Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company No. 1.
Hope Engine Company No. 1.
Minnehaha Engine Company No. 2.
Rotary Independent Company No. 1.

These four companies numbered 175 men, and after completing their line
of march were reviewed by the mayor and common council in front of the
old city hall.

In 1858 the legislature passed an act requiring the sextons of the
different churches to ring the church bells fifteen minutes whenever
there was an alarm of fire. The uptown churches would ring their
bells, the downtown churches would ring their bells, and the churches
in the central part of the city would ring their bells. There was a
regular banging and clanging of the bells.

"In the startled air of night,
They would scream out their afright,
Too much horrified to speak,
They could only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune."

Every one turned out when the fire bells rang. Unless the fire was of
sufficient volume to be readily located, the uptown people would be
seen rushing downtown, and the downtown people would be seen rushing
uptown, in fact, general pandemonium prevailed until the exact
location of the fire could be determined.

Whenever there was a large fire the regular firemen would soon tire