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Fire in West Fernie - The Free Press Turns 115 years Old

Fire in West Fernie - The Free Press Turns 115 years Old

October 8 1920

Free Press Files

About 2 p.m. on Wednesday morning the nocturnal silence was broken by short sharp blasts of mill whistle of the Elk Valley Lumber Co. in West Fernie, denoting a fire in that vicinity. These were immediately followed by the bell in the tower at the fire hall and a glance at the western sky showed it illuminated by a ruby hue. The location of the blaze and its intensity caused those aroused by the alarm to form the conclusion that it was the large sawmill plant that was afire and consequently many citizens were attracted to the locality. The fire, however was confined to the grocery store premises of Glover & Meiklejohn, two of Fernie’s youngest business men, as it was only on Aug. 1 last that they opened a place of business on their own responsibility. The cause of the fire is attributed to an overheated stove and a defective pipe where it fitted into the chimney. The entire building was gutted beyond repair and the complete stock and contents a total loss.

The loss to Glover & Meiklejohn is estimated at about $3,500, partially covered by insurance.

For more great stories that ran in The Free Press in the past 115 years http://issuu.com/thefreepress/docs/115_the_free_press/1