Wadsworth, Nevada Fire

June 7, 1902

WADSWORTH ON FIRE

Principal Business Portion of the Town Consumed Including Hotels, Lodging Houses and Stores

Special to the “Gazette.”

WADSWORTH, JUNE 7 (3.23 P. M.). – FIRE STARTED AT 2 P. M. IN THE KITCHEN OF LOTHROP’S HOTEL AND SALOON AND SWEPT THE ROW EAST UP TO THE ANNEX OF THE NEVADA HOTEL. THE BUILDINGS BEING ENTIRELY WOODEN AND VERY DRY THE FIRE MADE RAPID HEADWAY. THE RAILROAD DEPOT WAS ON FIRE MANY TIMES BUT THE FIRE DEPARTMENT SAVED IT BY HARD WORK.

THE PARTIES BURNED OUT ARE E. T. LOTHROP, M. MAGUIRE, C. WALSTAB, WADSWORTH SUPPLY COMPANY, H. DALTON, E. OLINGHOUSE, C. W. KINNEY & COMPANY, DR. E. W. O;BRIEN, J. A. GREGORY, GEORGE HUBERTH, ESTATE OF WILLIAM DONALDSON.

THERE WAS LITTLE INSURANCE AS THE POLICIES HAVE BEEN GENERALLY CANCELLED BY THE COMPANIES.

THE FIRE IS STILL BURNING. THERE IS A PROBABILITY THAT THE NEVADA HOUSE WILL BE SAVED.

THE TOTAL LOSS OF THE FIRE WILL NOT BE LESS THAN FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS, WITH VERY LITTLE INSURANCE.

WALLSTAB IS THE HEAVIEST LOSER, TO THE EXTENT OF PROBABLY TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS.

Reno Evening Gazette, Reno, NV 7 Jun 1902

WADSWORTH FIRE

What Was Once a Prosperous Section of a Busy Place is Now a Pile of Ashes.

Wadsworth is particularly unfortunate, and the old saying that misfortune never comes single handed has again been verified.

The Wadsworth people have been unsettled and all stirred up over the rumored railroad changes for a year. When the rumor began to take the form of fact and it was known that that the railroad shops located there would be removed, the insurance companies became frightened and cancelled the great bulk of the insurance. Property that has been standing for thirty years, as soon as the insurance was cancelled, went up in smoke.

A fire broke out Saturday afternoon, as published in the “Gazette”, and $60000 worth of property belonging to M. Raphael was a pile of smoking ruins before sundown. E. T. Lathrop figures his loss at $5000 in saloon, eating house and lodging apartments. J. G. Ede lost $300 in barber’s fixtures and suplies [sic], and M. Meguire lost $500. C. Walstab lost in building, saloon fixtures and stock $10,000, McPherson and Austin lost $7500. The Masons, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias lost $2000. D. W. Wightan figures his loss at $6000, while William Dotten says his loss will foot up $3000. C. Kinney & Company lost $2500. J. A. Gregory lost $3000, and the estate of William Donaldson sustained a loss of $7000. It is not at all likely that, in view of the fact that the railroad company will shortly move from the town, that the burned district will be rebuilt.

Reno Evening Gazette, Reno NV 9 Jun 1902

AN ABSENT VICTIM

A Resident of Wadsworth Who Was Fiddling While Rome Burned.

I. F. Lothrop came up from Wadsworth this morning. Mr. Lothrop was in San Francisco when the fire occurred, and says he was enjoying himself at the Cliff House. Upon arriving at his hotel he was confronted with a batch of telegrams that he says took all hilarity out of him.

Mr. Lothrop’s business house was entirely destroyed, and he says that the only thing the he had left when arrived in Wadsworth was his old cellar, and that didn’t look very good. All his insurance had been cancelled some time since. However, he had about a thousand dollars in money in his safe and almost an equal amount in checks that he had cashed for different people working on the railroad improvements. When he opened the safe he found that the checks would hardly hold together, in fact many of them were almost entirely destroyed. He took all the pieces he could gather to Stone Brothers and they readily cashed them, they having the original stubbs. [sic] When asked if he would rebuild, Mr. Lothrop said, “yes, but it will be in Reno or place that is not off the map.”

Reno Evening Gazette, Reno, NV 10 Jun 1902

Burned to Death.

The porter of Walstab;s saloon and loding [sic] house in Wadsworth was asleep at the time of the fire, Saturday, and was burned to death. He was a white man named WOODS.

Reno Evening Gazette, Reno, NV 11 Jun 1902

Articles transcribed by Jenni Lanham.  Thank you, Jenni!

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