George Tapsell Farm Fire

Storage Location: M7 S1 Sh2 B1 1_3016; M7 S1 Sh2 B1 1_3017; M7 S1 Sh2 B1 1_3018; M7 S1 Sh2 B1 1_3019; M7 S1 Sh2 B1 1_3020; M7 S1 Sh2 B1 1_3021

Item Number: 48-2905 (1_3016); 48-2906 (1_3017); 48-2907 (1_3018); 48-2908 (1_3019); 48-2909 (1_3020); 48-2910 (1_3021)

Storage Location: M7 S1 Sh2 B1 1_3016; M7 S1 Sh2 B1 1_3017; M7 S1 Sh2 B1 1_3018; M7 S1 Sh2 B1 1_3019; M7 S1 Sh2 B1 1_3020; M7 S1 Sh2 B1 1_3021

Publication: 1_3020 was published with article in St. Thomas Times-Journal on August 10, 1948, page eight.

Scope and Content: Photographs of a fire on the farm of George Tapsell on Fruit Ridge Road, Yarmouth. Captions from St. Thomas Times-Journal: "Costly Fire on Yarmouth Farm." 1_3020: "Fire caused during threshing operations, probably from a spark, caused a loss estimated at about $35,000 on the farm of Geroge Tapsell, Fruit Ridge Road, Yarmouth, late Monday morning. The above photograph, taken an hour after the fire, shows all that was left of two large bank barns and a machine barn. More than 4,000 bales of hay were stored in the main barn. A spark is believed to have ignited wheat straw that was being blown into the now of the main barn. Two large silos were destroyed; three valuable purebred Holstein heifers; milking machine, cooler and other equipment and much farm machinery. Neighbors pitched in late Monday afternoon and cleared the smouldering ruins from the concrete stalls in what was the cattle barn and the Tapsell cows were hand-milked there, Monday evening. The heat was so intense from the fire that ducks were killed as they tried to escape from the barnyard."