From the Kanabec County Times, July 20, 1885:
Wednesday afternoon last between four and six o'clock, the large depot and railroad eating house at Hinckley was burned to the ground. Fire was first discovered bursting through the roof of the dining room, where the building was two story, the upper rooms being used for sleeping chambers, and although the citizens did heroic work, it was impossible to save the building. The depot and freight house was the largest on the line of the road and was used by jointly by both the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad Co. and the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Co., while the eating house has for years been run by Col. B.C. Bartlett. Since passenger trains have ceased to stop for dinner the business has been light at the eating house and Col. Bartlett had made up his mind to remove to Duluth, and had already rented and partly furnished a hotel there. His loss by the fire will reach fully one thousand dollars, with no insurance. His goods in the lower part of the building were mostly saved, and nearly all freight and railroad furniture in the building was removed. A fire was never better handled. Great credit is due to S.C. Norton for the coolness he displayed in conducting the removal of the depot furniture.
Bartlett lost a great many things that money can not replace – relics, pictures, keepsakes, books, etc., and among other things, was a collection of revolutionary relics. The telegraph and express office have been removed to the school house.
No comments:
Post a Comment