History of Salamanca, New York, USA

SALAMANCA, June 5. - People moved out in boats from their houses on William, Water and Allegany streets and the lower end of river street. The iron bridge is unsafe, and no one is allowed to cross it except on urgent business. All churches except the Catholic were closed on Sunday, and the schools are closed. J. G. Fitt's saw mill is badly damaged, and many thousand feet of lumber went down stream. Patterson Bros.' mill and lumber yard on River street were entirely surrounded by torrents of water. All the gardens along the river are washed out.

Salamanca, a post-village in Salamanca township, Cattaraugus co., N.Y., on the Alleghany River, and on the Erie Railroad, 46 miles E.S.E. of Dunkirk, 108 miles S.W. of Rochester, and 34 miles E. of Jamestown. It is the N.E. terminus of the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad, and the S.W. terminus of the Rochester & State Line Rail road. It has a graded school, a bank, a newspaper office, a tannery, and several saw-mills, and is mainly supported by the lumber-business. Here are machine-shops of the railroad companies. Pop. in 1880, 2531; in 1890, 3692.

Salamanca, a banking post-village in Salamanca township (town), Cattaraugus oo., N.Y., on the Alleghany River and on the Erie and other railroads, 34 miles E. of Jamestown. It has extensive lumbering and manufacturing interests and railroad repair-shops. Pop. in 1900, 4251 ; of the town, 5174.

3 FIRE DEPARTMENTS ARE CALLED TO SCENE.

CITY HALL, THEATERS AND BIG BUILDINGS LAID WASTE; DAMAGE PLACED AT BETWEEN $500,000 AND $1,000,000.

Salamanca, July 21. - Following a trail of flaring oil and gasoline and urged on its way by a strong west wind, the most disastrous fire in the history of the city swept through business and residential districts today, to subside only after having reduced a wide swath in the downtown section to charred ruins. Damage was variously estimated tonight from $500,000 to $1,000,000.

The west side of Main Street from the river to Broad Street was swept clear of standing structures with the exception of one garage, which was badly damaged but did not collapse. The east side of Main Street half a block of business structures was burned over and the flames ate their way into the residential section in Clinton Street, which joins the business district near the scene of the fire's inception.

Starting with a bonfire in the rear of an abandoned...

Thomas J. Dotson, about 38 years old, of 263 Wildwood avenue, suffered a fracture of the skull when he fell about 12 feet from the top of a locomotive tender in the Erie railroad yards Sunday morning at 5:55.

Dotson, a fireman on the railroad, was on the tender alone while water was being poured into the tank. The locomotive had not moved, it is said.

Shopmen picked Dotson up and rushed him to the hospital.

Reports there today were that Dotson has only a small skull fracture and is expected to recover, Erie railroad officials said.