Pequot Lakes in Crow Wing County, Minnesota — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)
Minnesota's Most Devastating Wild Fires
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 6, 2023
1. Minnesota's Most Devastating Wild Fires Marker
Inscription.
Baudette-Spooner Fire
Fire conditions in northern Minnesota were extreme in the autumn of 1910. Several small fires developed in the dry slash left in the wake of logging operations throughout Lake of the Woods County. The fires rapidly became a massive blaze. In less than two hours, the fire spread throughout the towns of Baudette and Spooner. By the day's end, over 300,000 acres had burned, Homes across the area were destroyed and 42 people lost their lives.
Red Lake Fire
Often called the "Dust Bowl" era, climatologists list this hot, dry period as the single most significant weather-related event in Minnesota's history. Indeed, it is perhaps the most devastating weather event in our nation's history. Abnormally dry and hot weather lasting the better part of two decades turned Minnesota's farmland into fields of dust, and northern forests into a veritable tinderbox. On September 11, 1931, a wildfire started near Red Lake and blazed all the way to the Canadian border. Nearly one million acres burned in what has been called Minnesota's Dust Bowl Fire.
Hinckley Fire
The summer of 1894 was a dry one in the Hinckley area. Only
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2 inches of rain had fallen between May and September, and small fires in the woods were common, often starting in the "slash piles" where branches had been cut off logged trees and left in place. On September 1, several small fires came together and formed two larger wildfires. The day was oppressively hot, and a rare temperature inversion created conditions that would develop into a single, massive "firestorm". The fire was so intense that survivors witnessed flames reaching heights of 200 feet. Temperatures reached over 1,600 degrees in the town of Hinckley, melting barrels of nails and fusing train car wheels to the tracks. In just four hours the Hinckley Fire had burned over 350,000 acres. The towns of Hinckley, Mission Creek, Brook Park, Sandstone, Miller, Partridge, and Pokegama were all destroyed, as were the homes of many living in the nearby forest. The official count of people who perished in the fire was over 400. Many historians believe the number to have been much higher. An unknown number of Native Americans and others living in the backcountry perished in the fire.
Pagami Creek Fire
A lightning strike about 13 miles east
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 6, 2023
2. Minnesota's Most Devastating Wild Fires Marker
The marker is rightmost of three panels in this Fire Tower Trail interpretive kiosk.
of Ely started a small fire along Pagami Creek in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The small fire was first noticed on August 18, 2011, as it smoldered in a bog for several days, giving off a little smoke. Weather conditions, including very low humidity and strong winds, caused the fire to quickly become of historic proportions. Before the fire was contained, it burned 93,000 acres. In the driest autumn in over a century, numerous fire crews worked continuously for a month to contain the fire. Earlier in September firefighters had preemptively burned areas at the interface of the BWCAW and populated areas.
Cloquet-Moose Lake Fire
What is often called the Cloquet Fire actually began as over 40 smaller fires that came together as a single event. Because the collective wildfire was so far-ranging, it is also called the Cloquet, Duluth and Moose Lake Fire. The summer of 1918 was exceptionally dry, and around noon on October 10, a fire began along the railroad northwest of Cloquet. The fire moved both eastward toward Duluth and southeastward toward Cloquet. By early evening the fire had reached the Fond du Lac community and 45 minutes
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 6, 2023
3. Historic Minnesota Wildfires (center panel in this interpretive kiosk)
• Baudette-Spooner Fire – 1910 • Cloquet-Moose Lake Fire – 1918 • Red Lake Fire – 1931 • Badoura Fire – 1976 • Motley Fire – 1980 • Hinckley Fire – 1984 • Barrows Fire – 2000 • Pagami Creek Fire – 2011 • Green Valley Fire – 2013
later it came through Cloquet. Winds reached over 60 miles per hour. Survivors described flames reaching over 100 feet in the air, exploding houses, and a roar like continuous thunder. Just enough warning allowed thousands to escape on four evacuation trains. The Cloquet-Moose Lake Fire burned 960,000 acres, destroyed 36 towns, and over 4,000 homes. At least 450 people died.
Location. 46° 36.243′ N, 94° 17.656′ W. Marker is in Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, in Crow Wing County. It can be reached from County Road 11 0.3 miles east of State Highway 371, on the left when traveling east. The marker is located along the Fire Tower Trail in Paul M. Thiede Fire Tower Park. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 5230 County Road 11, Pequot Lakes MN 56472, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the Northland. It is also in the American Midwest, in the Corn Belt, and in the Great River Road Region. Globally, it is in North America, the Great North Woods, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once Rupert’s Land, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, and the Northwest Territory.
Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker. Paul M. Thiede Fire Tower Park
Credits. This page was last revised on December 11, 2024. It was originally submitted on December 5, 2023, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 1,521 times since then and 238 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3. submitted on December 7, 2023, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
