Great Fire at Ottawa.

Manawatu Herald, 1 May 1900, Page 2

Great Fire at Ottawa.

— : ~*- The fire, it is now stated, was caused accidentally. It broke out at n o'clock in the morning in a wooden house in the lumber district. A hurricane was blowing at the time, which carried the embers southwards and across the river, causing outbreaks in various neighbouring localities. The suspension bridge over the Ottawa river was soon ablaze, cutting' off the Ottawa firemen's retreat, and two engines had to be abandoned. Millions of feet of timber were by this time in flames, the heat from which repelled the approaches of the fire brigades. By one o'clock McKay's great flourmills," the electric power works and woollen factories had been burned. The fire then swept away the railway depots and three hotels, the destruction of the industrial portion of the city being complete. The militiamen, acting as a bucket brigade, at last directed their energies to saving the remaining side of Division streef? and eventually the fire's further progress was checked. By midnight the wind had abated, and the fire had been mastered. While the conflagration was in progress the sight was inexpressibly awesome. Sometimes a mass of flames two miles long and three-quarters of a mile broad, accompanied by billows of black smoke, burst upwards. The Cathedral escaped destruction. Scores of buildings fell in ruins. The loss is estimated at a million pounds in western Ottawa, among the buildings destroyed in that part of the city being two thousand private dwellings, several mansions and the entire property of $he Canadian- Pacific Railway Company. The total loss will amount to one and a half millions sterling. Fifteen thousand persons have been rendered homeless, but prompt measures tor their relief have been taken, and they are now being fed and sheltered. The firemen in the other cities of the Dominion made a splendid response to the call for assistance, and trainloads of supplies were spontaneously sent for the homeless. » There were many instances of bravery on the part of the firemen. On one occasion when a brigadesman's escape from a burning building was intercepted, Lord Minto (the GovernorGeneral of the Dominion) shouted to him to jump into the river. man I did so, and Lord Minto grasping him as he rose to the surface, effected the fireman's rescue.

Five square mlies of the city have been burned.