northwest, about the head waters of the Cedar, came down during the night in a raging torrent, spreading out over the valley. The day was pleasant and the Sabbath stillness reigned over the town, the people little thinking that the splendid flouring mills, the pride of the city, were in danger and would soon be a ghastly wreck. The dam and mills are at the opposite end of a loop, resembling a horse shoe, with the race a line between the two. During the night the flood spread out over the bottoms about the mills, elevators and depot, and early in the day commenced cutting away the dam and bulkhead. The dam went out ,and soon the bulkhead followed, letting the water into the race in a mad torrent, which no power could stop, and soon undermined the large three-story building filled from the top to the bottom with heavy and valuable machinery, which sank into the stream, resting on the fore-bay and remaining at an angle of about forty-five degrees, and resisting by its great weight the force of the floods to wash it away. The flour and feed had been removed from the mill and storehouse. Until Monday morning the storehouse which stood near the mill was standing, but the bank kept cutting away, and before noon it had fallen into the abyess and went to pieces. The water which had rushed through the race had cut so rapidly that the river by Monday evening had cut a channel about 200 feet wide and ten feet deep, and is now the main channel of the river; the old bed, which had ran one-half mile north and turned back on itself, ceased to run and was no longer part of the river. Already the work of tearing the building in pieces and removing the wreck has commenced. Petitions are also in circulation asking the board of supervisors to order an election to bond Fullerton township for $5,000 to aid in rebuilding. The loss is estimated at $15,000. The bonds will carry and the mills will undoubtedly be rebuilt at once. The people of Fullerton and surrounding county will all feel the loss and will undoubtedly respond willingly to the call for aid.
BIG FIRES.
The most disastrous fires in the history of the county occurred in 1891 and 1892 and when the court house was totally destroyed by flames of unknown origin. The blaze was discovered about three o'clock in the morning.
Fullerton Was Visited By a Terrible Fire on Monday Night -- No Loss of Life Reported -- Six Buildings Wiped Out By the Flames -- One Torn Down -- Loss Estimated At $25,000 -- Favorable Weather Saves the Entire City From Destruction -- Fire Fought Manfully By Our Citizens -- Well Insured -- Dippers and Buckets Took the Place of the Fire Department in Good Shape.
Fullerton has escaped a disastrous conflagration during the first ten years of its existence, and has gone Scot-free from fires until the present time. But on Monday night, December 29th, 1891, her turn came. At about half past ten o'clock, fire caught in the rear of the old Judson building on the west side of Broadway, and in a few minutes the city was aroused by the cry of fire and the ringing of the church bells, and those who heard the alarm made their way to the scene to find the rear of B. F. Browne's bakeshop in the old N. C. Judson building being rapidly consumed. The night was still, with barely a breeze from the southwest, and it soon became evident that all the north part of the block must go, and that by an earnest effort the south half might be saved. The attempt was first made to save Kriedler & Co.'s hardware building, and came near being successful, the open place between the buildings giving them an opportunity to work, but when the main building became involved in flames the heat was so great they could no longer work with any show of success, but the effort was not abandoned until the fire broke through the sides of the Kriedler building, when the effort to save that was abandoned, all attention given to tearing down the little building known years ago as the Birrs millinery shop, more recently having been occupied by VanArsdall, and at the present time by Young & Searl as a barber shop. This effort proved successful, the crowd making short work in demolishing the structure. When this was done the Wilson store building was easily saved and suffered but little damage. When it became evident that the fire was stayed, those south of the fire who removed their goods commenced to return them to the shelves. While the work of fighting the fire and removing goods was in progress in front, an equally animated scene presented itself in the rear. Piles of goods of all descriptions were permiscuously stacked up in the alleys and hard fighting was necessary to save stables and out-buildings, to keep the fire from spreading in the direction of the Farmers Hotel and livery stable. The fire was under control at about 1: 30 in the morning, and many exhausted, went to their homes, while others held bravely on till morning. Fullerton has had her first fire and feels that she escaped remarkably under the circumstances.
