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The Klickitat County Agriculturist, Goldendale, WA., October 12, 1907, page 1
"Klickitat Intelligence"

SHOE FACTORY MAKES A SPECTACULAR BLAZE

Tom Ward of Blockhouse, who was in The Dalles Saturday last, witnessed a highly spectacular scene. The old shoe factory building on the Washington side of the Columbia, opposite The Dalles, which for many years had stood a monument to the North Dalles scheme, was burned to the ground at about 8 o'clock that morning and with it a nearby shed in which Twohy Bros., the railroad contractors, had stored machinery and extras valued at $5000. There was no insurance on either building, since both had been abandoned for years, except when used by construction gangs sleeping in or to store equipment. The old building called a shoe factory by courtesy since no machinery ever turned in its workrooms, was erected in 1892 by the promoter of the North Dalles bubble, which in bursting brought down the financial dreams of many trusting Eastern investors who had been misled by the fictitious stories of the town and its prosperity. It was a large, three-story frame, the cost of the materials used in the construction being about $15,000, although the construction materials were never paid for. The origin of the fire is unknown, but supposedly occurred from sparks or careless smokers among the railroad employees working about the place. The conflagration was the most spectacular fire seen in The Dalles for years. The huge building was enveloped in a sheet of flames, and not a zephyr fanned the fire.