Skykomish Business District Consumed by Flames
A nighttime fire in a barbershop destroys four local businesses, exposing the town's complete lack of firefighting infrastructure.
At 1:30 o'clock this morning a fire was discovered in William Snell's barber shop, and owing to the lack of facilities for fighting fire, it was impossible to stay the progress of the flames. The estimated losses are as follows: William Snell (barber shop) $250; Davis & McDevitt (general merchandise) $3,000; O'Leary & Campbell (restaurant and saloon) $4,000; and Linn & Babcock (restaurant and saloon) $3,000. All involved intend to rebuild.
“Owing to the lack of facilities for fighting fire, it was impossible to stay the progress of the flames.”
The fire at Skykomish serves as a reminder of how precarious wooden boomtowns were in the 1890s. Without a municipal fire department, an entire block of commerce could vanish in a few hours, a threat that defined the vulnerability of early Washington settlements.
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