NP, CO 1/16D/1865

From the Carolina Observer
 
January 16, 1865
 
A Terrible Calamity
   On Saturday morning, about 2 1/2 o'clock, a fire broke out in the Paymaster's department in the building immediately south of the C. & S. C. {Charlotte & South Carolina} railroad, and N. C. {North Carolina} railroad passenger shed, and before assistance could be admitted it became impossible to subdue the flames. The next building and adjoining, one of the largest in the Southern Confederacy, occupied as a government warehouse, was soon destroyed. The fire then communicated with the largest warehouse just being completed, to the south of the depot shed, thence to the shed, a large and beautiful structure, thence it crossed to the north, destroying the old buildings formerly used as a depot and ticket office of the C. & S. C. railroad, all of which were totally destroyed. The fire then ranged eastward, consuming the western wing of the N. C. railroad depot owned by the Charlotte & South Carolina railroad company.
   The loss by this conflagration cannot be correctly estimated. The government, railroad companies and associations, to say nothing of the loss private individuals will sustain, cannot fall much if any short of $20,000,000. Our railroad companies have lost heavily; and the Tredegar Iron Works company, of Richmond, have also suffered heavily.
Charlotte Bulletin

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