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Page 4
"The Fire"
San Francisco evidence the superiority of brick construction over anyother building material as fire resistant. Anticipating your probable immediate and extraordinary requirements, we are prepared to furnish you with .... brick, unsurpassed for beauty and quality, and the only . . . . brick patented by the United States, at the rate of three hundred thousand per day. A wire will bring our repreresentative with samples and prices." (Reply.) "No answer."
"Some Speed!"
In two hours on "Fire Night," the Western Union received about 350 telegrams from us or in other words, did business at the rate of $500,000 per year — and handled it.
The New York Telephone Company was on the job at 3 A. M. and had practically all departments connected before business hours Thursday morning.
The Public Service Electric Company gave us emergency service so quickly that we had scarcely two hours interruption to the work in our Storage Battery plant. •
Mr. Edison received a very nice letter from a "practical all-around draughtsman," applying for a position. Mr. Edison's answer was, "Say he is too late; have put on all the draughtsmen we can work just now." (This letter was received the day after the fire.)
A large Erie locomotive crane has done good work in clearing away the wreckage. At the end of the first week forty-four carloads of iron and steel wreckage had been taken away, besides hundreds of wagon loads of bricks, etc.
Some of Mr. Edison's Remarks During and Since the Fire
General Manager Bachman, during" the fire, asked Mr. Edison how he could smile in the midst of it all. "Well, Bob," he replied, "this is costing me a lot of money, but it certainly is a fine fire."
To Mr. Wilson he said, "It's a goner, Wilson, but we'll build up bigger and better than ever."
"Why should I be downhearted? I can't take any of this away when I die,, anyway."
"This is certainly a good test of my concrete buildings, but I haven't been used to spending so much money on one experiment."
From time to time Mr. Edison received such encouraging reports of the salvage work that in one case he remarked, "I am getting so many good reports that pretty soon somebody will tell me I haven't had any fire."
"Troubles Never Come Singly"
On December 15 an explosion of illuminating gases occurred in the Carbolic Acid Department of the Edison Chemical Works at Silver Lake, causing considerable injury to the buildings. By 3 o'clock the following day complete plans had been roughly sketched out, showing the requirements of a new building, where the principal equipment would be placed, etc.
The building as presented to Mr. Edison was to be 80 feet long by 50 feet wide by 20 feet high, and apparently these dimensions were based upon careful thought and analysis. Mr. Edison (Continued on Page 16)