100 Years Ago: Team of horses, cows rescued from barn fire

100 Years Ago

July 15, 1924: Fire yesterday afternoon destroyed a large barn, two sheds, a silo and valuable crops, machinery and tools on the farm owned and operated by Henry Miller, one mile east of Wolf Creek in Adrian township. Only by the desperate struggle of a bucket brigade formed by neighbors were the house and other property saved. Mr. Miller and his men had just begun drawing to the barn a crop of alfalfa hay of exceptional fine quality and were stowing it with about 25 loads of older hay already in the mow. As the men left the barnyard for the hayfield after stowing away the second load, Mrs. Miller who was working in her kitchen, saw flames burst from the upper part of the barn at all points visible from the kitchen door. It is believed the hay which was stored in the barn two weeks ago must have heated, not having favorable curing and drying weather, and that it generated enough heat to cause ignition, the fire then working through the whole mass before breaking out. Mrs. Miller rang the farm dinner bell to give the alarm of fire and then rushed to rescue the team of horses which had been used to haul the hay by rope, fork and pulley to the mow. The heat was so intense that it was with difficulty that she managed to unhitch them from the post in the yard. The cows also were rescued with much effort and the automobile which was standing in the nearby garage refused to start until many turns of the starting crank had been made. It was finally removed to a place of safety. Neighbors who heard the bell of the Miller farm called others by telephone and soon a considerable number of men were at the scene and at work with water from the well and tanks to save the house and smaller farm buildings which stood in close proximity to the burning barn.