100 YEARS AGO IN THE SARATOGIAN
Thursday, August 1, 1918. “Three stake events, a cloudless sky, a brilliant sun and a cooling breeze formed a combination for the opening day of the racing season that was hard to beat,” The Saratogian reports today.
The second wartime meet at the track is expected to break attendance records as race fans who might have traveled to Europe in peacetime converge on the American venue. The Saratoga Racing Association has spent an estimated $100,000 on track improvements since last year’s meet.
“Nearly all the old-timers were on hand today and there were many new faces,” a reporter writes, “And everywhere there were words of approval for the changes that have been made in the track and its surroundings.
“Naturally the track was the center of interest and even those skeptical ones who complained about the condition of the course last season and were inclined to brand the accounts of the wonderful improvements made during the last eleven months by Superintendent Myers as ‘press agent’ stuff were convinced today that the track as it stands is the fastest in the country.”
Local Firemen Help Fight Great Blaze
Saratoga Springs has plenty of attractions after race hours, from movies at three local theaters to Orlando’s dance orchestra at the Saratoga Casino. Tonight, however, the top attraction for many locals is the inferno raging in Hudson Falls.
A crew of Spa City firemen pulls an all-nighter battling the pulp wood blaze at the Union Bag & Paper plant. Led by city fire chief E. J. Chadwick, the firefighters make a “record-breaking trip to the northern village,” arriving to join the battle at 6 p.m.
“The fire started shortly after 3 o’clock and was caused by a log striking one of the electric wires along the conveyor which took the wood from a freight car to the top of the big pile,” The Saratogian explains, “When the stick hit the wire the latter broke and the wood pile was ignited. The stiff breeze soon fanned the blaze into a raging fire, the dry, fatty wood burning quickly and fiercely.”
Sensation seekers from Saratoga Springs are among the 10,000 people watching the fire tonight. The Hudson Valley Railway puts special cars on its tracks to convey the curious to the scene, where sheets of flame rise more than 100 feet into the air, while “the reflection in the sky was visible for miles.”
The fire continues into the next morning, consuming more than 30,000 cords of wood, 50 tons of coal and 25 freight cars. Observers expect it to end up as the worst fire in Hudson Falls history.
— Kevin Gilbert