Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 May 1903 — BIG FIRE AT OTTAWA. [ARTICLE]

BIG FIRE AT OTTAWA.

Two Thousand People Homeless and. Damage Beaches $300,000. At Ottawa, Out., about 250 houses destroyed, probably 2,000 people homeless and a financial loss of fully $500,000 is the result of the conflagration which devastated the area between the Ottawa and Parry Sound Railway tracks on the east, Albert on the north and the tracks of the Canadian Pacific Prescott Line and Third avenue on the west. The money loss is about half covered by insurance. Although It was first believed that an incendiary had started the fire, doubts were afterward thrown upon this theory. It wa3 said that the blaze waa seen in the grass before it seized the lumber. Between 10,000,000 and 15,000,000 feet of lumber waa burned. The buildings destroyed were dwelling houses and stores. . No lives are known to mere been lost. * x Because of an accident to the water pipes it was nearly an hour after the fire was discovered before water was thrown npon the flames. Assistance arrived from Montreal, but it was not required. The military waa called out to aid the civil power in fighting the fire.