AWFUL AND DESTRUCTIVE CONFLAGRATION AT ST. LOUIS. TWENTY THREE STEAMBOATS BURNED, SEVERAL SQUARES IN ASHES

The prosperous and beautiful city of St. Louis, Mo., was visited on thc night of 17th May, 1849, by a most terrible conflagration, which destroyed property to the amount of $5,000,000. The fire broke out about 10 o’clock, P. M., near the river, at the corner of Locust street and the Levee, where the corner house and tbe three buildings above on the Levee were destroyed. From thence the flames spread across Locust street, sweeping every house, (with but one exception), in the blocks fronting on the Levee and Main street, and extending from Locust street southward to Chestnut street, a distance of three squares: The fire then advanced up Chestnut street and crossed over to the next block south, at the junction of Commercial alley with this street, then extending from the alley to Main street, and down that to Market street, consuming everything in its route, except two buildings at the corner of Market street and Commercial alley. At the intersection of Market and Main streets, the flames crossed diagonally to the Market Street House, and followed both sides of Market street up to Second street. Then, crossing Main street, the flames again swept every building, from Locust to Market street, except a row of four-story fire-proof warehouses just below Locust street. Thence the destructive element proceeded up Pine, Chestnut and Market streets, consuming every house in the two blocks between the streets just mentioned and Main and Second streets, together with nearly half the block north of Olive street.

At this point the ravages of the fire in this part of the city were stayed; but in order to produce this effect, it was found necessary to blow up two or three houses at the corner of Market and Second streets. Several persons were killed by the explosion, one of whom was Mr. Targee, a well known citizen of St. Louis. The fragments of one of the dead bodies were found on the opposite side of the street; one piece near the junction of Walnut and Second streets, and a thigh-bone and foot belonging to another body, near the lower end of Walnut street, two or three squares from the spot where the houses were blown up. These, with the body of a boy who was burned on the Levee, were supposed to constitute the remains of four persons who had perished in the conflagration.

Although the progress of the fire was arrested at the point designated above, the flames continued to spread southward; having made another start at the font of Elm street, and spreading diagonally through the block, it again reached Main street, extending down to Spruce street, a distance, north and south, of two squares. Then crossing Main Street, it swept all before it to within a short distance of Third street, three squares to the west of its starting point. At Main street, the flames crossed Elm street, and consumed one fourth of the block north of Elm and west of Main streets. From the foot of Elm street up its southern side to Second street, a distance of two squares, not a house was left standing. This dreadful calamity reduced many families from comfortable circumstances to perfect destitution. Hundreds of estimable people were made houseless.

“Cast abandoned on the world’s wide stage,
And doomed in scanty poverty to roam.”

About ten o’clock, P. M., the fire, by some means, was communicated to the steamer White Cloud. There was quite a fleet of steamboats moored at the Levee at this time. The Eudora was lying above the White Cloud, and the Edward Bates below it; the Belle Isle end Julia were moored below the Bates. A strong wind was blowing from the north-west at the time the fire commenced its devastations among the boats. The flames were soon communicated from the White Cloud to the Eudora, and the Edward Bates caught almost at the same moment.

The hawsers of this vessel were either cut or severed by the fire, and she then drifted into the current, carrying destruction to almost all the boats stationed south of her. As the wind set in towards the wharf, the cables were hauled in and they drifted out into the current, yet the flaming vessel followed them up with a speed from which it seemed impossible for them to escape. She appeared to be animated by some intelligent spirit, which prompted her to involve the others in that destruction to which she herself was doomed. The fleet of vessels being loosened from their moorings, were driven about, the sport of the wind and the waves, with nobody on board to control their motions.

Within half an hour from the time the conflagration commenced among the boats, twenty-three of them had been surrendered to the fury of the flames, and half a million dollars worth of property was destroyed. The spectacle was awful but magnificent; a spectacle to which no pencil could do justice, but not the less dreadful and horrifying to every spectator.

LIST OF BOATS DESTROYED:

American Eagle, Cossan, Master, Keokuk and Upper Mississippi packet; valued at $14,000; total loss; insured for $3,500 at Pittsburgh; no cargo.

Alice, Kennett, Master, Missouri river packet; valued at $18,000; total less; insured for $12,000.

Alexander Hamilton, Hooper, Master, Missouri river packet; valued at $15,000; total loss; insured for $10,500 in eastern offices; no cargo.

Acadia, John Russell, Master, Illinois river packet; valued at $4,000; total loss; fully insured in eastern offices; cargo valued at $1,000.

Boreas No. 3, Bernard, Master, Missouri river packet; valued at $14,500; total loss; insured for $11 500 in city offices; no cargo.

Belle Isle, Smith, Master, New Orleans trader; valued at $10,000; total loss; insured for $8,000 at New Orleans; no cargo.

Eliza Stewart, H. McKee, Master, Missouri river trader; valued at $9,000; total loss; insured for nearly the full value at Nashville ; no cargo.

Endora, Ealer, Master, New Orleans and St. Louis trader; valued at $16,000 ; total loss; insured for $10,500 at St. Louis; no cargo.

Edward Bates, Randolph, Master, Keokuk packet; valued at $22,500; total less; insured for $15,000 at St. Louis; no cargo.

Frolic, Ringling, Master, tow-boat; valued at $1,500; total loss; no insurance; no cargo.

Kit Carson, Goddin, Master, Missouri river packet; valued at $16,000; total loss; insured for $8,000 at St. Louis; cargo valued at $3,000.

Mameluke, Smithers, Master, New Orleans and St. Louis trader; valued at $30,000; total loss; insured for $20,000 at Louisville, Columbus, &c.

Mandan, Beers, Master, Missouri river trader; valued at $14,000; total less; insured for $10,500 at St. Louis; no cargo.

Montauk, Moorhouse, Master, Upper Mississippi trailer; valued at $16,000; total loss; insured for $10,000 at St. Louis, &c.; cargo valued at $8,000.

Martha, P. Finch, Master, Missouri river trader; valued at $10,000 ; total loss; fully insured at St. Louis; cargo valued at $30,000; also insured.

Prairie State, Baldwin, Master, Illinois river packet; valued at $26,000; total loss; insured in eastern offices for $18,000; cargo valued at $3,000

Redwing, Barger, Master, Upper Mississippi trader; valued at $6,000; total loss; no insurance ; cargo valued at $3,000.

St. Peters, Ward, Master, Upper Mississppi trader; valued at $12,000 ; total loss ; insured for $9,000 at Nashville and Louisville; no cargo.

Sarah, Young, Master, New Orleans and St. Louis trader; valued at $35,000; total loss.

Taglioui, MarshalL, Master, Pittsburgh and St. Louis trader; valued at $20,000; total loss; insured for nearly the full value at Pittsburgh; cargo valued at $15,000.

Timour, Miller, Master, Missouri river trader; valued at $25,000; total loss; insured for $18,000 at St. Louis, &c.; csrgo valued at $6,000.

White Cloud, Adams, Master, New Orleans and St. Louis trader; valued at $3,000 ; total less; fully insured; no cargo.

And a Ferry boat, valued at $3,000.

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(source: Lloyd's Steamboat Directory from 1856)