Chisholm, MN Fire, Sept 1908 - Fire Sufferers New Danger

Fire Sufferers In New Danger.

Cold Weather May Catch Chisholm People Unhoused- Railroads Are To Blame.

After having spent three days among the fire sufferers at Chisholm Mayor HAVEN returned last evening greatly pleased with the progress of the relief work in the ruined town.

There are 15 houses now under way and many of these will be ready for occupancy before the end of next week. The only handicap the men putting up the houses have met with so far is the unsatisfactory manner in which the materials for construction are being shipped in.

The train service is so uncertain that no one can even hazard a guess when the next car load of lumber, brick and cement will arrive on the ground. The supplies of household goods for the burned out families are arriving with some degree of dispatch, but unless the railroads hurry some the cold weather will be in full blast before the building material is delivered to the superintendent of the work at Chisholm.

One source of the expense that the committee had not figured on at all is the cost of transporting the supplies and building material to Chisholm. It had been the general understanding of the committee right along that the Great Northern railroad would carry all the supplies to the devastated district, free of charge.

D.M. PHILBIN, general superintendent of the Lake Superior division of the Great Northern, was said to have made an offer of free transportation for all relief good, as the railroad’s contribution to the relief fund. Now, however, the Great Northern demands and receives full tariff rates for all goods hauled to Chisholm.

There was some friction between the members of the local advisory committee at Chisholm and EUGENE T. LIES, of the Minneapolis Associated Charities, during the past week. The exact nature of the disagreement could not be ascertained, but Mr. LIES is now at hoe in Minneapolis and the Chisholm committee is going right ahead with the relief work.

The Duluth News Tribune, Duluth, MN 11 Oct 1908