Smoke Pours Out
At 6:30 a.m., smoke was pouring out the windows of a building in the middle of the business district. Before long, the building was ablaze and spreading to the adjoining buildings. In less than two hours, two saloons, two restaurants, and several other buildings along the block were reduced to cinders.
The fledgling fire department "did good service in fighting this calamity" but did not have the equipment to stop the spread (Steele). Many of the townspeople pitched in to help move merchandise out of buildings in the path of the flames. A bank's cash was even carried to a safe location.
Wind carried the fire a different direction and burned down the Eureka News Company's building.
Fighting Flames with Dynamite
Finally, the townspeople resorted to extreme measures -- dynamite. One building was dynamited in order to create a space the fire couldn't jump, but the strategy didn't work. A breeze carried the fire across the street. Finally, more dynamite was brought in. The Coeur d'Alene Saloon and the Republic Trading Company were both dynamited. Finally, the flames were stopped.
When it was all over, more than half of Republic's downtown business district was destroyed. The town was in the midst of its gold boom and rebuilt immediately.
