(This book is out of print, but is still available at)
Hedberg Public Library
Call #: 977.5 WELLS
FIRE AT PESHTIGO
by Robert W. Wells
Prentice-Hall, Inc. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.)
243 pages
Reviewed by Jack W. Herzberg
When we think of natural disasters that have occurred in the United
States during the last 200 years, we immediately think of the Chicago
fire, the Johnstown flood, the snow on Donner Summit, or the San
Francisco Earthquake. But the forest fires that have ravaged
America throughout its history have claimed lives and property in our
rural communities far in excess of the disasters that have occurred in
our cities. One fire, in particular, burned 1.3 million acres and
claimed more that 1,200 lives in a mere 7 hour period.
Ironically, that conflagration, the Peshtigo fire, took place on the
same date another, more well known fire, the great Chicago fire, took
place. October 8, 1871, was a date well known throughout America
for the destruction that gripped the midwest.
In reality, the Peshtigo fire was really a series of fires set by
farmers, hunters, and loggers to clear farm land, scare nocturnal
animals (wolves), and eliminate slash in the huge forest that once
covered northern Wisconsin. The communities that were founded on
either side of the Green Bay were mostly populated by immigrants who
needed to begin their new lives either as lumberjacks or as shingle
makers in order to gain a foothold as farmers in the new land.
Northern Wisconsin's forests were so thick that only fire was powerful
enough to clear land cheaply so it could be tilled. Many of these
immigrants would hunt far and wide in order to feed their families for
the first year. Lumbermen would order slash burns to clear the
great amounts of trash wood that would be left after the "barkers"
stripped freshly cut trees.
Settlers saw fire as a great labor-saving phenomenon. But in the
very dry autumn of 1871 that phenomenon turned into a monster that
destroyed farms and towns and the people who lived on and in
them. Before the night of the great inferno, the fires were
generally ground fires which felled trees by burning roots, but rarely
reached the crowning branches of those trees. By the autumn of
1871 the swampy bogs had dried up and peat began to burn in a number of
places. Most of the fires became inextinguishable. The
smoke in the north woods had been very thick for weeks.
On the evening of October 8, the wind shifted to a southwesterly
direction. It was quite brisk and very hot. Early in the
evening, of October 8, fire swept through Williamsonville and
Forestville on Wisconsin's eastern peninsula. Most of the land
between the town of Green Bay and Sturgeon Bay was burned by the next
morning. Many people died attempting an escape from the flames,
yet many did escape to Green Bay or Lake Michigan. On the western
shore of the Green Bay the fire started north of the town of Oconto
where the tragedy was far worse.
Robert Wells filled most of his book with anecdotes from the survivors
of the fire and with interviews of relatives of survivors. In the
book, he stated that he had included stories that could be verified by
two or more sources and had omitted stories that were too incredible
and could not be supported with other evidence. The stories of
the pioneers were heroic and tragic at the same time. In the
densest of smoke and tremendous heat of the flames, individuals
performed superhuman feats, while others wept when they could do
nothing, while still others died in their tracks in efforts to save
themselves or others.
When the fire reached the mill town of Peshtigo it was preceded by
overwhelming volumes of smoke and hurtling balls of fire. The
winds brought both at high speed suffocating some and burning others
out of their homes.
When the fire finally became visible at the edge of town, few had any
thoughts of saving property. The flames stormed into town like
the surf sweeps over the beaches on Oahu's north coast. The
people of Peshtigo had several strategies for saving themselves as the
fire burned their town. One philosophy took some to the centers
of open fields where fire fuel would be scarce; another saw townsmen
climbing down well shafts with their families. The most popular
and ultimately the most effective escape was the dash into the Peshtigo
River. While many families were literally cooked to death with
their un-dug potatoes in their clearings and others were suffocated in
their wells, those who made it to the river usually survived.
However, reaching the river was no mean task. In all the smoke,
direction was difficult to determine and many passed others going in
different directions, all heading for the river. The fire roared
over the town at such a rate that many were struck down by the heat and
flames in mid-stride. People who made it to the river had to
spend five hours in the water pouring river water over each others
heads before it was safe to step to shore. Some drowned, some
died from exposure, others died from the severe burns inflicted even
before reaching the river.
The intensity of the fire is hard to imagine. A church bell
melted on the side that faced the oncoming flames; coins were welded
together in the pockets of the dead; logs floating on the river to the
mill caught fire and burned to the water. Every house and shop in
Peshtigo was burned to the ground. Virtually every bit of
personal property was destroyed. Human and animal remains were
completely incinerated in the holocaust. More than 300 bodies
were never found.
Nearly half the population of Peshtigo was lost in the fire.
Other towns to the north were luckier when the fire passed
through. All but a few lives were spared after the flames passed
Peshtigo. A fire storm was the suspected culprit in
Peshtigo. A number of stories told of roofs and whole houses
flying through the air aflame. Tornado strength winds were
reported by many. The suspicion is that a thermal column formed
at Peshtigo burning every bit of fuel available.
After the fire had passed, the survivors were left wandering in shock
looking for friends and family members. Aid to the town for
Peshtigo came quickly in the form of aid meant for the victims of the
Chicago fire which took place the same night. While Wisconsin's
Governor Fairchild was in Chicago to direct aid in that tragedy, the
governor's wife rerouted railroad cars full of supplies north to Green
Bay. Even though the fire in the north woods killed five times as
many souls as the Chicago fire killed, news of the holocaust did not
come to national attention for weeks because the press focused on the
Chicago incident. When the nation did become aware of the need in
Peshtigo, committees were formed in Milwaukee, Chicago, Boston and
other cities. Help from the federal government was limited to
army blankets.
Most of the population remained in the forest and with the help of the
rescue committees and the milling companies were able to house and feed
themselves through the winter and most survivors began again their
lives on farms and in the forests the next spring.
Although FIRE AT PESHTIGO is out of print, you may find it in your
public library, or your librarian can order it for you through
interlibrary loan.