3-043-745 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Scene of the explosion at Tradeston Flour-Mills, Glasgow, 1872. 'The buildings...were occupied by Messrs. Matthew Muir and Sons. They consisted of grain-stores and a flour-mill...[on] Commerce-street...In the mill were thirty-two pairs of stones, with two engines, of the combined horse power of 400, supplied with steam by three boilers. The stores were capable of containing sixty thousand bolls of wheat. To the north of the mill...was a three-story building, the upper flats of which were occupied as dwelling-houses...The cause of the explosion is not precisely known; but it was immediately followed by a fire, which raged during three hours and which completely destroyed the buildings, with their contents. More than a dozen persons lost their lives in the terrible disaster - namely, seven men, who were millers or mill-labourers, two boys, and three or four women...The total damage to property is estimated at £100,000, of which Messrs. Muir's loss is £80,000; but this is covered by insurance. Mr. George Christie sends us a sketch that shows the scene of this catastrophe'. (The explosion was caused by a pair of millstones stopping, causing them to rub against each other, resulting in a spark or fire igniting the grain dust in the air). From "Illustrated London News", 1872.