Almont North Dakota
1906 Centennial 2006
Fire of 1910
by Ann Marie Stegmeier
June 3, 1910
was a day long remembered in Almont. There had been a good crop the
year before. Farmers had been hauling in about 2500 to 3000 bushels
of grain daily. Both elevators were filled. The men were trying to get
railroad cars from the railroad, but hadn’t received any so far.
The Occident elevator had complete insurance, but the C. H. Chase elevator
had only enough to cover part of the wheat on hand.
Mr. Hyde, who was working for the C. H. Chase
Co., said, “I am going over to call for insurance, but first I will
go over to the depot and see if we can get any cars.”
So he went over to the depot before supper.
When he walked in the door the depot agent said, “Mr. Hyde, you may
have those five cars for the grain.”
Mr. Hyde replied, “that is just what
I came over to see you about.”
So he went back to the elevators and told
the men that he had received the five cars. Then they all went out and unloaded
the lumber from the cars.
Mr. Hyde went home for supper. He told Mrs.
Hyde that he would have to go back and fill as many cars as possible. So
that night he got two cars filled by 9:00 P.M. Just as he was leaving the
elevator the train was coming around the bend. It emptied its fire box and
kept on going. the hot ashes ran under the driveway of the elevator. The
wind was quite strong and blew some of the ashes around the elevators.
When Mr. Hyde returned home, Mrs. Hyde said, “How
many cars did you get filled?”
He replied, “I got two cars filled,
now I am going to bed so I can get up early in the morning and fill as many
cars as possible before they start hauling in more grain.”
After he had gone to bed, Mrs. Etling, who
had been ironing clothes, stepped outside the door. She called, “Mrs.
Hyde, look over by the elevator. There is a light there. It looks just like
fire.”
Mrs. Hyde said, “I will call Mr. Hyde
right away.” So she called Mr. Hyde.
By the time he got dressed they could see
that it was fire. By the time the people got over there the elevators were
blazing. All the people came running and were very excited.
Finally somebody said, “Why don’t
we take the children up to the school house and have some body stay with
them, because this fire looks as though it could take the whole town.”
Another person remarked, “I think that
would be a good idea, because the school house would be a safer place than
the homes, also there aren’t any buildings around the school to start
fire.”
So they took all the children and the things
they could carry with them up to the school house and two elderly ladies
stayed with them.
The first thing the men did was to move the
cars with wheat in them. They used pinch bars to move them. The first was
coming closer all the time so they had to work fast. The cars were heavy
and it took a lot of men to move them.
The men yelled, “Come and help us move
these cars, so that we can save them.”
So all the men tried to move the cars. More
people were getting excited because the fire was blazing some thing terrible.
It was beginning to look more dangerous and it seemed as though they couldn’t
get it under control. The wind was blowing and shingles and sparks were
flying around. Men and women were pumping and carrying water.
Some of the younger men started to tear up
the wooden side walks so that they wouldn’t start on fire. Other men
were stationed on top of the houses pouring water on the pieces of sparks
and shingles that flew around. Mr. Hyde tried to get some of the stuff out
of the elevators and other places.
There was a gasoline tank which they had just
gotten filled that day which they were afraid would explode, but only the
curbing burned and the top melted. They tried to keep the people away in
case it would explode, so that it wouldn’t kill anybody.
Mr. Berglund who owned the Heart River Co.,
said “I am going to stand close to the fire and throw water on the
building and the rest of you can throw water on me so that I don’t
burn.”
So the other men stood throwing water on him
so that he wouldn’t burn. Because the elevators were so high, the
sparks flew a long ways. There was a livery just a little ways from the
elevators and it started to burn, but the men pumped water from the pump
beside it and poured it on the building. The well went dry but they got
the fire out any way.
The shingles flew all over. Some flew over
by Hyde’s house and started the sidewalk in front of their house on
fire, but the men that were stationed on top of the house threw water down
on it and put out the fire.
The shingles flew way out on the other side
of town and started a prairie fire. Every body was kept busy that night
trying to put out the sparks and shingles that flew round so that they wouldn't
start any more on fire.
The fire Dept., Co., from Glen Ullin came
down, but it was too late. All the destruction had been done. They said, “We
could see the red in the sky away up in glen Ullin.”
Mr. Hyde never went home until the fire was
under pretty good control. Then he went home to see how the other people
were getting along and then he saw that some of the men were putting out
the fire which started on his front walk. Every body was still so excited
that they didn’t know what to do.
The men were tired from carrying water and pumping water, Most of the
wells were dry.
Few of the children had slept. Those who had,
hadn’t rested very well. Every body was so exhausted from the big
excitement that they said, “We don’t know how long it will take
to get back to our normal living again.”
After the people saw that no more damage could
be done most of them went home.
Mrs. Hyde and Mrs. Etling took the children
home and put them to bed. Every body else seemed too excited to sleep.
Mr. Hyde walked into the bedroom and happened
to notice that there were holes in the dresser scarf. She said to Mrs. Etling, “Look,
there are holes in the scarf, I wonder where the holes came from?”
Mrs. Etling turned around and noticed the
window was opened. She said, “I bet some sparks or pieces of fire
flew into this window and burned the holes in the scarf.”
Mrs. Hyde remarked, “It is funny that
it didn’t start any more fire.”
After Mr. Hyde came home they told him and
he said probably it did come through the window.
The next day the people from all over came
to see the ruins. People remarked, “It was a wonder nothing more burned
that what did.
The two elevators, the lumber yard, and Mr.
Adams’ barn were the three things that had burned.
Some of the people thought the railroad company
would pay for some of the damage, but they said, “We are not responsible
for any thing on the sided of our tracks.”
So people didn’t get any help from the
railroad company. Right away after the fire the people started cleaning
up the ruins which was left. Every body helped so they could get a new elevator
built for the rest of the grain which hadn’t been hauled in yet.
The burned grain was sold to the farmers for
hog feed. They got $10.00 for a double wagon box full, all they could ge
on it.
They started building immediately after everything was cleaned up. The
main office for the elevators was built first.
Since this fire had been such a destructive
thing and the town could have all been burned down, they decided they had
better get some fire fighting equipment around. So they started to discuss
means of getting the fire fighting equipment.
That was the first big fire they had ever
had in Almont, but it wasn’t the last big fire, as many people know.