Fire Threatens Major Snohomish Mill
Workers and citizens labor through the afternoon to save a prominent local lumber mill after its dry kiln catches fire.
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.
The Standard mill dry kiln in Snohomish, one of the largest in the county, was discovered to be on fire this afternoon. The fire department was promptly on hand and soon had three streams of water pouring into the kiln. Fifty men worked all afternoon trying to subdue the smouldering flames. The kiln is a very large one, and the mill is one of the finest in the state. At 7 o'clock the fire was in hand, so that there was no danger of the mill burning. On account of the railroad tie-up, a large amount of shingles and lumber was piled about the yards, but had been largely removed by the citizens. No estimate of the loss could be obtained.
“Fifty men worked all afternoon trying to subdue the smouldering flames.”
In 1894, lumber mills were the lifeblood of Snohomish County's economy; a fire here wasn't just a property loss, it was a civic crisis. Today, the Snohomish riverfront has shifted from industrial milling to recreation and tourism, but the collective memory of these 'mill town' foundations remains central to the region's identity.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.