8 PREFACE 



store was first to burn. The department was 

 hard to arouse as the fire started at 2 a. m. or 

 thereabouts. Dr. Davis was awakened by the 

 glare of light. He thought he had overslept 

 and that it was sun-up. Fully awake he ran 

 to ring the fire bell, but little by little the 

 farmers had cut off the rope to tie their teams 

 till it was out of the doctor's reach. He threw 

 rocks at the bell but was nervous and excited 

 and only hit it once, so resorted to yelling 

 "Fire!" on the principal streets until his voice 

 gave out. Silverton was noted as a place to 

 get sleep and rest in and the doctor was winded 

 and hoarse before he awoke many of the old 

 settlers. They found the hose gone, some one 

 had borrowed it to irrigate his garden; the 

 leather buckets were all gone. We had had 

 one in our parlor for years with moss and 

 "everlasting flowers" in it as an ornament, and 

 the only things they found to fight the flames 

 with were three of the company's fire helmets, 

 and these came in handy to keep off the heat, 

 as a whole row of wooden buildings were on 

 fire, to say nothing of 50,000 cedar shingles, 

 and it was nearly noon before the fire burned 

 itself out when it came to the sparse settlement. 



