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Based on initial newspaper reports on June 7, 1889, it was thought that the Great Seattle fire started in Mr. James McGeough's paint shop. However, McGeough insisted the fire did not begin in his paint shop. Eventually it was discovered the fire started in the basement below him. In the June 21, 1889 newspaper edition, the "Post-Intelligencer" backed McGeough's story and the origin of the accidental fire was placed on John Back.

So, what really happened. On June 6, 1889 around 2:30 pm, in the basement of Clairmont's Cabinet-making company, John Back was heating up some glue over a gasoline fire. The glue pot began to boil over and catch on fire. The floor had wood chips laying all about and turpentine nearby from the making of the cabinets, and this quickly fueled the fire. John Back tried to put it out, but by throwing water on it, the fire quickly went out of control.

The fire department found the building so smokey that it was impossible to figure out where the fire got started. Hence the blaming of Mr. McGeough, as his paint shop was just above the basement. Because the spring had been dry and a brisk wind was in the air that day, and the building made of dry wood, and an insufficent water supply, because of the low water pressure in the hydrants, the fire quickly spread and became uncontainable.

A total of 25 city blocks had burned by the time the fire burnt out. This comprised most of the city's business district and 4 city wharves. The entire burned out area covered a total of an enormous 64 acres. There was one fatality reported. It is easy to see why Seattle deems this conflagaration, the Great Fire of 1889.

Ironically, after investigation by officials, it was determined that John Back had started the fire in an accidental manner. However, newspapers, historians and journalists, even after the correction, still reported it was the fault of Mr. McGeough.

This untrue statement continued for almost one-hundred years after the Great Fire. It wasnt until a historian, in 1989, named James Warren discovered the error and put the information right in his monograph "The Day Seattle Burned" and pointed out that the origin of the fire was indeed inadvertantly started by John Black. After the investigation, it is said John Black left Seattle, and there is no mention of where he went.

Among the many business lost that day, in that uncontainable blaze, were a hotel, a shoemaker shop, a restaurant, 2 barbershops and a real estate agency.

Fortunately, a picture had been taken of the city on June 5th, 1889, by a man named William Boyd, Courtesy of UW Collections. You can see that this fire was truly great, viewing the before and after photos, located online at: http://www.historylink.org

Learn more about this author, Victoria Rose Perkins.
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