The Great Ellensburg Fire
While Yakima celebrated the Fourth of July, a neighbor city fell to a devastating, likely incendiary 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.
While a large number of the good people of Yakima were merry-making at the opera house and 'The Yakima' on the night of July 4th, a light was observed over the Umptanum hills in the direction of Ellensburg. Word was soon received by telegraph that the business portion of the city was in flames. Mayor Reed wired Mayor Abrams offering Yakima’s sympathy and assistance. The fire broke out about eleven o'clock p.m. in the grocery store of J. S. Anthony. It is generally believed that it had an incendiary origin. With a strong west wind, the flames leaped from building to building despite the inadequate water supply. Within three hours, ten blocks were swept out of existence. About 250 people were rendered homeless, and the total loss is estimated at two million dollars. Yakima was the first to respond to the call of the sufferers, raising nearly $1,200 and sending a carload of provisions and blankets.
“The water supply was totally inadequate and so great was the heat that the little water that was to be had scarcely neared the flames before it went up in steam.”
In the late 19th century, Washington towns were often built quickly of wood, making them tinderboxes for catastrophic fires. Today, the legacy of these disasters remains in modern fire codes and regional mutual aid agreements that still bind Yakima and Ellensburg together.
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