Several early businesses in Bismarck went up in flames when the city’s first major fire swept the downtown, starting in a saloon late one night in March of 1877.Hotels, saloons, the bakery, the drugstore, the billiard hall—all were wooden buildings lost in the blaze.
Bismarck officials had ordered a fire engine for the town, but it hadn’t arrived yet.There wasn’t much water to battle the flames, and no equipment like fire hooks or ladders.Five days after the fire, on this date in 1877, Bismarck volunteers organized the Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company.It was one of the first fire departments--if not the first--to organize in Dakota Territory. The fire station was at two-seventeen North Fourth Street. A bell on a tower was used to alert volunteer firefighters.
In 1884, the Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company dissolved; followed by Pioneer Fire Company Number One.At least thirteen men comprised the volunteers. This new company had a hose wagon pulled by two horses named Tom and Snyder. Later they acquired a horse-drawn ladder wagon.
Unfortunately, the volunteers were little match for the Great Fire of 1898, which left downtown Bismarck in ruins. The fire began in the agent’s office at the Northern Pacific depot. It spread to the freight warehouse, and was driven through the city by high winds and two explosions.Bismarck and Mandan firefighters worked to control the blaze, but it destroyed businesses, legal offices, every drug store, most of the grocery stores, two newspapers, and even some residences.
And an added tragedy: Governor Frank Briggs, dying from consumption, spent his final hours on the front porch of the executive mansion, watching his city burn.
Dakota Datebook by Jack Dura
Sources
Langemo, C.A. (2002). Images of America: Bismarck, North Dakota. Arcadia Publishing: Chicago, IL
Walker Jr., L.G. (2008). Dr. Henry R. Porter: The Surgeon Who Survived Little Bighorn. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers: Jefferson, NC
https://www.bismarcknd.gov/1073/History-of-the-Bismarck-Fire-Department
https://www.bismarcknd.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2079
https://www.bismarcknd.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2080
https://www.bismarcknd.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2081
http://www.bismarcknd.gov/19/Fire
http://www.ghostsofnorthdakota.com/2014/08/07/the-great-bismarck-fire-of-1898/
