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Show stums why mm to shut down l m Mil OF COii; 600 UN THROWN I OUT Of WOl; iN IS A MYSTERY Crushing Plant, Hoisting Works and i Trestles to Two Nines Destroyed; Insurance In-surance 60 Per Cent; Manager Williams Wil-liams Goes to Investigate. . ; The destruction of a portion of the Utah Fuel company's coke $lan at Sunnyside last night, with a loss of between $200,000 and t 5,000, makes the situation rather serious for the Salt Lake smel-k smel-k iThe supply of coke for the smelters comes from Sunnyside, and probable closing down of the works there for ninety days leaves smelters without an immediate source of obtaining fuel. Few of 1he smelters have more than a ten days' supply of coke. The smelter j ni&nagerg are casting about to find coke to keep their furnaces going, , , viiCnittle hope of success. The fire throws out of employment 600 I; . tnefa at Sunnyside, while indirectly it may affect several thousand. VThe situation does not improve as the day wears out," said a prominent mining man this afternoon. "As' I view it, the smelters ' iiiay have to close down for an indefinite period. This will naturally 4 , .affect all the mining, interests. It may be possible that the mine-7 mine-7 owners will have to be asked to suspend their shipments to the smelters smel-ters or a time until the coke situation can be solved." Fire broke out in the crushing plant , of the Utah Fuel company at Sunny-J Sunny-J side. Carbon county, at. 10 o'clock last ' night, and before it was under control at noon today, it had destroyed the crushing plant, the tipples, trestles to mines Nos. 1 and 2,. and the hoisting plants to these mines. . The-loss' will aggregate- between $200.-0QQ $200.-0QQ and I300.0QO. -The Insurance carried aggregates 60 per -cent of the aggre-'' aggre-'' gate value of the plant. Six hundred men are thrown out of employment, and tfco stoppage of the output of coke from t the 300 coke ovens that are made idle threatens to close, down every smelter I In Salt Lake valley for an indefinite pe-j pe-j riod. VOrigin of Fire Not Known. No Idea has been gained by the local officials of the company as to the origin of the Are. The flames were discovered at 10 o'clock last night, and a general alarm was sounded. The plant is well quipped for fire fighting. The equipment equip-ment comprises a number of modern hose carts, the grounds about the plant , are protected by hydrants filled by heavy pump pressure. The fire equipment equip-ment is manned by regular employees of the company, and Is well disciplined tindery experienced fire fighters. The men' have been drilled twice or three; time each week for years, and are efficient firemen. The buildings of tmr plant and the danger points are equipped with a modern fire alarm sys- KyWight Shift at Work. Vis there Is no night shift working, all tjye men left the building at the close f f the shift yesterday afternoon. It Is possible that a repair gang may have been engaged during the night to overhaul over-haul some of the machinery, but. If this waa not the case, the building was virtually vir-tually deserted after the closing hour last night. - - As soon as the fire was discovered and , the alarm sounded the firemen ran from . their homes and . manned the equipment. equip-ment. Sard Fight Against Flames. Then began the long, hard fight with tbe ffamee. - The fire spread through the entire crushing plant, blazing with fury, destroying the equipment as fast as it f nread. Costly engines that worked in silence and that looked- like living, breathing creatures, so silently and thoroughly and perfectly did they work, were soon left charred, burned and twisted out of shape by the great heat. " In the. crushing plant were five modem mod-em engines, each Of 250-horse-power. There were also four Stead disintegrators, disintegra-tors, two of which are -used, and two , jkteld In reserve, as well as elevators and ,CrS for handling, coal and conveying it to the cars to be carried to tbe ovens. TJLS9 Extends to Trestles. TAe fire extended from the crusher to th trestles, over which the coal is con-e)d con-e)d from mines Nos. 1 and 2 to the crusher, and followed the trestle to the taints. ' 7e fire was thought to be under con-1rxi con-1rxi at the trestles, this morning, but th latest advices from the scene of the blace- were that the trestles had been Oejroyed and that the hoisting plants -.f nine Nos." 1 and 2 were doomed. 7hwe; trestles were nearly three-fourths three-fourths of a mile In length, and with Ihf'tf tracks, hoisting cables and other appliances, represented the outlay of thcsands of dollars. . ,jzi&f From Other Buildings.' ' It la thought that the fire mill not extend to any of the other parts of the great plant, as the property destroyed s somewhat remote, from other build-Ingp. build-Ingp. If the fire had reached the power gilaJBt; the loss ' would liave been far ' gre?fr. It Is . estimated.- that-If the powe plant were destroyed the known oss) would have been doubled, Preparations are already under way to rebuild the plant. This work can be accomplished In sixty days. If material can be crowded onto the ground rap-Idly rap-Idly enough. None of the plans or specifications spe-cifications of tbe plants were destroyed, and these can be .ued at once In the matter of .rebuilding. May Close Down 90 Says. . If material s hard Xet; KTmty We ninety days or possibly four months before be-fore the entire plant will be In operation. opera-tion. , - As' soon as word . wa8 received -here regarding the extent of the fire. General Manager H. O. Williams assembled a corps of men in the company's offices In the Dooly building, where they waited through the, night for advices. There Is no telephonic communication with Sunnyside, Sun-nyside, and advices received from there were meager bulletins. Manager Goes to Scene. Manager Williams left for Sunnyside on Rio Grande train No. ( at 8:50 this morning, arriving there early this afternoon. af-ternoon. There will follow him tonight a number of employees of the company, who are located here, who will assist in bringing some sort of order out of the Confusion that followed the fire. Six Hundred Out of Work. ' The fire is a disastrous one to the company and to the 600 men who are thrown out of employment by the destruction de-struction of the plant. The crusher plant was built two years ago. The probable loss to the buildings and machinery in this plant will run from $125,000 to $140,000. - The loss on the trestles will be at least $50,000. It- Is not known what the amount of loss will be on the hoisting plants at mills Nos. 1 and 2. The insurance of the plant aggregates aggre-gates 60 per cent of the value, and this is distributed among a number of insurance in-surance companies. The exact amount is not known at this time, nor is it known with what companies it was carried. Coke Ovens Close Down. In the crusher plant were employed thirty men. The crusher kept 300 coke ovens In operation, and in this department, depart-ment, one man runs three ovens. There are. therefore,' 100 men thrown out of employment In the ovens. It will be necessary to close down the mine, as the coal cannot be handled without the crush sr plant. In the mines there are 300 men employed. Other employees em-ployees in and about the mines and plant, will number 150, making a total of nealy 600 men who are temporarily deprived of their means of livelihood. Payroll $72,000 Month. Large gangs of men are engaged In construction work. These will be affected af-fected by the fire. Many of the miners and other employees will be given work as soon as the task of clearing up the ruins, and making ready to rebuild, is commenced. The payroll for last month was approximately $72,000. Few Foreigners in Camp. Nearly all. of the men employed are Americans. At the conclusion of the labor troubles in the coal camp two years ago. 'when the National Guard was ordered out, for fear that the company's com-pany's property might need protection from violence, hundreds of Italians and Other foreigners left the camp, and were replaced by the company with young men and boys from the farms and ranches in the southern part of the State. Waiting on Williams. ' ' Until further advices are received from Sunnyside. It will not be known Low the fire originated. Local officials offi-cials of the company do not express an opinion as to whether, the fire may have been, or .may rot have been of incendiary incen-diary origin. The opinion as to this ptlnt will not be formed until Manager Williams Is heard from. It is not known when he will return. ' Tha crusher plant, is located coine- iContinued on page 94 '' . "' i SKELTERS HAY ' . H1VE TO SUSPEND .-(Continued from pare L) . ' - what . south 'of Sunnytide, and in no event could the fire ' spread to the dwellings, of the laborers. While the t6wn is somewhat removed from the plant, there are m.iny straggling houses between hut none of these was burned. . - Lota to. Merchant. ' , The fire will be a direct loss to many loeul business men. Considering- the else and population of the town, and the class of inhabitants living- there, an enormous volume of credit business is carried by local business men .with the merchants and populace of Sunnyslde. The coal mined at Sunnyslde Is Known as the best coking- coal in the lnter-mountaln lnter-mountaln country. Not only are the local smelters shipped from there, but the coke is shipped to Colorado and elsewhere. . - The fire will be the cause of shutting-down shutting-down the coke plant at Castle Gate, where there are more than 200 roasting ovens employing- about ISO men. SUNNYSIDE FIRE .WILL LIKELY SERIOUSLY CRIPPLE SHELTERS . If the fire in the Utah Fuel company's com-pany's plant at Sunnyslde Is as extensive exten-sive and .the damage to the plant as great as it is thought to be from the early advices 'from there, the smelting industry in the State will receive a temporary setback. and many of the most important smelters may be compelled com-pelled to draw their fires because of a shortage in the coke supply. The news of the fire was received with apprehension in the offices of the various smelting companies here this morning, and as soon as It was known that the coke output from Sunnyslde would be curtailed, the telegraph lines were ept hot by the smelter men. who began at once to cast about for new sources of supply. Ten Days' Supply on Hand. General Manager O. W. Whitley of the . American Smelting & R-rflnlng company, raid td The Telegram that his company has on har.d at this time, a supply of coke sufficient to keep the fires going and the smelter in operation for ten days. , . The company Is now looking for a new source of supply, and unless this is found, the smelters wfu be closed down in ten days. At noon today, no new source of supply had been found. Superintendent C. E. Allen of th United States Mining company, said: Will Not Close Down. 'The smelters of ihe United States Mininr company will not close down. We will get the coke. We do not know where at this time, but we will get it." At the offices of the Bingham Con-rolldated Con-rolldated Mining company it was stated that the supply dn hand will last for a week or ten dayY Confidence is expressed ex-pressed that a new source of supply would be found, b it It was stated that unless the new source waa found, the smelters of this concern would close. Will Get Fuel Elsewhere. The Tlntlc Mining and Development company, operating the Tampa smelter at Bingham, stated that while the smelter depends on the Utah Fuel company com-pany for Its supply, there were other available sources, and no apprehension apprehen-sion is felt. It was stated that the smelter would not close. The smelting plant of the Utah Consolidated Con-solidated company is not affected by the fire, as this smelter does not use coke in its operations. The Cactus smelter, at Newhouse, will not be affected in any manner by the shutdown following the destruction of the Sunnytide plant |