Comments on: Monday, Oct. 14, 1918: Hundreds die in Cloquet fire

By: Carol Mahoney

Carol Mahoney — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:20:32 +0000

My dad was 11 months old, living in Moose Lake. My grandmother took him into Moosehead Lake and kept ducking under the water while watching the town burn. My grandfather fought the fire west of town. Later that night a train took them to Barnum, where a minister’s family sheltered them briefly. The family spent the winter in a box car at the Moose Lake station, like many other families, while the town was rebuilt. My grandmother shared these memories reluctanly and related the horror of the time. The papers carried lists of war dead, influenza victims and those who died in the fire; many were neighbors and family friends. What a terrible winter that must have been!

By: Bill Gamble

Bill Gamble — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:36:25 +0000

Frank- fortunately, the conditions that existed in 1918 will never be recreated. It would require a climax forest of at least a couple hundred years growth, followed by a massive logging operation taking almost all of it down in just a few short years, and logging practices of leaving all the slash on the ground and just moving on to the next tree. Todays land use practices preempt this kind of fire almost anywhere in MN except a blowdown area in a place like the BWCA.

By: Yesterday’s News » Blog Archive » Best of Yesterday’s News

Yesterday’s News » Blog Archive » Best of Yesterday’s News — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:59:15 +0000

[…] Oct. 14, 1918: Hundreds die in Cloquet fire […]

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:18:37 +0000

Outstanding Strib, look forward to more historical re-creations. Imagine the people who would have never heard of this event, who now, through the Star Tribune are aware of the struggles of our parents and grandparents.

Well Done!

By: Edward Melzark

Edward Melzark — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:25:53 +0000

Where can I get a list of the dead from the Kettle River and Moose Lake area.

By: Cindy Purcell

Cindy Purcell — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:51:55 +0000

My grandmother, Dorothy Arntson, died at age 101 in the Spring of 2007. She was 13 at the time of the fire and often told us her story of escaping the fire on the train to Duluth with her parents and siblings. She remembered all the details up until the time of her passing, and I was always fascinated with her recollections.

By: Frank

Frank — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:33:47 +0000

Great to see how history was reported, thanks!! Since we all know if we don’t learn from our past, we are doomed to repeat it; what are we doing now to address current fire threats? Volunteer fire depts are great but limited by response time and equipment to isolated residents and wilderness, especially in areas of the North Shore.

By: Maureen Danielson

Maureen Danielson — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:53:59 +0000

The Ludwig Hanson family spent the night in the Cloquet Pinehurst Park pond with blankets over their heads…all survived. When they returned to their home (across from the Leach School on Park Ave.)all that remained was Mr. Hanson’s rocker in the middle of the street.

By: Judy McGuire

Judy McGuire — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 19:16:08 +0000

My mother, Hazel Bloomquist, just an infant at the time, escaped the fire in the arms of her mother, Clara Bloomquist. Clara and Hazel rode in the side car of William Bloomquist’s (Hazel’s father) motorcycle, the family vehicle.

By: Lauren Hemenway

Lauren Hemenway — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 06:44:58 +0000

My Grandmother, Angie Ehr often spoke of the great forest fire when she lived in Moose Lake as a young girl. She would have been about 12 years old at the time and her family was saved by standing in the lake. For a long time, I kept an enamel double boiler that she said had survived the fire. I was researching WWI in 1918 when I came across this link to the Great Forest Fire. I am grateful to have found this information, as I never had any history save my grandmother’s regarding this event.