Elma’s Mill Burned at Dinner Hour—and Nothing Was Insured
A noon-hour fire destroyed the John L. Hill saw and shingle mill in Elma, consuming 800,000 shingles and 50,000 feet of finished lumber while the crew ate dinner.
Elma, May 16.—Special.—The John L. Hill mill was burned yesterday at noon while the hands were at dinner. While it was a complete saw and shingle mill, only the shingle department was in operation, being leased by the J. A. Ray Manufacturing Company. About 800,000 shingles and 50,000 feet of finished lumber went with it. Loss estimated at $6,000; no insurance.
“About 800,000 shingles and 50,000 feet of finished lumber went with it. Loss estimated at $6,000; no insurance.”
Small-town mills were the economic engine of late-19th-century Washington, and a single uninsured fire could wipe out a season’s work and the jobs that depended on it. The pattern still echoes in rural Washington, where a plant closure or fire can hollow out a local economy.
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