Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 May 1887 — WEST. [ARTICLE]

WEST.

What was believed to-be an earthquake shook the window s and rattled crockery in Duluth. Minn., on Thursday last, says a •elegram from the “Zenith City.” “It was found to have been caused by an explosion of nitro-glycerine at Spirit Lake, eight miles irom 1 mlnth. Eight thousand three hundred pounds of the explosive was Tn a wooden building 50 by 50 feet. Where this stood there is now a hole IIHI by 60 feet and 15 to 40 feet deep. The largest piece of the building fonnd is ten inches deep. A 3-ineh cast iron pipe was found twisted round a tree. Jagged bits of iron and tin were driven into the wood so as to be inextricable. Bits of iron and wood, were found a full mile from the spot. There were eight houses within half a mile, and every window - pane in them was broken. One house was completely wrecked 1,000 feet from the explosion. Trees were mowed down like grass. It is not known whether any lives were lost, but none of tbe workmen were in the building, Two tramps were seen near the building just before the explosion, and have not been seen since. If they were in the building not a speck of them will be found.”

Lake Linden, in Houghton County, Michigan, a thriving mining town of 2,-500 inhabitants, was totally destroyed by fire Friday afternoon. Only one saloon and one meat market remains of the entire business portion. Nearly three hundred families lost everything except what they had on their backs. The fire originated in the second story of Neuman A- 'release's general store, and under a stiff wind swept everything before it. In two hours from the discovery of the fire the whole town was in ruins. The town was composed of frame buildings, end, everything being sb dry, .they burned like tinder. Tbe people were panicstricken, and, there being no adequate means of fighting the fire, were utterly helpless. The Houghton and Hancock fire departments arrived as soon as possible, and through their efforts the property or the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company was saved. About two hundred and seventy buildings in all are totally destroyed, the loss will reach $3,0(10,000, with insurance of $500,(100 to $700,000. —•Ar-dispatch from Mackinaw, Mich., says: A sailboat containing ten men was struck by a squall and capsized on Little Traverse Bay Sunday afternoon. L. W. Cole and his son Fred, Marion Tripp, Den-’ nis Stark, and George Wise of Petoskey were drowned.

About two thousand people are sufferers Irom the fire that destroyed the town of Lake Linden, Michigan. One person was burned to death. Appeals for aid are made on behalf of the victims. A Detroit dispatch says “the town of Ironwood, Michigan, is threatened with destruction, and many villages and towns on the Gogebic range are also in danger. Forest tires are still prevailing in various parts of the Northern Peninsula, and the aggregate losses will reach high into the millions.” A syndicate of Pittsburgh capitalists has leased four thousand acres of land in Adams County, Indiana, and will bore for natural gas. The lands lie in a direct line between Marion, Ind., and Findlay, Ohio, where rich strikes have been made. If gas is found in sufficient volume it will be piped to Fort Wayne, a distance of about twenty-five miles. "-, ' ■