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Show Great Fires of History San Francisco Quake and Fire Compared With Others of The Past. While the great disaster in San Francisco was due primarily to the earthquake, the greater part of the destruction Is due to the tire which followed In Its wake. The lire as well as the earthquake will take Its place In history as one of the greatest catastrophes catastro-phes of modern times. Great II res have ever been the banc and dread of all countries. From the earliest times there are records of fajr cities laid waste and of destruction destruc-tion and sulfcring consequent thereon. there-on. American Fires. The United States has a record of destruction of property by lire not equaled by any other country. During the last century many towns have been totally destroyed, and others havcsulfcrcd Incalculable damage. A $100,000 lire In Charlestown, Mass., In 171)0 was followed by another In lH.'ls which destroyed l.lfiS buildings, practically prac-tically all the town. Savannah, Oa., In PC0, lost 40.') buildings of the value ofS,00),ooo. In New York In lb.Tia destructive tire burned over llfty-two acres, destroying r30 buildings and $ir.,000,000 worth of property. Ten years later another lire burned oer:i00 acres, with 7,000,00d damage and thirty-live lles lost. I'lttsburg, I'a., In 184. lost 100 buildings of a million dollars value; St. Louis, Mo., in 181!), Ilfteen buildings. M 000,000 value, and In the samp town In 18.71 some 'J,,r00 buildings were destroyed. Philadelphia, Philadel-phia, I'a., In 1K70, lost 100 buildings In loo Portland, Me., was half burned down by a lire which covered 20(1 acres and burned 1,7111 buildings. Worse Than Chicago Fire. The great Chicago lire in 1871 was one of the greatest In history, but the propert loss was not nearly as largo as the picscnt San Francisoo disaster will prove. The property los In Chicago Chi-cago was $100,000,000, a.id the present loss is aheady figured far beyond that sum. Many lives were lost In the Chicago lire and 17,I.'I0 buildings were destioyrd, coveting an area of 2,1-1 acres Boston, Mass , had a great tire In 1872, when slxt) -live acres of the mercantile mer-cantile section burned, Including 770 buildings, nearly all of brick and stone construction, with a loss of $75,000,-000 $75,000,-000 The great llaltlmore lire of 1002 Is too recent not to be well remember ed, Then a square mile of the city's busiest section was destroyed, the loss totaling $12.7,000,000. San Francisco had a great lire In 1S51 At that time somc2,r.00 buildings build-ings were burned and a number of lives lost. Tho property loss at that time was oer $10,000,000. Fires in Canada. Canada has also had her baptism of Hie. St. John, N. H, was almost entirely en-tirely destroyed In 18.S7 and again In 1S77, when 20) acres were burned and ten miles of streets Some $20,000,000 of property was destroyed. Montreal had a great lire in 1850 which do-stroyeJ do-stroyeJ 250 buildings, and another In 1852, when 1,200 buildings wero destroyed. de-stroyed. Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa all were partially laid waste at the beginning of this century. In Quebec In 1815, 1,050 buildings were destroved, and about the same number In May and June following, and In 1800 some 2,500 buildings and seventeen churches were burned. St. Johns, N. F., was nearly entirely entire-ly destroyed In 181(1, with a loss of $50,000,000, and had another big tire In 1800. Various cities in South America were destroyed, or nearly so. In tho last century, the property loss In some cases amounting to $.'10,000,-000 $.'10,000,-000 and upward. Nearly all these were attended with loss of life. Old World Conflagrations. London, England, was nearly destroyed de-stroyed In 7t)8, and again In 082, 1212 and 1000 The latter tire Is known to history as the "(Jrc.it lire of London." It burned over a territory of 4:1(1 acres and400sticets, destroying l."l,200 buildings build-ings of a value of $5:1,000,000, an Immense Im-mense sum In those .days. The loss of life was terrible Edinburgh was neatly neat-ly destroyed In 1700, Lisbon was burned In 171)7, Venice entirely destroyed In 1100 and again in 1577. Berlin was dc-, stroyed In 1405, Heme In 1(131 and again in KISO. Hamburg was nearly destroyed de-stroyed In 1812, when 4,210 buildings were burned and a hundred people lost their lives. The property loss was $.'(5, 000,001) Copenhagen was burned In 102S and 1,050 houses destroyed, and again in 1705, when 1,50.1 houses burned Stockholm was visited In 1751 and 1,000 houses burned. Moscow Mos-cow burned In 1752 and lost 18,000 houses Again in 1M2 the city was burned by the Russians to prevent Its occupation bv Napoleon and ."18,000 houses destioycd, with a propeity loss of ocr $150,000,000 Constantinople Holds Record. Constantinople has had numeious and costly tires. In 1720 a great Hie destroyed 12,000 buildings and 0,000 people lost their lics. In 1745 another an-other great lire lasted live days, and again in January, 1750, over 10,000 buildings were burned, followed by another an-other tire In April of the same year which destroyed $15,000,000 of pro-pcrty. pro-pcrty. Again, later in the same year, 10,000 houses were burned, In 1770 some 15,000 houses weie destroyed and over 100 lives lost. In 1782, 10,000 houses burned, In 1701 between March and July lire swept 32,000 houses, and nearly the same number were burned In 1788. In 1810 12,000 houses and 3,000 shops burned, and In 1870, l'era, a suburb of Constantinople, was nearly near-ly wiped out with a loss of 7,000 buildings build-ings and $25,000,000. Smyrna had some great tires In 170.'!, 1702 and 1841, bsing from 2,000 to 12,-000 12,-000 buildings at each lire. Many great tires have also occurred In India, China and Japan. |
