Fire Levels Snohomish Landmark
The Silver Dollar saloon and gambling hall is reduced to ashes in a midnight blaze.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Snohomish was visited by another serious fire early this morning. Fire broke out just after midnight in Peter McDonald's Silver Dollar saloon and gambling house, in the east end of town, completely gutting the building and entirely destroying its contents, except some fixtures and a little stock. An alarm was promptly turned in and the volunteer department responded gallantly, but was unable to work to advantage in fighting the fire at the rear end of the building until considerable time had been lost. Reports conflict as to the origin of the fire, but it probably started from a defective flue in the basement of the kitchen. The total loss was $13,500, covered by insurance.
“An alarm was promptly turned in and the volunteer department responded gallantly, but was unable to work to advantage.”
This fire, likely caused by a common structural hazard of the era (a defective flue), reminds us that downtown Snohomish was essentially built and rebuilt through disaster. Today, the city works hard to preserve the historic character that survived these frequent nineteenth-century infernos.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.