The Price of a Teaming Business
A pre-dawn blaze in Centralia destroys a feed barn and stables, claiming the lives of the teamsters' horses and revealing the high stakes of early Seattle-area transport labor.
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.
Centralia, Sept. 7.—A fury of fire disturbed the sleepy residents of Centralia this morning at 1:30 o'clock. It started in the rear end of a feed barn, likely from a lantern. The fire moved rapidly, and the firemen, with their hands tied, had to stand by while the flames consumed the feed building and the hotel immediately adjoining it, together with its restaurant and grocery store, along with three smaller buildings containing a tin shop and warehouse. For a time it looked as if the entire business section of the town would be swept away, but the activity of the fire brigade, aided by a heavy rainfall, eventually averted the greatest calamity. The loss is estimated at $10,000, and the origin of the fire is unknown.
“For a time it looked as if the entire business section of the town would be swept away.”
This 1889 fire highlights the vulnerability of early Washington's wood-frame downtowns, where a single lantern could wipe out an entire block. Today’s Centralia, while modernized, still faces the constant challenge of maintaining historic infrastructure against the ever-present threat of fire in high-density districts.
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