The Great Fires in Wisconsin

The Great Fires in Wisconsin PDF

Author: Frank Tilton

Publisher:

Published: 2021-08

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9780964149946

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Compilation of three works that shed light on the Great Fires in Wisconsin during the fall of 1871 and particularly on October 8, 1871. This work brings together an understanding of how fire influences culture, economic change and ecological disaster

The Great Peshtigo Fire

The Great Peshtigo Fire PDF

Author: Peter Pernin

Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society

Published: 2014-10-30

Total Pages: 69

ISBN-13: 0870206842

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Reverend Peter Pernin was the parish priest for Peshtigo and nearby Marinette, whose churches burned to the ground. He published his account of the fire in 1874. The late William Converse Haygood served as editor of the Wisconsin Magazine of History from 1957 to 1975. He prepared this version of Father Pernin's account on the occasion of the Peshtigo Fire's centennial in 1971. Foreword writer Stephen J. Pyne is a professor at Arizona State University in Tempe and author of numerous books on wildland fire, including Fire in America.

The Great Peshtigo Fire

The Great Peshtigo Fire PDF

Author: Scott Knickelbine

Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society

Published: 2012-08-29

Total Pages: 81

ISBN-13: 0870206028

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On the night of October 8, 1871, a whirlwind of fire swept through northeastern Wisconsin, destroying the bustling frontier town of Peshtigo. Trees, buildings, and people burst into flames. Metal melted. Sand turned into glass. People thought the end of the world had come. When the “tornado of fire” was over, 2,500 people were dead, and Peshtigo was nothing but a smoking ruin. It was the deadliest wildfire in U.S. history. The Great Peshtigo Fire: Stories and Science from America’s Deadliest Firestorm explores the history, science, and legacy of the 1871 Peshtigo Fire at a fourth-grade reading level. Readers will learn about the history of settlement, agriculture, and forestry in 19th-century Wisconsin. This illuminating text covers a diverse range of topics that will enrich the reader’s understanding of the Peshtigo Fire, including the building and land-use practices of the time that made the area ripe for such a fire, the weather patterns that fostered widespread fires throughout the upper Midwest in the summer and fall of 1871, and exciting first-person accounts that vividly bring the `victims’ stories to life. Connections made between the Peshtigo Fire and the history of fire prevention in the United States encourage critical thinking about issues that remain controversial to this day, such as planned burns and housing development restrictions near forested areas. The Great Peshtigo Fire: Stories and Science from America’s Deadliest Firestorm will inform and captivate its readers as it journeys through the horrifying history of the Peshtigo Fire.

Monster Fire at Minong

Monster Fire at Minong PDF

Author: Bill Matthias

Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society

Published: 2010-09-15

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 0870204726

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Ignited by a single match on April 30, 1977, the Five Mile Tower Fire raged out of control for 17 hours. It would be one of the largest wildland fires in Wisconsin history, ultimately destroying more than 13,000 acres of land and 63 buildings. As a column of black pine smoke reached high in the sky, citizens from Minong, Chicog, Webster, Gordon, Wascott, Hayward, Spooner, Solon Springs, and other communities began showing up to help. The grassy field designated as fire headquarters quickly became a hub of activity, jammed with trucks, school buses, dozers on trailers, dump trucks, tanker trucks, fuel trucks, and hundreds of people waiting to sign in. More than 900 came in the first four hours, clogging the road with traffic in both directions. Headquarters personnel worked valiantly to coordinate citizens and DNR workers in a buildup of people and equipment unprecedented in the history of Wisconsin firefighting. Based on his own experiences during the long battle, plus dozens of interviews and other eyewitness accounts, Bill Matthias presents an in-depth look at the Five Mile Tower Fire, the brave citizens who helped fight it, and the important changes made to firefighting laws and procedures in its aftermath.

Firestorm at Peshtigo

Firestorm at Peshtigo PDF

Author: Denise Gess

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2003-06

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 9780805072938

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A novelist and historian team up to tell the story of the October 1871 fire in the lumber town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, vividly re-creating the personal and political battles leading to this monumental natural disaster, and delivering it from the lost annals of American history. 16-page insert. 3 maps.

The Peshtigo Fire of 1871

The Peshtigo Fire of 1871 PDF

Author: Captivating History

Publisher: Captivating History

Published: 2020-05-17

Total Pages: 106

ISBN-13: 9781647487263

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It's likely true that most people picking up this book have never even heard of a place called Peshtigo. This is hardly surprising: this little town on the shores of Lake Michigan is hardly a remarkable place in the modern day. Its residents number less than four thousand, and there's nothing particularly special about it at first glance.

Ghosts of the Fireground

Ghosts of the Fireground PDF

Author: Peter M Leschak

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2018-11-27

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 1504055934

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In October 1871, a massive forest fire incinerated the town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin. It was the deadliest fire in North American history, an event so intense that its release of energy was not approximated until the advent of thermo-nuclear weapons. At least 1,200 people perished—some in bizarre and disturbing ways—and the actual number of fatalities is unknown, perhaps as many as 1,500 were lost. Since the Great Chicago Fire occurred at the same time, Peshtigo was overshadowed and almost forgotten. In 2000, veteran wild-land firefighter Peter Leschak was faced with a hot and challenging fire season, tasked with the leadership of a helitack crew—an airborne fire team expected to be the “tip of the spear” on wildfire initial attacks. During that long summer he studied Father Peter Pernon’s eyewitness account of the Pehstigo holocaust, and using his knowledge and experience as a firefighter, Leschak placed himself in Pernin’s shoes, as much as possible being transported to the firestorm of 1871. Ghosts of the Fireground tells both tales: the horrific saga of Peshtigo, and the modern battles of a wildfire helicopter crew, seamlessly intertwining the stories to enhance them both.

The Wisconsin Frontier

The Wisconsin Frontier PDF

Author: Mark Wyman

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 1998-08-22

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 0253027926

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This “highly readable, balanced account [tells] a fascinating story of the gains and perils, ebbs and flows that characterize the American frontier saga” (Western Historical Quarterly). From seventeenth-century French coureurs de bois to lumberjacks of the nineteenth century, Wisconsin’s frontier era saw thousands of settlers arriving from Europe and other areas to seek wealth and opportunity. As this influx began, Native Americans mixed with the newcomers, sometimes helping, and sometimes challenging them. While conflicts arose, the Indigenous peoples also benefited from European guns and other trade items. This captivating history covers nearly three hundred years of Wisconsin history, from before the arrival of Europeans to the beginning of the twentieth century. It reveals the conflicts, defeats, and victories of the people who made Wisconsin their home, as well as their outlook on the future at the beginning of the twentieth century.