The Hinckley Fire

The Hinckley Fire. . , Between three and five o’clock on the afternoon of September 1, 1894, a raging forest fire driven by strong southwest winds swept over the town of Hinckley, killing 248 residents. The conflagration burned over 480 square miles in parts of five counties, also consuming the surrounding towns of Brook Park, Mission Creek, Miller, Partridge, and Sandstone. At least 418 people died in the disaster. , Trains of the St. Paul and Duluth railroad and the Eastern Minnesota Railroad carried nearly 500 people to safety through the burning countryside. More than 1,500 individuals lost their homes and possessions, with fire relief efforts receiving donations from as far away as London and even Turkey as news of the tragedy spread. The mass graves of the Hinckley townspeople who died in the fire are marked by a state monument in Lutheran Memorial Cemetery. , The Hinckley fire was among the worst of many that followed the end of large scale pine logging operations in northern Minnesota. As the virgin red and white pine was removed, a tinder-dry refuse of stumps, slashings, and brush provided ready fuel for several other disastrous fires, including those at Baudette in 1910 and Cloquet in 1918.