FIRE HITS CITY IN 1901
By Roger Forsythe
Daily Journal Staff Writer

Like the coming of the Iron Horse, much of Bismarck's early history has been lost in the timeless smoke of a steam-powered engine...in more ways than one, and more literally than one may perhaps imagine.

Ironically, the railroad that brought prosperity to Bismarck 125 years ago almost led to its destruction on the morning of March 19, 1901. For this reason, although the city was officially incorporated on June 9, 1877, no city records prior to April 16, 1904, have survived.

Witnesses at the time of Bismarck's darkest day reported having seen smoldering embers of coal being blown out of the smokestack of a passing train along the main track.

These hot orange sparks touched off the blaze which destroyed three-fourths of the entire business district, left a third of the city (or 200 people) homeless, and caused over $100,000 in damage.

According to historical records, however, a simple half-gallon of water tossed onto the smoking, wood-shingled roof of Jacob Goeltz's barber shop could have saved the town from its worst catastrophe.

After grabbing a pitcher of water and extinguishing the fire on one part of the roof, Goeltz needed a second half-gallon to put out another patch of burning shingles.

In the time it took Bismarck citizens to start the municipal pump and gather more water, the flames had raced out of control -- fanned by gusting winds.

"Ed Walters and Fireman Lou Bloom brought out an engine from the roundhouse at 9 a.m. that morning," Walter Black, a conductor of the North Local, said in his official account of the Bismarck fire.

"This engine had a wood fire which had not burned out. They coupled onto a string of cars and pulled out on the main track at the end of the depot, when Walters opened up the pressure on the wood fire, forcing the coals up the smokestack.

"There was a strong wind from the south toward the street, and (the coals) caught in the dry shingles on the roofs of the barber shop and the Commercial Hotel. They burst into flame (as) I was standing on the platform. My crew rushed to save what they could of the stock in the buildings.

"At 2 p.m., the fire had burned out and we left with our train for St. Louis. The St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway officials ran a pay car to Bismarck and paid the ones who had losses $54,000 in cash."

Published by THE DAILY JOURNAL, Flat River, St. Francois Co. MO, Tues. June 29, 1993 in a supplement "Bismarck 125th Anniversary 1868-1993."

BACK
HOME PAGE