A Stovepipe, an Open Safe, and $1,000 Gone
Fire takes the home and office of W. D. Starbird's sawmill south of Springdale — with the safe standing open and the ledgers inside it.
The office and residence of W. D. Starbird, of the Starbird sawmill, three miles south of Springdale, with practically all the contents, were destroyed by fire Sunday afternoon. The safe in the office of Mr. Starbird, in which was kept all his books and private papers, was open. From the residence three trunks were saved. The fire originated from a stovepipe in the residence, and the loss is upward of $1000. Mr. Starbird was formerly manager of the Spirit Valley Lumber Co. in this city.
“The safe in the office of Mr. Starbird, in which was kept all his books and private papers, was open.”
In a timber economy, a millowner's house and office were the same building — so one stovepipe could wipe out the business records along with the family's belongings. Stevens County's small mills still live and die by the same thin margins and the same dependence on one man's paperwork surviving the night.
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