Quezi

Peshtigo 1871 - courtesy libraryimages.net - CC-BY

On October 8, 1871 the worst recorded fire in American history swept through Northeastern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.  It destroyed millions of dollars worth of property and took between 1,200 and 2,400 lives.  It happened on the same day as the more famous Great Chicago, Illinois Fire but is much less widely known.  On that very same day, other fires destroyed Holland, Michigan and Port Huron at the lower end of Lake Huron.

Any of these fires would be major historical markers in their own right, but the Chicago fire eclipsed them all, even if not the biggest or deadliest.  The Peshtigo fire covered an area about twice the size of the state of Rhode Island. Twelve communities were destroyed including the town of Peshtigo. An accurate death toll has never been made since local population records were destroyed by the fire. Between 1,200 and 2,500 people are thought to have died as a direct result of the blaze.  The Chicago Fire killed 300.  Witnesses reported that the fire created winds that tossed about rail cars and houses. Some of the survivors of the firestorm escaped the heat by immersing themselves in the Peshtigo River or other nearby bodies of water.  Some drowned while others died from the cold of the river.

The fire was so intense it crossed miles over the waters of Green Bay and burned a large part of the Door Peninsula.

In the last few years America’s “forgotten fire” has proven to be anything but forgotten.  It is a subject of debate among meteorologists, astronomers and conservationists.   Astronomers have joined the discussion as there is now speculation that a fragment of a broken-up asteroid may have been the cause.  And in spite of the charming story of Mrs O’leary and her cow, fragments of the same asteroid may have been responsible for the whole cluster of fires that day.

Scientific evidence for the asteroid is still in the realm of hypotheses.  Much more research and evidence is needed before it can be upgraded to any kind of  scientific theory regarding the Great Fires.  If it does get upgraded to theory, then that means the preponderance of published and reviewed research points in that direction and there is a very high probability of it being correct.

There is also compelling evidence against such a scenario, including from astronomers, that the asteroid hypotheses may never become theory, but remain forever hypotheses.   One of the strongest points against an asteroid break-up being the cause, is that most meteorites are already cold before they hit the ground.

For my own personal opinion (which means nothing in the scheme of things) the mere identical timing and scatter-shot effect of the fire locations, including the fact that the Peshtigo Fire itself seems to have had more than one starting point,  may well fit with a small asteroid breaking up in the upper atmosphere.  At least it is interesting to think about.  The astronomers say “most” meteorites are cold when they hit, not “all.”

The Peshtigo Fire has been dramatized by novelists and screenwriters and it continues to befuddle history buffs and frustrate genealogists.