Two months to the day, of the great fire of September 3, 1876, another great fire raged in Saint-Hyacinthe. Let's see what the edition of November 4, the Mail had to say.
"It was not quite the terrible fire of September 3 that devoured in a few hours, most of our city. Two months apart yesterday, November 3, at nine in the morning the tocsin was heard and a thick column of smoke rose into the air, to the horror of everyone. The fire had just taken from the great body of Larivière establishment the wind was blowing furiously and Saint -Hyacinthe was besieged with a new misfortune.
The fire broke out on Cascades street in the small portion of the city that the fire in September was spared, that is to say in the manufacturing part.On one side there was fear for the great
brick factory known as the shoe factory name "McMartin, Hamel. "In front was the mill shop and forges owned by Olivier Chalifoux. Then the fire was heading towards the big manufacturing company of shoes in Saint-Hyacinthe and efforts were made to preserve this wonderful establishment and safes factory FX Bertrand.
In an hour's time the square of houses between the streets Cascades, Saint-Joseph, Saint-Dominique street and the river were reduced to ashes, with the exception of two houses near the brick factory. A house belonging to Lady Labatte, on St. Joseph Street, the only one that was spared two months ago in this place, was also reduced to ashes. The fire threatened so the establishment of our newspaper we were forced to move our things. Fortunately this time we have no losses reported.
The loss is estimated at $ 50,000. The areas ravaged by fire were a condom for new homes that are built in two months. Many believe that if the city had not burned at the end of the summer it could not escape this time to the destructive element.
All citizens competed with zeal in efforts to reach the flames and Seminary students rushed to the scene with the teachers have rendered great services. We had to find a lack of organization in the fire department, and the aqueduct, we do not know for what reason, did not respond to the expectation of the public. At the place where we were we found that the water could not reach the top of a wooden house with one floor. "
(Translation may contain errors)
©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
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