Sorry Day for Wheatland-1874

WHEATLAND

Posted By: cheryl moonen (email)
Date: 1/24/2018 at 06:19:32

Dubuque Daily Times, Tuesday, July 14, 1874, Dubuque, Iowa, Page: 2

Wheatland is a village of 800 inhabitants (by the last Federal census, 788), on the Chicago and Northwestern railroad, about forty miles west of Clinton - within three miles of the western line of Clinton County. As before mentioned in our columns, it was nearly destroyed by a fire cracker on the Fourth. The fire broke out while the procession was passing through the streets. The Clinton Herald says:
A strong westerly wind was blowing, and in less than two hours the largest portion of the business part of the town was consumed, including about fourteen business houses, a few dwellings and barns-a total of 30 buildings, whose estimated value, including goods destroyed, cannot be far from $40,000, on which there is little or no insurance-no first-class companies having been willing to assume risks in the place since the big fire there a few years ago. Eight families, altogether, were burned out. The Tucker House caught several-times, but was saved. The loss is a serious one for Wheatland, as her business is badly crippled. Altogether, the ninety-eighth anniversary of American independence was a sorry day for Wheatland.