The fire alarm was sounded last Friday morning and an army of men ran to the Oscar Hays barn in the south part of town, from which a blaze was seen coming. The building was filled with hay and other dry material and before the crowd was even on the scene it was beyond any possibility of saving it. The building near were soaked and the fire confined to the single structure in spite of the south wind that whipped the blaze almost across the street to another barn. The loss was probably $600, on which he had $300 insurance. While the water pressure was not the best, it was enough to save the fire from spreading to any other buildings.
Smith County Journal, August 10, 1916, page 1