TWO TOWNS BLOTTED OUT.

TWO TOWNS BLOTTED OUT.

On Sunday, August 4, Sprague, the county seat of Lincoln county, Wash., and the division point of the Northern Pacific Railroad, with a population of nearly 3,000, was almost destroyed by a fire which swept over 320 acres of territory and burned up property valued at more than $1,000,000. The losses include twenty-four locomotives, fifty-four freight cars, $325,000 worth of shop machinery, etc., headquarters, $50,000, passenger station, freight warehonse, etc., $125,000. Half a mile of track was destroyed, together with 7,000 tons of coal and 6,000 cords of wood, making the loss of the Northern Pacific $750,000 in all, the losses of the others range from a few hundreds of dollars up to $80,000.

When the fire broke out, a high wind, amounting almost to a hurricane, was blowing. A frame livery stable was first consumed, and from it the flames spread like a flash to the extensive car shops and the round house of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. The huge oil tanks in the rear of the shops exploded, scattering the burning oil all around and spreading the fire to the business portion of the town, which, as the stores, generally two stories in height, were all of frame with wooden roof, was speedily wiped out, only three stores and the First National Bank being saved. The citizens were thus deprived of their goods and their homes at one and the same time.