TEXAS CONFLAGRATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14924, 23 February 1912, Page 7

TEXAS CONFLAGRATION.

CITY OF HOUSTON SWEPT.

DAMAGE IS OVER £1,500,000.

ONE THOUSAND HOMELESS.

Br Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright (Received February 22, 10.25 p.m.) New York, February 21. A conflagration swept the eastern section of Houston, Texas, destroying 25 blocks. Employees of the manufacturing houses sought to stay the march of the fire, but they were helpless, the conflagration reaching such enormous dimensions. It is believed that not a single life was lost, although there were many narrow escapes from the hotels when the alarm was raised. The fire originated in an untenanted house. Fanned by a fierce gale, the flames spread rapidly in a southerly direction. They did riot receive a check until they reached the stream known as the Buffalo Bayou. The flames leaped the stream several times, and ignited the roofs of oil stores on the other side, but the firemen suppressed these outbreaks, thus preventing still greater damage. The. loss is estimated to exceed £1,500,000. A thousand persons are homeless, and scores of big manufacturing plants have been burned. Cotton valued at 2,000,000 dollars was destroyed. Relief committees have set to work to relieve the persons rendered homeless. HOUSTON AND ITS RIVER," Houston is the capital of Harris County, Texas, and is situated at the head of navigation on the Buffalo Bayou, 40 miles from the mouth of that river. The Buffalo Bayou has a course of 70 miles, and flows into 'the Bay of Galveston, on which bay is situated Galveston, tho principal seaport, of Texas. At Houston the Buffalo Bayou is navigable by vessels drawing 9ft, of water. Yet the flames appear to have leaped it like a ditch, though the firemen on the other side repelled their advances. Houston was once the capital of tho Texan Republic. It is now the principal railroad centre of tho State, and the seat of important and varied manufactures, including machinery, iron-castings, railway carnages, farming implements, fertilisers, etc. It stands in the midst of a fertile country, and ships cotton, grain, and cattle, besides the products of the great pine forests. In 1900 the population was 44,633.