A Suspected Arson Fire Wiped Out a Farm's Machinery North of Prescott
The Grote brothers saved only a wagon and some header boxes after $4,000 in equipment burned on the Preston farm.
A large amount of machinery was destroyed on the Preston farm. By a fire, supposed to have been of an incendiary origin, over $4,000 worth of farm machinery, wagons and other implements were destroyed on the Preston farm, 21 miles north of Prescott, Monday night. The fire was discovered about 2 o'clock in the morning, and the Grote brothers, who are conducting the farm, were able to save only one wagon and a number of header boxes.
“The fire was discovered about 2 o'clock in the morning, and the Grote brothers, who are conducting the farm, were able to save only one wagon and a number of header boxes.”
A single fire could erase a farm's working capital in 1904, just as wildfire and equipment loss can still break a rural operation today. The story also hints at the isolation of Walla Walla County farm life: help was miles away, and the cause was never settled.
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