A Forest Fire Nearly Erases a Mountain Resort
Flames at Hot Springs destroy cottages and outbuildings near Tacoma, sparing only the hotel, a store and the station.
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.
Tacoma, Aug. 23.—[Special.] A forest fire which has been raging at Hot Springs, thirty miles east of here, for the last week, today burned up several summer resort cottages and other small buildings, including tool houses and three other structures. The station was saved by two mountain engines with hose attachments. The Hot Springs summer resort hotel was saved by its good water supply, as was also the Dean Lumber and Mercantile Company's store. The fire destroyed everything but those three buildings, and was under control at 6 o'clock. Many campers nearby were scared or burned out and have returned to Tacoma. The Northern Pacific railroad is the principal loser, and its loss will amount to about $1,500. The total loss will probably reach $7,000.
“The fire destroyed everything but those three buildings.”
Summer wildfires still threaten communities at the forest edge in Washington, and the calculus of what can be saved—a hotel, a store, a rail station—remains grimly familiar. Hot Springs was a resort dependent on the Northern Pacific; today's fire seasons test the same mountain towns and the same railroad and utility corridors.
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