YONCALLA LUMBER COMPANY
Yoncalla
August 13, 1953: "Fire Wednesday afternoon leveled the Yoncalla Lumber Co. sawmill, which soon was to reopen completely converted to electrical power.
Loss in the fire was estimated by persons connected with the firm at $85,000. The planer shed and resaw unit were saved, but some new equipment, including an electric saw, was destroyed. Insurance covered part of the loss. Some lumber also was destroyed.
The blaze broke out at about 3:30 from a spark thrown by an acetylene torch near where new equipment was being installed. Mrs. George Edes, News-Review correspondent, said that a stream of water was playing in that area where the cutting by the torch was being done, but that a spark fell underneath the mill into oil and sawdust.
The mill was leveled in little more than an hour.
The sawmill had been closed down the past week for conversion from steam to electrical power, and was scheduled to reopen in about a week. It had closed after the state fire marshal condemned an old boiler supplying steam power.
Mrs. Edes said that R. B. White, Kansas City, Mo., who purchased the entire plant about eight years ago, could not be reached, and it had not been determined this morning whether the mill would be rebuilt.
The planer shed and resaw unit were saved when a north wind whipped flames away.
Yoncalla and Drain firemen responded to the alarm. A Southern Pacific section crew from Oakland was kept busy fighting back flames which crept into grass along the right-of-way.
Twenty men were thrown out of work by the inferno.
Fires crews stood by the entire night to prevent further outbreak of flames.
The mill had a capacity of about 50,000 board feet a day, and was Yoncolla's largest." (The News-Review)
Loss in the fire was estimated by persons connected with the firm at $85,000. The planer shed and resaw unit were saved, but some new equipment, including an electric saw, was destroyed. Insurance covered part of the loss. Some lumber also was destroyed.
The blaze broke out at about 3:30 from a spark thrown by an acetylene torch near where new equipment was being installed. Mrs. George Edes, News-Review correspondent, said that a stream of water was playing in that area where the cutting by the torch was being done, but that a spark fell underneath the mill into oil and sawdust.
The mill was leveled in little more than an hour.
The sawmill had been closed down the past week for conversion from steam to electrical power, and was scheduled to reopen in about a week. It had closed after the state fire marshal condemned an old boiler supplying steam power.
Mrs. Edes said that R. B. White, Kansas City, Mo., who purchased the entire plant about eight years ago, could not be reached, and it had not been determined this morning whether the mill would be rebuilt.
The planer shed and resaw unit were saved when a north wind whipped flames away.
Yoncalla and Drain firemen responded to the alarm. A Southern Pacific section crew from Oakland was kept busy fighting back flames which crept into grass along the right-of-way.
Twenty men were thrown out of work by the inferno.
Fires crews stood by the entire night to prevent further outbreak of flames.
The mill had a capacity of about 50,000 board feet a day, and was Yoncolla's largest." (The News-Review)