Half-Million Dollar Blaze Destroys Cincinnati Freight Depot
Seattle fire department rushed to the corner of Sixth and Main streets to battle a fire that decimated a major grain and freight warehouse.
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.
A boat dock in Seattle saw the entire fire department alerted to the corner of Sixth and Main streets, where a fire had gained great headway in the freight depot of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad. The building extends from the dock to Sixth street, a distance of over 300 feet. The lower floor is occupied as a freight depot by the railroad company, and the upper floors are used by the Milling and Warehouse Co., of which J. K. Macrae & Co. are proprietors. A great quantity of grain stored in the building and the building itself was totally destroyed. The freight on hand was also severely damaged. A rough estimate places the loss at over half a million, but this may be modified.
“A rough estimate places the loss at over half a million, but this may be modified.”
The waterfront of 1885 was the city's economic heart, and fires in timber-frame warehouses were a constant threat that shaped Seattle's building codes. Today, the area near Main and Western is part of the Pioneer Square/Waterfront transition zone, defined by transit tunnels rather than flour mills.
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