Menominee, MI manufacturing district fire, Jul 1895

BIG BLAZE AT MENOMINEE.

Loss Will Be Enormous - Firemen Hurt - Chief is Brave.

Menominee, Mich., July 31. - A disastrous fire broke out in the center of the manufacturing district of this city tonight, and before it was controlled had done damage which is roughly estimated at over $300,000. Four men were seriously injured. Chief Kratz of the fire department had his nose fractured, but went back to the fire. He was afterward carried out of a building in an unconscious condition.

Aid was asked for from Green Bay, but it did not come. A partial estimate of the losses and insurance is as follows:

A. Spies, loss $60,000, no insurance; Girard Lumber company, from $50,000 to $75,000, fully covered by insurance; Bay Shore Lumber Company, $100,000, fully insured; dwellings and hotel, about $12,000, partially insured; Clark Match company, $20,000, insured; Donovan & O'Connor, $12,000 to $15,000, insured. The smaller losses will aggregate probably $20,000, the most of which is protected by insurance.

The city was in great danger of being reduced to ashes, but the hard work of the fire department stayed the flames about midnight, and at this hour (1 a. m.) the fire is under control.

The Omaha World Herald, Omaha, NE 1 Aug 1895
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RUINS THIRTY ACRES

Fierce Fire in the Menominee Lumber Region.

LOSS OVER $500,000

Flames Fanned to Fury by a Cyclonic Wind.

HUMAN VICTIMS CLAIMED

One Person Killed and Several Dangerously Injured.

Aid from Other Places Summoned to Bring the Conflagration Under Control.

Menominee, Mich., July 31. - Special Telegram. - Never in the history of Menominee has there been such a fire as one that occurred this afternoon. A small blaze was first seen in a pile of laths in Spies' lumber yard. This was about 4 o'clock, and before any one could get over to the burning pile the whole lot was a solid blaze.

An employe turned in an alarm and the department responded promptly. Every foot of hose that could be obtained in the two cities was called into requisition. The water-works did itself proud and supplied any amount of water, but it did not avail much, the fire having obtained such a start. The fire tugs also rendered great service, as did the mill pumps, but the blaze was too hot for water and the great flames leaped mountain high, carrying with them large cinders, some of which fell on buildings over half a mile away.

When the fire department arrived at the scene the Spies barn was on fire, also a couple of lumber piles in close proximity to it. The wind was blowing a gale from the northeast, and a hundred more fires would kindle every minute from sparks between the fire line and the mill. Line after line of hose was stretched and the Marinette fire department responded to a call for aid, but still the flames spread, eating their way into the adjoining piles before the dividing line between the Spies & Girard Lumber Company's yards was reached.

Volunteers Do Good Work.

Fully 2,000 people were there and they did heroic work with pails and by assisting in the handling of hose in their endeavors to keep the fire from spreading to the mills. It finally got so hot that the brave fire fighters were obliged to retreat. So rapidly did the flames spread that several hydrants could not be reached to uncouple the hose and a large quantity were destroyed.

By persistent work, however, in the way of tearing down the tramways connecting the yards with the mills and keeping the ground and the mills wet down the Spies, Girard, and Bay Shore Lumber companys' plants were saved, also the docks and lumber piled thereon, though the offices and all other buildings were wiped out.

The greatest confusion prevailed when the fire, despite the many streams of water being poured upon it, spread to the Bay Shore yards and buildings. Gradually the crowd was forced to retreat, and the strong reverse current caused by the terrible fire created cyclone after cylcone, forming a cornucopia-shaped cloud extending hundreds of feet in the air.

It was when the fire got the best of the firemen in the slab piles that the worst was feared for the north end of State, Main, and Jenkins streets. There is a space of, perhaps, 100 rods between these piles and the match timber cribs. Had the fire reached them nothing would have saved the resident portion of that parat of the city, but luckily at 6 p. m. the wind began to lower, and from that time on the volunteer companies succeeded in gradually controlling the same.

Victims of the Fire.

Reports of loss of life thus far received state that one man has been killed and several dangerously injured by flying lumber. One of the latter is Chief Krartz, who has been taken to a hospital. The fire spread over an area of thirty acres, and help from all the neighboring towns and cities was summoned to fight it.

As far as known the names of the victims are:

Dead.

UNKNOWN MILL HAND.

Injured.

JAMES ANDERSON; will probably die.
CHIEF KRARTZ, of the fire department, nose broken, also severe bruises.
POSTMASTER STILES, head cut.
LAVIGNE ANDERSON, head cut and bruised.
FIREMAN M'NEALLY, head and arms badly bruised.
UNKNOWN BOY, legs broken and skull fractured; said to be dying.

As near as can be estimated the losses are:

A. Spies, $100,000; no insurance.
Girard Lumber Company, $150,000; partly insured.
Bay Shore Lumber Company, $150,000; partly insured.
Other losses over $100,000; partly insured.

The Inter Ocean, Chicago, IL 1 Aug 1895
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Transcribed by Tim Taugher. Thanks, Tim!