitable region
had faith in the future resources of
the country and the accuracy of his
opinion has been proven by the gi-
gantic growth of the business he es-
tablished and the present prosperity
of the town of Flagstaff, which then
had no existence.
! The mill. has been conducted by the
Aver Lumber company up to the 10th
/ day of June last, when new corpora
/ ton was formed under the name OF
the Arizona Lumber company, which
purchased the capital stock, fran
I chises, leases and entire business of
the Aver Lumber company, for the
sum of S250,000 D. NJ Riordan is the
principal stock owner and general
manager and T. A. Riordan is super
intendent.
Preparations were commenced to
resume work before the fire was. COM
pletely out. One Of the company's
saw mills at Rogers Lake has been
brought in and is being set up short
distance from the burned mill, where
it will be worked until new mill is
built. A dispatch was received from
/ D. M. Riordan, dated Chicago, which
states that he has secured ample ad-
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