302 S. F. Peckham—Mill Explosion at Minneapolis. 
of the Washburn A Mill for several minutes preceding the 
explosion. 
At the instant the explosion occurred all observers agreed 
that the Washburn A Mill was brilliantly illuminated from 
basement to attic. The illumination was reflected from the 
water at and around the falls in such a manner as to remind 
one observer of the effect of a brilliant sunset. Another com- 
pared it to the reflection of sunlight from windows when the 
sun is near the horizon. Still another, who was crossing the 
lower bridge, had his attention called to what appeared to be a 
stream of fire, which as he described it, issued from a basement 
window and went back again. Immediately thereafter each 
floor above the basement became brilliantly illuminated, the 
light appearing simultaneously at all the windows, only an 
appreciable interval of time intervening as the stories ignited 
one after the other. Then the windows burst out, the walls 
cracked between the windows and fell, and the roof was pro- 
jected into the air, followed by an immense volume of smoke 
and flame which ascen to an estimated height of from six 
to eight hundred feet. As the column of smoke was expanded 
and borne off upon the wind, brilliant flashes resembling light- 
the building burst, letting a part of the roof fall in and leaving 
the sides standing at a sharp angle. Ordinary windows, and 
those of strong plate-glass on Washington avenue one-fourth 
of a mile distant, were projected into the street. Not only the 
glass but the sash went out bodily, particularly in the lower 
stories of the buildings. Persons on the river at the water's 
edge noticed a displacement of the water producing a wave 
estimated to be eighteen inches high, before they heard the 
report of the explosion. 
