ALASKA TOWN IS DESTROYED

ONE WOMAN IS BURNED TO DEATH AT FAIRBANKS.

Meager Report Leaves It to Be Inferred That Main Business Houses Are in Ashes.

Alameda, Cal. – The Northern Commercial company Wednesday received the following from its agents at Fairbanks: The entire town from Turner to Lacey street and back to Third, except, the Fairbanks Banking company’s building and warehouse, has been destroyed. One woman, LOTTA TALBOT, was burned to death.
Fairbanks is situated on the Chena river, a tributary of the Tanana, and, although but three years old, is now the largest and most important city on the Pacific coast north of Vancouver, B. C., having a population of about 7,000.

The gold output in 1905 was $7,000,000, and during the present year it will reach $12,000,000 to $15,000,000.

The burned district covers three and a half square blocks. The First National bank, the Washington Banking company, and the court house, located in the burned district, probably were destroyed, as were many of the retail stores and saloons and possibly one or two hotels. The most important of the financial institutions in the city, the Fairbanks Banking company, is intact.

An unofficial estimate places the loss at about $1,000,000.

There is no damage of famine, as the warehouses of the Northern Commercial company, containing nearly half a million dollars’ worth of foodstuffs, are uninjured and there is positive information that four steamers are en route with additional supplies.

The Grand Rapids Tribune, Grand Rapids, WI 30 May 1906