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Located in the Brown Bridge Quiet Area, a bit off the trail between two hunting permit signs.
While hiking through out Northern Michigan woodlands I've noticed several scorthed old timber and stumps. I recall my father telling me about massive forest fires through out Michigan in the late 1800's.
Michigan was dealt grievous blows as fires swept across the state, wiping out or endangering entire cities, towns, and villages including Holland, Manistee, Grand Rapids, South Haven, and Port Huron doing millions of dollars worth of property damage and killing hundreds.
It is probably impossible for us to fathom what the threat of fire was like in those days.
During the autumn of 1871, a forest fire swept across Michigan laying claim to life, property, and natural resources, primarily in Sanilac, Huron, and Tuscola counties. “A sky of flame, of smoke, a Heavenful”, the earth a mass of burning coals, the mighty trees, all works of man between and living things trembling as a child before a demon in the gale, is how the Michigan fire of 1871 was described in history records.
As quoted by James Langworth “the inferno surrounded me on all sides but one, to escape, I plunged into the woods leaping wildly over burning piles of leaves. It seemed as though the entire state of Michigan was on fire.
Small fires that broke out gradually ran together drawing dry air from inland rather than moist air from over the lakes. Wind carried chips and fragments, starting new fires. Big brush piles left by logging practices of the time added to the ferocity of the fires. “The tree crowns left on the ground by logging operations created an enormous fuel for the fires,” said Burton Barnes of the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment. “The pine needles and stems accumulated on the ground contained heavy amounts of resin and, combined with leaves and other organic matter, burned very hot. These were not like the fires we see today, that burn hottest in the air. These fires burned hottest on the ground.”
On Sunday, Oct. 8, 1871, the fire started blowing, burning, killing, and devouring everything in its path. In some communities, people went to bed at night, only to be aroused at midnight by the fearful cry of “Fire!” They watched their homes, farms; livestock and belongings vanish into smoke and ashes. Some were able to save themselves. “Others, choked with flame and smoke, left only their charred bones to tell their friends where and how they died,” said one report. Thousands of acres of valuable pine were gone in a matter of hours.
The firestorm forced people into Lake Waters. Some took refuge in boats, covering themselves with wet blankets. In Huron County, families tried to outrace the fire. One family climbed into a wagon, covered themselves with wet blankets, and headed for a millrace a half-mile away, arriving just before the wagon caught fire. The family jumped into the race, covering themselves with more wet blankets. In just a half-hour, villages were in ruins. At White Rock people plunged into the lake, but the lake was so rough that women and children were thrown back onto the beach. They risked death by drowning in order be saved from death by fire. Some dug holes in the ground or a bank and managed to survive by crawling into the shelter. Losses included crops, houses, businesses, livestock, grain, hay, bridges, and crossings in swamps.
The great Michigan fires of 1871 received little publicity because the great Chicago fire and the Peshtigo, WI fires occurring at the same time, overshadowed them. Some claim that lightning started the fires, while others say meteor showers were to blame. Author Mel Waskin, who wrote Mrs. O’Leary’s Comet, stated that a comet collided with the earth, and that Chicago, Wisconsin and Michigan were all showered with fiery particles at exactly the same time.
Yet, with all its magnitude and intensity, the fire of 1871 did not consume all the timber, but in most places only deadened the green timber and prepared the way for a more terrible calamity 10 years later. The population was denser on Sept. 5, 1881, when a firestorm traveled across the state again, causing a repeat calamity of the 1871 fires, causing over 300 people dead and hundreds injured. To save themselves, some residents jumped into wells, remaining there for up to five hours before crawling out. Others never made it out.
After the fire of 1881, more than 14,000 people were made dependent on public aid, and 1,480 barns, 1,521 dwellings, and 51 schools were destroyed. On May 21, 1881, Clara Barton established the American Red Cross. Just 4 months later on Sept 4, 1881, the Red Cross undertook its first disaster relief effort aiding victims of the Michigan forest fires.
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(Decrypt)
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