OCR Text |
Show DEFECTIVE APPARATUS CAUSES HEAVY LOSS BY FIRE. Fire destroyed the plant of the Smith Bedding company, on Canyon road, near the Pioneer power plant of the Utah Power and Light company, at an early hour this morning, entailing entail-ing a loss of between 335,000 and 40,-000. 40,-000. The cause of the conflagration has not yet been ascertained, nor the amount of damage definitely fixed. The flames, when first seen by residents resi-dents In the neighborhood, about 2 a. m., were issuing from the south end of the main building. An alarm was sent to the fire department by telephone and the motor truck and pumper were quickly run to the scene. The pumper refused to work, when the firemen were ready for action, making the plentiful supply of open water at the east end, of the burning building useless. use-less. By the time a line of water was drawn by the usual method from the city water plug at the Pioneer power plant, the flames were beyond control and all that could be done with the water thus obtained was to throw it onto the burning embers. According to witnesses, had the pumper been in working order, only a comparatively amount of damage would have been done by the fire. The building was a three-story structure, struc-ture, built nearly 40 years ago for a woolen mill, and a new wing recently constructed. The exterior of the main building was partly of stone. A large stock of raw material and finished bedding was also destroyed and the valuable machlnory in the plant ruined. Joseph I. Smith, sole owner of the plant, stated today the approximate amount of his loss as given above and said that his Insurance would amount to about $6,000. He also said that the plant represented the work, of a lifetime, life-time, but that he would immediately take up the work of straightening up his affairs in connection with the fire and then proceed to make plans for the erection of a new plant. |