Northwest History. Alaska. Fires.

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1937
• Subjects: blaze; Alaska; Douglas; Seattle; flames; coast guard cutter Tallapoosa; Mike Pusich; Dreamland recreation center; business district; Juneau; Alexander Archipelago; salmon cannery; Treadwell mines; gold; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Pacific; Treadwell; Archipelago
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/91026

Blaze Destroys Douglas, Alaska. BLAZE DESTROYS DOUGLAS,ALASKA SEATTLE, Feb. 23.—(/P)—Flames borne by a southeast gale, early today virtually destroyed the beautiful little residential town of Douglas, Alaska, the coast guard cutter Tallapoosa wirelessed division headquarters here. The town was virtually gone at 8 a. m., the message said. The blaze started at 5:30 a. m„ in Mike Pusich's Dreamland recreation center, in the heart of the business district, and within 30 minutes half the town was threatened. Two hours later, the Tallapoosa wirelessed that virtually the entire town was destroyed. Douglas is on the island of the same name in southeastern Alaska, opposite Juneau at the north end of the Alexander Archipelago. It has a population of about 590, although in boom times around 1917 it had more than 2,800 inhabitants. A post-office was established there 45 years ago last month. Douglas, a residential town, has been termed "the most beautiful townsite in Alaska." It is on level ground, an unusual characteristic for settlements on Alaska's rugged const.line, and has depended largely for its prosperity on a salmon cannery and the famous Treadwell mines, from which more than $66,000,000 of gold has" been taken.