BIRDSONG MILLING
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Crook County
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June 9, 1904: "Fire, starting at 2 o'clock in the morning, destroyed the Birdsong saw mill on the Ochoco last Thursday. The building about the machinery was totally destroyed and the machinery damaged to a considerable extent. The mill was run by water power and the water wheel escaped injury. Part of the machinery is not so badly damaged but that it can be used again. The loss will amount to about $1000. There was no insurance.
The origin of the fire is a mystery. Mr. Birdsong was at the mill in the evening and everything about the plant was quiet at 10 o'clock when he went to bed. Four hours afterwards flames had enveloped the mill and burned it down before anything could be done to save it. It is not believed that the fire could have started except by some incendiary. The mill had not been in use for some little time and no slabs had been burned in the fire pit for a period of over two weeks. At the time the fire started there were no ashes or coals near the mill which could have been fanned into a blaze. Mr. Birdsong is convinced that the mill was burned by someone who chose that time of night in which to set the plant on fire." (Crook County Journal)
The origin of the fire is a mystery. Mr. Birdsong was at the mill in the evening and everything about the plant was quiet at 10 o'clock when he went to bed. Four hours afterwards flames had enveloped the mill and burned it down before anything could be done to save it. It is not believed that the fire could have started except by some incendiary. The mill had not been in use for some little time and no slabs had been burned in the fire pit for a period of over two weeks. At the time the fire started there were no ashes or coals near the mill which could have been fanned into a blaze. Mr. Birdsong is convinced that the mill was burned by someone who chose that time of night in which to set the plant on fire." (Crook County Journal)