In One Hour, Montesano Lost Its Mill and Its Lights
A Saturday-evening spark from a smokestack leveled the Stetson mill — and with it the city's electric light plant, which carried not a cent of insurance.
The story, cleaned up
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The Stetson mill at Montesano burned Saturday evening and was a total loss. It was discovered at 6 p.m. and in less than an hour was entirely consumed. The fire is supposed to have originated from a spark from the smokestack.
The mill was situated too far from the city's water supply to be reached, and had it not been that plenty of buckets were at hand, and the opportune arrival of the steamer Josie Burrows, the loss would have been greater. The Josie Burrows laid a line of hose which materially aided in checking the fire.
The city's electric light plant was in the building and was destroyed. The loss was $40,000 on the mill and $15,000 on the electric plant. Insurance on the mill, $35,000; none on the city's electric light plant.
“The city's electric light plant was in the building and was destroyed... Insurance on the mill, $35,000; none on the city's electric light plant.”
In 1893 a timber town's biggest employer and its brand-new municipal lighting plant shared a single roof — and only the private half was insured. The blaze is a reminder of how thin the margin was for young Grays Harbor towns, where one spark could take out both a payroll and the lights. Communities here still live with the consequences of tying civic essentials to a single industry.
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