THE WAUPACA REPUBLICAN POST

May 20, 1915

 

FIRE AT CRUSHER PLANT

 

Main Building and Machinery Destroyed by Flames on Friday Night

- Loss of $10,000

 

            About 8:45 Friday night two engines on the Soo Line and Green Bay tracks sounded the alarm of fire that was fast making its way in the top of the mill in which the crusher machinery of Wisconsin Granite Company was housed.  The building had several openings on the north and the wind coming from that direction fanned the incipient blaze into a fire fiend within a few short moments.  As many of the posts had shafts fastened to them and as a consequence were saturated with oil, the fire burned with an intensity which made the efforts of the firemen next to useless.  The length of hose that had to be laid from the nearest hydrant also operated to reduce the force of the stream that could be thrown upon the fire and spectators could soon see that the building was doomed and before midnight it had been burned to the ground.

            As the fires in the boilers had been banked at closing time and as no watchman was employed for the night, the exact origin of the fire can never be known.

            Mr. Dillon, manager of the plant, believes that a spark had lodged between the timbers in the superstructure and may have smouldered for hours and then have been fanned into flame by the night wind.  While it was evident from the start that the upper portion of the building was doomed, Mr. Dillon believes that the engine room and the bins should have been saved if the water pressure had been what it should be to afford the protection that should be given to a plant that carried so great a hazard as this one.  The insurance was small and the loss will be between $9,000 and $10,000 besides the loss incident to being closed down during the best of the season.  It is a noteworthy fact that Friday, the day of the fire, was the biggest day for output of the plant in all the years that it has been operating in this city.  The company has sufficient orders booked from Neenah and Stevens Point and intervening points to keep the plant busy all this season.

            Mr. Sloan of Chicago, manager of the company, was in the city the first of the week but could not say whether the plant would be rebuilt.  This point will probably be decided by the stockholders at a meeting in Chicago during the present week.

Biggest Industry in City.

            The Wisconsin Granite Co. employed about thirty-five men at good wages, and had a pay roll of over $2,000 per month.  The company has been the largest employer of labor in the city and it is hoped the company will rebuilt and continue to operate in this city.