A brush fire also flared, fanned by a rising wind. Box 18438 | Minneapolis, MN 55418 | View of the Hinckley main street the morning after the fire, 1894.Member donations are crucial to the work of our nonprofit newsroom. It became known as the Great Hinckley Fire. Estimates of lives lost vary, but all exceed 400, more than the Chicago Fire of 1871.In 1891, at age 16, Clara Hansen (my future grandmother) had immigrated to Hinckley from Fredrikstad, Norway, with her mother, Sophia, and three brothers, Ole, 14, Hans, 12, and John Norvall, 10. Suddenly the people of Hinckley were not facing a fire.
Fire Museums in Hinckley and Peshtigo. My great grandfather found work as a planer in a sawmill in Rutledge, about 55 miles southwest of Duluth, for a few years, but then moved to Duluth and became a storekeeper. "A trash fire got out of control, but its heat and smoke were trapped under the inversion. Its history ties closely to that of other northern towns and also links tightly to our own family story.
Minutes later, when the trains had steamed ahead less than 2,000 feet, the bridge’s wooden legs collapsed into the deep gorge. Many suffocated while taking refuge in root cellars and wells or died when the fire overcame them.At about 4:00 p.m., evacuation by train began. The 1894 Hinckley Fire destroyed six towns; Hinckley was the largest, with more than 1,000 residents, most of them recent arrivals from Sweden and Norway.
Heavy wool clothing saved one young woman, since it did not burn as easily as cotton.Many communities provided immediate relief and shelter for the survivors, including Pine City, Mora, Duluth, and Superior.