A Mining Camp On Fire.

The Entire Business Portion Of The Town Destroyed-The Losses.

Spokane Falls, Washington, July 28.-News reached here this evening that the town of Wallace, Idaho, the great mining camp of the Coeur d’Alene mining district, had been completely destroyed by fire. At 7 p.m. the Union Pacific train dispatcher at Tokoa, Washington, received word from the Western Union operator at Wallace that the town was doomed and the fire getting near his office in the Union Pacific Station, and that he would have to move his instruments out at once.

The fire, it is said, started in the upper end of the town, and as the Union Pacific Station is at the opposite end of the town, it is thought the entire business portion of the town has been destroyed. It is thought by businessmen of Spokane Falls who are interested at Wallace that the loss will be $500,000.

The following leading business houses have been burned: Holly, Mason, Marks & Co., the Post Office building, the Heller House, White & Bender, general store; McElroy & Vedder, McNab & Rivers, the Telephone Exchange of Wallace, Joseph Carlson, J. C. McCurdy, the Carter House, Club Theatre, a score of saloons, restaurants, offices, & c.

A private dispatch says 1,500 people are homeless. The town of Wallace is situated 100 miles southeast of Spokane Falls, and is probably the most flourishing town in the Northwest.

The New York Times, New York, NY 29 Jul 1890